Nadene Goldfoot
Terrorism is now happening in Europe and the USA. The Nazis of WWII were an organized terrorizing army in a declared war whose aim was to wipe out all Jews. The USA really did not experience terror until 9/11 when Saudi pilots and their band rammed their plane into a tall building in New York City. It's been about 76 years since the Nazi terror, and here we are again, preparing to defend our country from another group of terrorists, ISIS from the Middle East.
Occupation during World War II from 1939 to 1945 involved terroristic attacks and atrocities. When the Germans occupied Latvia in the Balkans, they slaughtered 236 Jews in the village of Ribinishki (Silajani). This is what Jews all over Europe were facing during those years. This wasn't a matter of soldiers fighting soldiers and following the rules of war. It was downright murder of innocent people!
Also called "Riebini, it is a small town in the Latgale region of Latvia, about 56 km. north of Daugavpils. It was part of Vitebsk gubernia under the Russian Empire." In 1897 the town was made up of 533 Jews who were 91% of the population. By 1935 there were only 317 Jews living there, but that was 68% of the population. The town had become a village, called a Shtetl. "In the Shtetl Finder of 1989 it is listed as Ribinishok. "
"The Soviet army occupied Latvia in the summer of 1940. The following year, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union. At least 20 inhabitants of Riebini joined the Red Army to fight the Germans.
Following the Russian defeat in July 1941, anti-Soviet Latvians began to round up Jewish residents, especially those with leftist leanings. At the end of August 1941, Latvian civil defense police (Aizsargi) arrived in three trucks to round up the Jews of Riebini.
The Jews were arrested and locked into the synagogues. Then they were moved to Ribinishki Forest (4 km. northwest of Ribinishki) and killed there. There were some local inhabitants living in the Soluions district) who took part in that bloody Aktion from August 23rd to the 25th in 1941; three days of hell for the Jews to suffer such a death."
One of the Jews killed was Hona Orliyan b: 1909 and died in the 1941 massacre at age 32. He had 4 siblings, so they were probably all murdered.
The Germans had invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 and was the turning-point in German policy towards the Jews. 21 months before, at least 30,000 Jews had been killed. Of these, 10,000 were murdered in individual killings or terror attacks that happened in street massacres, in punitive reprisals, in outbreaks of savagery in the ghettos, and in the labour camps. 20,000 had died of starvation in the Warsaw and Lodz ghettos. But in no Jewish community had more than 2 or 3% been murdered. Jews had been virtually unmolested in Western Europe.
The Russian invasion changed all that, which was called Barbarossa. Throughout eastern Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, Ukraine, White Russia and the western regions of the Russian Republic, the Nazi's new policy was carried out. It was the systematic destruction of entire Jewish communities. This happened in land where Jews had been isolated, cursed for the past 200 years, where the region had been Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Ethnically German and Jewish.
In advance of Barbarossa, the Nazi SS leaders had special killing squads called the Einsatzgruppen, who went about finding collaborators from the Lithuanians and Ukrainians and had them in murder gangs who were very anti-Jewish and held hatred for them, something easy to use to turn them into mass murderers.
In the very first hours, Jews in Western Europe, Greater Germany, and in German-occupied Poland, saw the German invasion of the Soviet Union as a hopeful sign. They figured that the Russians would advance and beat the Germans, meaning the end of the war. They thought victory was certain and the end for Hitler was near. About 85,000 Jews were living there in 1940. Russia departed a considerable number of Jews belonging to the wealthy classes or intelligentsia to Northern Russia.
The Germans fooled everyone. "Don't worry," a Red Army officer told the Jews of Nieswiez as his men withdrew eastwards." "We'll be back." The rumor then changed and Jews heard that the Germans would send all the Jews to Madagascar. That wasn't so bad.
But the slaughter started from the 1st day of the German invasion. Lithuanians, Latvians and Ukrainian policemen and their auxiliaries, the Einsatzgruppen moved rapidly forward behind the advancing German forces. Jews were placed alive in anti-tank trenches about 2 km long and killed them with machine guns in the frontier shtetl of Virbalis. They sprayed lime on the dead Jews and then a 2nd row of Jews were made to lie down, and were then shot. They did this 6 more times. Only the children were not shot but were caught by their legs and they hit the children's heads against the stones and then the children were buried alive!
