From the Book “ Oral History of Latvia. History, Culture and Society Through Life Stories”
Riga 2003, Latvijas Universitates Filozofiyas un Sociologiyas Instituts. Nacionala Mutvardu vestures projects”
NMV 803

ELIZAR RABINOVICH

Interview: February 16, 2000, CA, USA
Other interview participant: author's daughter Riva Gavartin
Interviewer: Inara Reine
Transcribed by Ilona Grube
Edited, commented on and processed for publication by Maija Hinkle
Translated from Latvian by Aigars Brants

Elizar Rabinovich is a 101 year old Latvian Jew who emigrated to the United States in 1991.

He summarized his life and world view for an article in the California press.

"My whole life has been about change. I was born in the outskirts of czarist Russia, witnessed the Russian Revolution. I fought Nazis and struggled under the Soviet regime. I lived to see my native Latvia independent again. I saw three empires fall and freedom triumph. And I was strong enough to come to America at the age of 91 and become a US citizen at 97."

"I saw a lot of evil during the last 100 years and have learned that, no matter how long it may take, evil will be defeated, and good will prevail."

The secret of longevity? "I have never hurt anybody. There is no place in my heart for anger or envy. I've been surrounded by people who loved me and respected me. Tve eaten whatever I liked. It's what's in your heart and in your head that matters, not your stomach."

Article by Nora Villagran "San Jose Mercury News", San Jose, CA, on December 26, 2000.

The interview is edited and, presented in its entirety.

Inara Reine: When were you born?

Elizar Rabinovich: On December 24th, 1898, in Jelgava. My father was a tailor, my mother, a milliner. Both were Jewish. My grandfather on my father's side was a musician. He played at Jewish weddings and at celebrations on barons' estates. He died young. My grandfather on my mother's side came from Zagare, a town on the border with Lithuania. He was a cobbler and read the Bible at a synagogue on Saturdays. I spent my childhood right in the city. We went to a school where we were taught the Bible from a young age. Later I attended a Jewish school. For few years I had a chance to run throughout the city, to play on the streets, to climb roofs, and to fight. There were Latvian kids, German kids and Russian kids. In those days we spoke Yiddish in our family, but on the streets we spoke Latvian to Latvians, German to Germans, and Yiddish among Jews. I went to a Jewish school where they taught Russian, German and the Bible... What was it called?...

Inara Reine: Talmud?

Elizar Rabinovich: Talmud.. .Yes.. Bible. The first part of the Bible. The same Bible that was taught to you as well - the translation of the Old Testament <from> Hebrew. When I got older I wanted to study at a Commercial School. In Jelgava there were German and Russian Gymnasiums; I don't remember if Latvians had one. Science high schools were almost the same as a Gymnasium, only their graduates became engineers, not lawyers or actors. I can not recall any Latvian school similar to an elementary Gymnasium though.

Inara Reine: How old were you when you started elementary school?

Elizar Rabinovich: I don't remember anymore. I think I was 7 or 8 years old, it was probably in 1907, or maybe in 1906.1 did not attend the Gymnasium, could not be accepted there because of a set percentage for Jewish students, what was it, no more than 24? In order to get accepted, parents had to have money. I wanted to study at the Commercial School. I was supposed to start there the following year, but first I started working, and then the next year World War I broke out and we, Jews, were evacuated to Russia. In Russia I took a bookkeeping course. I worked in the factory during the day and studied at night.

Inara Reine: You were in Elementary school in Jelgava when the Revolution took place. Do you remember that?

Elizar Rabinovich: I remember the Gymnasium, I remember the Japanese war. There was nothing going on in Latvia.

Inara Reine: But there was a Revolution in Latvia in 1905.

Elizar Rabinovich: We lived on Maria Street. There was a brewery near by. At one point we saw the brewery workers jumping over the fence and running away. My father told us that there was an uprising in the brewery. Cossacks were called in. They whipped the workers, so the workers jumped over the fence. I remember a meeting in Strelnieku (Riflemen) Garden. I went with my father. Someone gave a speech. People paraded down the streets carrying the flag and at the Dobele gates two groups met and yelled out something. But in 1905 I was very young, not yet in school.

