Rumbala

On a grey and drizzling Saturday, Elder & Sister Davis decided to take a little road trip just outside of Riga. We invited E/S Millet along for the ride. And the weather was a fitting backdrop for the places we were going to visit.  Elder Davis, was headed to two sites of historical significance. First, we eased our little Opel Mireva 7 miles outside of Riga to a heavily forested area called Rumbala Forest.
A monument was dedicated there, Nov. 2002, aided by the U.S. Commission for the Preservation of American Cultural Heritage Abroad. They worked closely with the Latvian Jewish Survivors and the Latvian government.  The huge iron sculpture at the entrance of the memorial symbolizes the suffering of Jews murdered in Rumbala Forest.


Here, on November 30 and December 8 of 1941, the Nazis and their Latvian collaborators (1,700 executioners) shot to death 25,500 Jews who were prisoners of the Riga Ghetto- children, women, elderly men and approximately 1,000 Jews who had been deported from Germany. Their bodies either fell or were pushed into mass graves in this peaceful forest.
So as we walked towards this sacred ground, we are touched at the peace that permeates this sad place. The forest is mostly tall pine and birch trees.




There are five mass grave sites that have been found. The location of the killings came to light after the war, when two local people tired to sell jewelry they found in the area. It led to an investigation and the discovery of mass graves. Until the 1980's the memorials here identified the victims as Soviet citizens although members of the Jewish community illegally tended the site.












In the middle of the site there is a giant Jewish menorah - with it's seven branches - surrounded by miniature rock obelisks bearing the names of 1,300 of the victims. Researchers from the University of Latvia are still trying to discover names of more victims. Only three people who were taken to the forest area survived.

Each rock had the name of a murdered family engraved on it. They were clustered in a star of David shape with the Menorah in the middle.




The Star of David was outlined with the street names that surrounded the Jewish ghetto.    A Soviet monument on Latvian soil..interesting.

This was the biggest of the mass graves. Can you see Elder Millet way at the other end? Sister Davis is in the middle with her umbrella up to give perspective.