Rare photograph from the Riga ghetto from the most murderous period in the history of the ghetto - the woman Jenny Shein (זשעניא שיין née Ullman) in the kitchen of her home, Riga Ghetto, October 21, 1942.
On the back of the photograph, Jenny wrote a dedication in German (translation): "This photo will be a safekeeping for you, so you will always remember my love and longing forever, Jenny Shein, Riga, October 21, 1942". The Yad Vashem Museum's Holocaust Remembrance website recorded the testimony of Ms. Bila Ullman of Hod Hasharon that the murdered Jenny Shein was her aunt. According to her testimony, Jenny was born in 1905 in Riga. Her father's name was Mendel, and she perished in the Holocaust.
The Riga ghetto in the Latvian capital was established by the Nazis in early July 1941. The month in which the photo was taken was one of the most difficult times the ghetto has known since its establishment. During those months, the Nazis intensified the murders in order to prevent the "overcrowding" in the ghetto, and Jews were hanged every day. Usually men were hanged, while women were taken to the cemetery and shot by the ghetto commander Krause.
Some 50,000 Jews perished in the Riga ghetto, and only about 1,000 survived. Most of Latvia's Jews, some 24,000 people, were murdered shortly after in the Rumbula Forest massacre. Later on, 4,500 Latvian Jews who were not included in the massacre were concentrated in a smaller area within the original ghetto, which became known as the "Small Ghetto". The "Big Ghetto" area was reassigned to Jews deported from Germany, and was known as the "German Ghetto". 3,800 Jews from it were murdered in another massacre near Riga.
8.5x6 cm. Good Condition.