I remember that a girl from Zagare where my mother was from came to my Mom to learn how to make hats. But she did not have permission to live in Kurzeme. At that time Jews who were not permanent residents, who had not lived there for a long time, but were from Lithuania or anywhere else, had no right to live there. We had a small house. When the local policeman came to investigate who she was, the girl crawled under the bed. But he was standing right there, he saw it all. She was pretty silly. She was maybe 12 or 13 years old. He said: "OK, come on out, come on out..." The policeman was told that she had come earlier that day and will leave in the evening. One was allowed to come for a day, but not to stay overnight. He recorded this in his notebook and told me to come to the police station the next morning at 9 o'clock to finish the paperwork.

The policeman left and went on to the end of our street, to a bar that sold food and beer, but no strong liquor. There were two men sitting there. They seemed suspicious to him, so he asked for their passports. At that one of the men took out a gun from his pocket, shot the policeman, and ran away. My father was called to the police station, because the murdered policeman's notebook was found in the bar with an entry stating that Sima Rabinovich has to come to the police station. He went. Later we asked him, "Why were you summoned?" He said, "The street was not clean enough, that's why I was summoned" [laughs]. We sent that girl back home.

Inara Reine: How was the evacuation of Jews during the World War I?

Elizar Rabinovich: In 1915, around April, war was going on. The Germans occupied Kurzeme, the city ofLiepaja. Tsar Nicolas Nicolayevich - Riva, sit down, help me out if I have trouble coming up with Latvian words - said that Jews might help the Germans. He did not care that the barons, the land owners and most city governors in Kurzeme were Germans. But Jewish traders and craftsman - they might be traitors! So they evacuated the Jews. The evacuation wasn't bad. We got an apartment in Russia; the Russians received us quite well. All of us went to work, to earn money. I ended up in Marshansk, in the Tambova region. I studied to become a locksmith. Since there was a shortage of workers, we had to do everything. After a while I left for another factory. I had a better life there. I studied at night, improved my Russian and learned bookkeeping. When I finished the courses, I got a job as a bookkeeper and worked there until 1922. Then we left for Latvia, our whole family together.

Inara Reine: Did you return to your own house in Jelgava?

Elizar Rabinovich: No, we sold the house before the war. What could I do? Not everyone needed a bookkeeper; everyone also had to know Latvian well. I could speak it, but not so as to work as a bookkeeper. I started to work at a store in Jelgava. Then I got married. We opened our own little store. Our children were born.

Inara Reine: What nationality was your wife?

Elizar Rabinovich: Jewish. And so we lived until the beginning of the Second World War. Our store was located on the market square.

Inara Reine: How many children did you have?

Elizar Rabinovich: Four. I still have them, they live all over. The kids went to a Jewish school. They were not taught Russian. Jelgava had very few Russians. Few people spoke Russian, most spoke Latvian.

Inara Reine: What was the main language in the Jewish school?

Riva Gavartin: In my school it was Yiddish, in my brother's school it was German. At the beginning it was German, but when Hitler came to power, it seemed somewhat... unnecessary, and we switched to Hebrew.

Elizar Rabinovich: They studied Latvian in earnest. Their teacher was a Latvian. He loved the kids that he taught. When the Russians occupied Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania, it was a surprise.

Inara Reine: What did you sell in your store?

Elizar Rabinovich: Clothing. Mostly for workers. We always had a lot of customers.

Inara Reine: Where did you get the clothing? In Latvia?

Elizar Rabinovich: Yes, yes, in Latvia. We bought the fabrics in Riga and contracted seamstresses to make them into clothing. I and my wife were the salespeople. It was like this until September 1st, 1939. After that war broke out. Germans occupied Poland and then it was occupied by Russians, the communists. The Communists set up military bases in Latvia in October. They demanded bases from Latvia. Latvia allowed the bases, but not in Riga. The troops were not visible, but they were inside the bases, inside with the tanks, but that's about it - they were just sitting there, motionless. But in 1940 the Russians sent in more troops, their bases inside Latvia became active and they occupied Latvia. I was in Dobele that day because my daughter participated in a fair there. Since we had a lot of regular customers there, I also was at the fair. Suddenly we heard a big noise somewhere in the air in the middle of the Dobele marketplace. Everyone looked up into the sky. Suddenly a large airplane appeared. We had never seen one like that. Latvia had airplanes, but not big ones like this - only small ones. It was in the morning. And in the afternoon there was again commotion on the road - it turned out that tanks were moving out of their bases towards Jelgava. The bases were located somewhere in Saldus. When we went home, they were already in Jelgava, they were all over Latvia. Later rumors spread that worried us, because some citizens, Latvians (not all, but a large percentage) said that Jews were responsible, that Jews, that is, I, a well-known cobbler, some others like us, that we had asked Stalin to occupy Latvia! There was a rumor that Jews asked for that [laughs]! There was no such delegation...