"In Liepāja the first mass killing of Jews took place on July 3 and 4, when about 400 people were shot dead, and on July 8 when 300 Jews were killed. The German group of SD and policemen did the shooting, while the members of Latvian Selbstschutz convoyed victims to the killing site. On July 13 the destroying of the large choral synagogue of Liepāja began. The rolls of the Scripture were spread on the Ugunsdzēsēju Square, and the Jews were forced to march across their sacred things, with watchers merrily laughing at the amusing scene. The above operations took place under the direct leadership of Erhard Grauel, commander of the Einsatzgruppe's Sonderkommando."
After the war, over 30,000 Jeews returned to Latvia but 1/3 of them then emigrated to Israel. Latvia's population in 1989 was 22,897.
These people were just as bad as any terrorist group out of the Middle East today. The horror of it all is that Germans were the most advanced society in Europe, yet they had this religious hatred for someone not complying to their way of belief. Jews were not of their religion and they were successful and intelligent. So Hitler led the way for practices completely irreligious and hateful-completely against Christianity. And everyone followed their leadership.
Remember this. The Germans failed. Those who were the worst stood trial. The same will happen to ISIS. Those against a decent way of living will not be successful.
" "Back to Ribinishki" is a Case Study in Latvian Jewish Genealogical Research] by Marion S. Werle; found in Vol. VIII 2000. in FEEFHS.(Foundation for East European Family History Studies.)."
Update: 12/18/15, 3:28pm with numbers
Resource:THE HOLOCAUST, by Martin Gilbert-pages 154-155.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust_in_Latvia
http://www.ushmm.org/online/hsv/source_view.php?SourceId=30777
http://www.jewishgen.org/latvia/Riebini.htm
http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/latvia/riebini.html
http://www.geni.com/people/Hona-Orliyan/6000000037336316452
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia-
 |
| The shtetl of Riebini aka Ribinishki in Latvia and wooden house there |
Terrorism is now happening in Europe and the USA. The Nazis of WWII were an organized terrorizing army in a declared war whose aim was to wipe out all Jews. The USA really did not experience terror until 9/11 when Saudi pilots and their band rammed their plane into a tall building in New York City. It's been about 76 years since the Nazi terror, and here we are again, preparing to defend our country from another group of terrorists, ISIS from the Middle East.
Occupation during World War II from 1939 to 1945 involved terroristic attacks and atrocities. When the Germans occupied Latvia in the Balkans, they slaughtered 236 Jews in the village of Ribinishki (Silajani). This is what Jews all over Europe were facing during those years. This wasn't a matter of soldiers fighting soldiers and following the rules of war. It was downright murder of innocent people!
 |
| Pale of Settlement where Empress Catherine II caused all Jews to be confined and were kept from entering Russia. This is why shtetls were so high in Jewish population. She ruled from 1725 to 1727, but laws kept Jews confined to end of WWI in 1917. |
 |
| Fresh Russian Troops |
Following the Russian defeat in July 1941, anti-Soviet Latvians began to round up Jewish residents, especially those with leftist leanings. At the end of August 1941, Latvian civil defense police (Aizsargi) arrived in three trucks to round up the Jews of Riebini.
 |
Members of the 21st Latvian Police Battalion assemble a group of Jewish women for execution on a beach near Liepāja, 15 December 1941. |
One of the Jews killed was Hona Orliyan b: 1909 and died in the 1941 massacre at age 32. He had 4 siblings, so they were probably all murdered.
The Germans had invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 and was the turning-point in German policy towards the Jews. 21 months before, at least 30,000 Jews had been killed. Of these, 10,000 were murdered in individual killings or terror attacks that happened in street massacres, in punitive reprisals, in outbreaks of savagery in the ghettos, and in the labour camps. 20,000 had died of starvation in the Warsaw and Lodz ghettos. But in no Jewish community had more than 2 or 3% been murdered. Jews had been virtually unmolested in Western Europe.
