Chaim Frank in Latvian Army Uniform, 1931

Daugavpils

Also: Dvinsk, Duenaburg.

The district town in the Latgale region, Latvia.

Daugavpils, situated on the Daugava river (formerly Dvina), was established in the 13th century and named Duenaburg, and was governed by the Livonian order (an order of German Christian knights). In 1561 Daugavpils came under Polish-Lithuanian rule. Dinaburg attained the status of a city in 1582. At the first partition of Poland   in 1772, it was annexed by Russia and it became the district town of the Vitebsk region. In 1893 the name was changed to Dvinsk. Between 1920-1940 it was part of independent Latvia, from which time it was called Daugavpils.

Jews began to come to Daugavpils from Poland   and Lithuania in the 17th century. The community was organized after the annexation by Russia. In 1772 there were 176 Jewish residents and by 1805 the number had swelled to almost 800. Their residence was confined to the old town. The rapid growth of the Jewish community dates from 1835 with the inclusion of the town in the Pale of Settlement, regions in western Russia in which Jews were permitted to live, from the end of the 18th century. In 1847 there were 2,918 Jews living in the town and by 1897 this had grown to 32,400.

In the Dvinsk community, in the tradition of neighboring Lithuania, there were hassidim and mitnagdim (opponents of the hassidim). The rivalry between the two streams split the community at the end of the 19th century.

In 1865 a beginning was made on the construction of the large synagogue Choir Shul. With the passage of time some 40 synagogues were built in the city, as well as three Talmudei torah and yeshivoth.

In the 20th century two of the leading rabbis of their time officiated in the city. Rabbi Meir Simcha Hacohen of the mitnagdim stream occupied the rabbinical chair of the Kahal Sha`ar synagogue for 39 years. He was known by the Jewish public for his Talmudic erudition as shown in his book Or Same'ach (interpretations of the Rambam). The hassidic rabbi, Josef Rosen, known as the Sage of Rogatchov, author of the book Keeper of Secrets was Rabbi of the Planover Minyan synagogue for 50 years.

Charitable institutions maintained by the community, Cholim", a fund for the provision of flour for pesach, a soup kitchen for the poor, an old-aged home, a synagogue, a low-priced cafe and a benevolent society.

Several secular Jewish schools (mostly private) were operative from the 1860s. Heder Metukan, where secular subjects also were studied, was opened in 1900. A Jewish vocational school (carpentry and metalwork), which was opened in 1887, was among the largest of its kind run by the various communities in Russia. In 1901 the municipality was responsible for three Jewish schools, and some of them began to teach Hebrew. In 1902, a vocational school for girls was opened, as well as two libraries. At this time only 24% of the Jewish children were educated at secular institutions. The majority attended hadarim, Talmud torah and yeshivoth. From 1913 on, one of the schools taught through the medium of Yiddish.

On the eve of World War I the Jewish population of Dvinsk was 55,680.

In 1915, the community extended help to hundreds of Jewish refugees who settled in the town. From 1916-1918 the majority of the residents abandoned Dvinsk because of the fighting raging there.

In 1920 there were 11,838 Jews in the town. They elected a community council and began to organize their lives anew. When Latvia was independent, in the framework of a national cultural autonomy for minorities according to the Versailles Treaty of 1919, the languages of instruction in the Jewish schools and the educational institutions of Agudat Israel Torah Ve`derech Eretz were Yiddish and Hebrew. In two out of five elementary schools Yiddish was the medium of teaching, in two it was Hebrew and in one Russian was used. The Jewish high school began teaching in the Russian language, later both Yiddish and Hebrew were added. The local yeshivah belonged to the yeshivoth network Beth Josef named after the Sage from Rogatchov. During the thirties an additional yeshivah was opened.

In 1934 during the dictatorship, inspection over Jewish educational institutions passed into the hands of Agudath Israel and the language of instruction became Yiddish.

There was a drama circle in the town, in addition to a large library and printing press.


The living conditions and economic situation of the first Jews in the place were hard. Following the law of 1876, many Jews from the farms and estates came to the town causing intense overcrowding. Several years later an exodus began with people going to the USA and South Africa. Work on building fortifications and a large military camp provided many sources of employment for the Jews of the town. Jewish building contractors gave work to Jewish laborers and tradesmen. Others were suppliers of clothing, footwear, food, wood and metal work to the army. Only a few Jews worked in agriculture.

From the beginning of the 20th century, thanks to the completion of the railway junction, the economy of the town developed. Jews were prominent in the industrial sector and they were also the leaders in the textile branch. Half the Jewish breadwinners were engaged in commerce, and others were artisans and members of the free professions. After World War I, with the annexation of the town by Latvia, industry suffered as a result of being cut off from the markets in the USSR. During this period many people moved to the capital, Riga, or became petty traders.

During the first quarter of the 20th century several peoples` bank, and a co-operative credit fund of the artisans and laborers.

From 1920-1934 Latvia was a democracy; the posts in the municipal departments of economy, administration and finance were manned by Jews.