Riva Gavartin: There was a delegation, but that was Kirhensteins, it consisted mostly of Latvians.

Elizar Rabinovich: When the Russians came, our President Ulmanis was arrested in four days and was replaced by the darling of the nation, that famous Latvian writer. I also loved to read his books... What was his name?

Riva Gavartin: Vilis Lacis.

Elizar Rabinovich: He was a good writer. But he was the boss now. And Kirhensteins was the chairman and the speaker of the Parliament, and there was a party... Wait, wait... What party was there?....How these years.. my memory...

Inara Reine: And after that, what was life like in Jelgava?

Elizar Rabinovich: Wait, wait... What was his name, the name of the party leader?.... Kalnberzins!... They were the main ones from very beginning. What did Jews have to do with this? What do they want from Jews? But there were rumors like that. When war started in 1941, many said openly that when the Germans come, they will beat communists and Jews. Rumors like that. We did not know what to do. One of our neighbors was a Latvian, a teacher; he talked to me on June 27th. He said, "Don't worry, they won't touch you." Many went to the train station seeking to escape, some traveled to Riga on foot. He asked me, "Where will you go?" Then someone told me that there is a train and many people are leaving. We went to the railway station. There were two trains that took refugees. I thought that we would go to Riga where we had relatives, and there we would decide what to do next. But once we were on the train, we could not get out, since the train started to maneuver and took us to Russia.

Inara Reine: How did you spend the beginning of the Russian occupation, the year 1940? Could you continue your business?

Elizar Rabinovich: Yes, I could. They sent commissars to the large stores to protect them...

Riva Gavartin: Well, those were nationalized..

Elizar Rabinovich: Wait!.. But small stores, they did not touch those, we could still operate. We had sold almost everything by the beginning of the war; we decreased our operations so much that there was almost nothing to do. There was no place to work.

Inara Reine: What did you experience during the deportations of June 14*?

Riva Gavartin: They did not touch us.

Inara Reine: But what happened?

Elizar Rabinovich: Well, a lot of people were deported from Latvia. I just read in the newspaper that a week before the war 20,000 people were deported, 14,000 of them were Latvians; 5 thousand were Jews, and 2.5 thousand from other ethnic groups.

Inara Reine: Did you know any of them?

Elizar Rabinovich: Yes, I did. A lot of rich people were deported from Riga, but our relatives were not really rich. They did not deport any Jews from Jelgava.

Riva Gavartin: Unfortunately, I have to say...

Elizar Rabinovich: Unfortunately, if they would have deported a few hundred, half of them might have returned. Out of those 20,000 deportees, women were separated from men. They were sent to work. We met one lawyer after the war who had been deported. His wife said, "When we arrived in Siberia, I and my son, who was very young, just one year old, were separated. "And the men, Latvian, Jewish, they were imprisoned. Then they were told, "You have to work, or you will die from starvation." She went to work on a collective farm and sent crisps to her husband. Jews from Jelgava were not deported.

Inara Reine: So you went to Russia with that train that you boarded?

Elizar Rabinovich: Yes, to Russia. And all the Jews who remained in Jelgava, about 3 thousand, they were killed as soon as the Germans arrived. They were shot not by Germans, but by Latvians, by local people.

The historian Andrew Ezergailis argues in his book. The Holocaust in Latvia, 1941 - 1945, (1996, The Historical Institute of Latvia and The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, D.Q, p. 161-162) that the extermination of the Jews of Jelgava was organized and carried out by the German occupying forces, but also urges more study of the correspondence between Vagulans and von Medem.