The Russian invasion changed all that, which was called Barbarossa. Throughout eastern Poland, Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, Ukraine, White Russia and the western regions of the Russian Republic, the Nazi's new policy was carried out. It was the systematic destruction of entire Jewish communities. This happened in land where Jews had been isolated, cursed for the past 200 years, where the region had been Catholic, Russian Orthodox, Ethnically German and Jewish.
In advance of Barbarossa, the Nazi SS leaders had special killing squads called the Einsatzgruppen, who went about finding collaborators from the Lithuanians and Ukrainians and had them in murder gangs who were very anti-Jewish and held hatred for them, something easy to use to turn them into mass murderers.
 |
| Husseini and the Nazis, 1941 Germany |
In the very first hours, Jews in Western Europe, Greater Germany, and in German-occupied Poland, saw the German invasion of the Soviet Union as a hopeful sign. They figured that the Russians would advance and beat the Germans, meaning the end of the war. They thought victory was certain and the end for Hitler was near. About 85,000 Jews were living there in 1940. Russia departed a considerable number of Jews belonging to the wealthy classes or intelligentsia to Northern Russia.
The Germans fooled everyone. "Don't worry," a Red Army officer told the Jews of Nieswiez as his men withdrew eastwards." "We'll be back." The rumor then changed and Jews heard that the Germans would send all the Jews to Madagascar. That wasn't so bad.
 |
| Nazi invasion chasing out Russians who left their tanks in Riga, Latvia 1941 |
But the slaughter started from the 1st day of the German invasion. Lithuanians, Latvians and Ukrainian policemen and their auxiliaries, the Einsatzgruppen moved rapidly forward behind the advancing German forces. Jews were placed alive in anti-tank trenches about 2 km long and killed them with machine guns in the frontier shtetl of Virbalis. They sprayed lime on the dead Jews and then a 2nd row of Jews were made to lie down, and were then shot. They did this 6 more times. Only the children were not shot but were caught by their legs and they hit the children's heads against the stones and then the children were buried alive!
"In Liepāja the first mass killing of Jews took place on July 3 and 4, when about 400 people were shot dead, and on July 8 when 300 Jews were killed. The German group of SD and policemen did the shooting, while the members of Latvian Selbstschutz convoyed victims to the killing site. On July 13 the destroying of the large choral synagogue of Liepāja began. The rolls of the Scripture were spread on the Ugunsdzēsēju Square, and the Jews were forced to march across their sacred things, with watchers merrily laughing at the amusing scene. The above operations took place under the direct leadership of Erhard Grauel, commander of the Einsatzgruppe's Sonderkommando."
After the war, over 30,000 Jeews returned to Latvia but 1/3 of them then emigrated to Israel. Latvia's population in 1989 was 22,897.
These people were just as bad as any terrorist group out of the Middle East today. The horror of it all is that Germans were the most advanced society in Europe, yet they had this religious hatred for someone not complying to their way of belief. Jews were not of their religion and they were successful and intelligent. So Hitler led the way for practices completely irreligious and hateful-completely against Christianity. And everyone followed their leadership.
Remember this. The Germans failed. Those who were the worst stood trial. The same will happen to ISIS. Those against a decent way of living will not be successful.
" "Back to Ribinishki" is a Case Study in Latvian Jewish Genealogical Research] by Marion S. Werle; found in Vol. VIII 2000. in FEEFHS.(Foundation for East European Family History Studies.)."
Update: 12/18/15, 3:28pm with numbers
Resource:THE HOLOCAUST, by Martin Gilbert-pages 154-155.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Holocaust_in_Latvia
http://www.ushmm.org/online/hsv/source_view.php?SourceId=30777
http://www.jewishgen.org/latvia/Riebini.htm
http://www.iajgsjewishcemeteryproject.org/latvia/riebini.html
http://www.geni.com/people/Hona-Orliyan/6000000037336316452
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia-
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