Zionist activities in Dvinsk commenced at the end of the 19th century. A branch of Poalei Zion was opened in 1901. The Zionist Socialists and Young Zion were organized a number of years after this. The youth formed groups at the the renaissance of the Bar Kochva scout movement. From the pioneering youth, an offshoot of Bar Kochva, Gordonia, Herzliya and He'chalutz Hamizrachi. A pioneering preparatory kibbutz was started in 1920 and many of the young people went on Aliyah to Eretz Israel.

Dvinsk was the center for the workers parties and in 1893 and again in 1897, groups of Jewish socialists joined in the workers` strikes in the town. Following the pogroms of 1903-1905 against the Jews of Russia, Jewish youth, mainly from the workers parties, were active in self-defense units. The Bund began to organize at the end of the 19th century. In independent Latvia, in the framework of a democratic Latvian socialist party, it was active as an autonomous unit on the Jewish problem. The head of the movement, Dr. Noah Maisel who was a member of the community council, was elected to the municipal council and as a representative of the Social Democrats in the Seim (parliament).

During the course of time most of the political functions of the community were assumed by the Bund and the United Zionist Socialist Party. The General Zionists, the Mizrachi and the Seimistim, who were in favor of Jewish autonomy in the place where they lived, were active in the town.

A number of clubs were opened; named after Brenner, Peretz and Bialik, and a sports club for the Jews of Dvinsk.

Anti-semitism reared its head during the 1920s and from 1934 increased in intensity under the dictatorship of Karl Ulmanis. Activities of the Zionist and socialist organizations were brought to an end.

In 1935 the Jewish community was 11,116.


The Holocaust Period

Following the Ribbentrop-Molotov accord, signed in August 1939 on behalf of Germany and the USSR, the Red Army entered Latvia and set up a Soviet regime in the summer of 1940. Many Jewish owned stores and factories were nationalized. Communal organizations were broken up. A number of the Jews joined the new government and also obtained key positions or worked in enterprises which were set up.

A week before the outbreak of war between Germany and the USSR (June 22,1941), Jews who owned property, and those who were considered disloyal to the government, were exiled to Siberia. After the outbreak of the war, and with the approach of the German army, many Jews attempted to escape to the interior of Russia but only a relatively small number was successful. Many were killed on the road by German aerial attacks or were murdered by members of the Latvian fascist organization.

Hundreds of young Jews of the town served in the Red Army, in the Latvian division. Most of them were killed in action.

On June 26,1941, the town was captured by German forces. Between June 29 and July 2, Jewish men aged 16 to 60 were ordered to appear daily at the market square. From here they were taken to the gaol. After a week`s imprisonment, a number of men were taken to the nearby railway park where they were murdered. Some of the prisoners, among them doctors and artisans, were released. The remainder were sent to forced labor.

On July 15 all the synagogues were commandeered except for the Kahal Sha`ar and Planover Minyan Synagogues and the Jews were ordered to wear a yellow star.

A ghetto was set up on July 26 in barracks and stables on the other side of the river. About 15,000 people from the town and surrounding villages were crammed into this space, without proper sanitation. A Jewish committee and Jewish police force was appointed to manage life in the ghetto. Doctors improvised a hospital and several workshops were started.

During the first days of the ghetto a classified list was drawn up. The elderly, the sick and those unfit for work were taken to the forest in the area and murdered. This was followed by the murder of the Jews of the nearby towns in the provincial action, the liquidation of the Jews from the small towns.

Work permits were issued to those who were employed outside the ghetto.

The destruction of the community of Dvinsk itself began with two massive actions in the second and third weeks of August 1941, in the Pogulianka forest.

According to German sources, 10,162 Jews of Dvinsk and the surroundings were killed in the early months of the occupation.

After a further action, on November 8 and 9 of the same year, only those Jews (and their families) who were employed on vital work remained in Dvinsk. They were about 1,000 in number. About 500 of them were allowed to live at their places of work, outside the ghetto. The remaining Jews were taken to the Pogulianka forest and murdered.

Following a typhus epidemic at the end of November the ghetto was put in quarantine for four months. In addition to those who died of typhus there were many more deaths from starvation.

On May 17, 1942 the ghetto was liquidated and all the inhabitants were butchered, including the council members and internal police force and their families.

Only about 400 Jews remained in the town, and then a resistance movement was organized. The members obtained weapons and trained secretly in their use. The aim was to join the partisans across the border. Only some 15 of them were successful.

On October 26, 1943, the last of the Jews of the town were sent to the camp in Kaiserwald (in Latvian Meza Parks) in the vicinity of Riga. Some of them committed suicide on the way.

About 20 Jews managed to survive by going into hiding.


After the war communal life was renewed. In 1946 the community numbered around 2,000. At the service of the synagogue also acted as shochet (ritual slaughterer) and mohel. Drama and cultural circles were organized for Yiddish speakers. These organizations were closed down in the 1960s on the orders of the government.

In 1972 the cemetery was closed, and only the synagogue continued to function.