Inara Reine: How did it happen that your train went to Russia?

Elizar Rabinovich: When the Germans entered Jelgava, the train was already in Estonia.

Inara Reine: Where did your train go in Russia?

Elizar Rabinovich: We ended up in the Kirov region, almost in the Urals. People were sent to different villages and cities. They asked us, who does not have many belongings. When we put all our things together, we got one half-empty suitcase. We had nothing; we bought some things on the way. They brought us to a large village that was 100 kilometers from a railway station. There were people there, who had never seen a train, or a city. But it was kind of interesting that the person who picked us up at the station and brought us to the settlement location looked at one somewhat old Jew and asked, "Where are you from?" He answered; "From Mitava" (it was the Russian name for Jelgava). "Are you a tailor?" - "Yes." - "Did you live on Constantin Street?" - "Yes." - "I was serving in the 144. battalion." He had been in the military under the Tsar; he was about 55 years old. He said, "I served in Mikhailovskaya barracks." Those barracks were across the street from the house where that tailor used to live.

Inara Reine: How was life in Russia?

Elizar Rabinovich: I and a man from Riga were sent to work in a restaurant. We worked for forty days. Then we were drafted into the army and sent to Kirov. The Latvian communist government was located there, the government of Kalnberzins and Kirhensteins. They brought us there, then sent us to a training camp. We went to war in December, 1941.

Inara Reine: Did all of your family go to Russia on that train?

Elizar Rabinovich: From Jelgava?... The whole family.

Riva Gavartin: What do you mean the whole family? Iza was not with us. He went alone. That's why we left as weU. Mom started crying - how can he go alone... As a young guy, he joined up with someone and left. Mom was worried that he will perish, not us.

Elizar Rabinovich: We did not know... Yes, he was in Riga then...

Riva Gavartin: No, he just stopped by and said that he is leaving.

Elizar Rabinovich: He was in Riga...

Riva Gavartin: No, he was in Jelgava. <…>

Inara Reine: What happened to your family while you were in Russia?

Elizar Rabinovich: They stayed in that village. Only I was drafted.

Riva Gavartin: Iza was also drafted after 6 months.

Elizar Rabinovich: I left; my oldest son was drafted half a year later. No, it was a year later! I was stationed near Moscow as of December. Germans were suffering losses by then. That's where the war begun for me. We went. The Latvian division went from Moscow towards Latvia. I was wounded in 1942 at Staraya Russa. I served as a nurse. When I recovered from my wounds, I met my son. From then on we fought together in the same battalion. A lot of acquaintances from Jelgava were there, too. We arrived in Latvia in June of 1944 at Skaune, in Latgale. From Skaune we went towards Riga. My son was wounded. On October 13th, not far from Riga, I got wounded the second time. I recovered in Rezekne. 2-3 months later I returned to the front lines. We were brought to Jelgava by train. Jelgava was burned down. We did not stay in Jelgava for long; we went to Dobele, towards Tukums. I met only two Russians, acquaintances from Jelgava. Otherwise I didn't see anybody I knew. I took part in the battle at Blidene...

Elizar Rabinovich: I was in the army until the end of the war. The last thing that I remember is that early on the morning of May 9th I watched a column of German officers pass by - they were being marched to prison, and their column was lead by our officer Amdurs, a Jew, Captain Amdurs. A Jew was bringing German officers to prison [laughs]!

Inara Reine: When the war was over, could you return to Jelgava?

Elizar Rabinovich: We could. Our family arrived in Riga in December, 1944. There was nothing to return to in Jelgava, nowhere to live - it was destroyed, burned down. We went to Riga. My family received an apartment. I was at the camp in Baltezers, 15 kilometers from Riga.

Inara Reine: How did you go back to normal life? Was Riga and the rest of Latvia destroyed as well?

Elizar Rabinovich: Latvia? - No. We were in a small town in Latgale that was burned down, but further on - no. During the entire trip we saw only one small town that was burned down. Only Jelgava was burned down.

Inara Reine: How was life after the war in Riga?

Elizar Rabinovich: I started looking for a job, and found one. I worked as a stock manager from then on. Salary was low at the beginning, but it improved later. We survived. It was not like it is now for me. There were long lines. Collective farmers brought their goods to the market and sold it for higher prices. But we survived. We did not have meat every day. My wife was a good cook; she could manage with almost nothing. Food was cheap, too. State prices were very low, but they didn't have enough goods; we had to buy goods in the farmer's market, where they were more expensive. But we were not hungry. Potatoes were 10 kopeks per kilogram - that was the government price. We always had plenty of potatoes. They cost 50 kopeks per kilogram in the farmer's market, those were good potatoes, but we bought them in the government store. Those who were better off ate better, tastier. We had a lot of fish, cheap fish. My wife bought a type of cod.

Riva Gavartin: There is no such fish in America. How was it called? - Poor man's salmon.

Elizar Rabinovich: Salmon was expensive. Those who had a business on the side, illegal business, had money, but nobody liked them, they were punished. I never did anything illegal.

Inara Reine: Where did you live in Riga?

Elizar Rabinovich: On Kr. Barona Street, in the center of the city.

Inara Reine: Why did you leave Latvia then?

Elizar Rabinovich: It happened at the end of 1980-s. My grandchildren left first. My grandchildren got married and decided that they will not have a future there. Latvians started having demonstrations at the Freedom Monument. They decided that it is time to leave and left. After they left, my daughter wanted to be with them, too. How could we stay alone then?

Riva Gavartin: We were scared that there might be another war.

Elizar Rabinovich: We thought that there will be a war - Russians brought tanks into the streets. They let us go then.

Inara Reine: When did you leave?

Elizar Rabinovich: I left at the beginning of 1991; those were Gorbachev's times...

Riva Gavartin: A few weeks before the barricades.

Elizar Rabinovich: It was not safe; I was worried that shooting might start again. We did not want to stay.

Inara Reine: Where did you arrive in America? Did you come directly to America?

Elizar Rabinovich: We came directly to America. We got on the plane in Leningrad and came straight to America. Our son was in San Francisco, and grandchildren, too.

Inara Reine: Where is your wife?

Elizar Rabinovich: My wife died in 1980 in Latvia and is buried in a Riga Cemetery. Jews begun leaving at the end of the 1960-s. We did not want to leave back then, but then the unrest begun. The grandchildren left and we did not have any choice but to leave as well. My daughter, son-in-law and I arrived last. I did not want to go, but I did not have a choice.

Inara Reine: What kind of values do you cherish?

Elizar Rabinovich: Honesty. Whoever wanted to live somewhat better during Russian times, not eat borsch every day, got arrested. I lived this way: I spent what I earned, I had no conflicts with the State, and I had no headaches. I think that that's why I have lived so long. When I was 70 years old, one young Latvian doctor told me that I have a very strong heart and that it will serve me for many years to come. It is still serving me today. Of course, I have some heart problems now, but that's OK - I am alive.

Inara Reine: Do you have any religious beliefs?

Elizar Rabinovich: No, I do not. When I can, I attend a synagogue. I went to a synagogue in Latvia, during communist times. After I retired, I kept attending the synagogue - nobody could tell me otherwise. I like it this way. I respect everyone, who is religious.

Inara Reine: If you could start your life over again, would you change anything?

Elizar Rabinovich: You know, I can not answer that question. Life was hard, but at the same timewe had our joys and our sorrows, big sorrows.

Inara Reine: What do you think about the future?

Elizar Rabinovich: What can I think! [laughs]. My life is almost over - what do I have left: a year, two, maybe three.

Inara Reine: Are you already 101 years old now?

Elizar Rabinovich: Yes. I am glad that I can walk on my own feet, that I do not need any help. I am just afraid that one day it could get worse. I want to die on my feet, not in my bed. My hearing is good, but my vision is bad. If I had better vision, I would learn English even if I am 100 years old. But now, if anyone approaches me on the street I can just tell them, "I do not speak English."

Inara Reine: When did you lose your vision?

Elizar Rabinovich: In 1988.

Inara Reine: What happened? What went wrong?

Elizar Rabinovich: Old age. I had eye surgery here in America, but it did not improve my vision.

Elizar Rabinovich died on June 27, 2002. He was 103 years old.