Jewish Health International

Riga’s importance in history dates back many centuries. It is the capital of Latvia, one of three Baltic nations newly independent since the break up of the Soviet Union. It is situated on the Baltic Sea, between Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It has a long history of occupation, by Livonians, Poles, Swedes, Russians, Soviets, and Germans, and then Soviets again, with very brief periods of independence.

In 2008, I was asked to go on a medical mission with Jewish Healthcare International (JHI) specifically to add my expertise towards the development of a dental center of excellence at the Jewish Hospital, Bikur Holim. I have recently returned from another trip and can honestly say that the work we are doing has made a significant difference in the lives of many. To really know why my work is important, one must have a historical perspective as it relates to Riga, to Latvia, and to an entire Jewish community in the Baltic States. This community has dealt, through the ages, with unimaginable horror, tragedy, and sorrow, yet continues to promote Jewish ethical and moral values, and to persevere.

History of Jews in Riga

Jews began to settle in Latvia in large numbers in the 1700’s, and built communities which flourished through the 1800’s. The communities flourished despite chronic anti-Semitism, restrictions on movement, commerce, and where a Jew could settle. Immediately prior to World War I, there were over 100,000 Jews in Latvia. After WWI, a new enlightenment descended upon Latvia. For the first time in its history, it became an independent country, and Jews began to identify as true members of the nation. The new state constitution guaranteed to all minorities equal rights, cultural autonomy, and freedom of religion. Yet, covert anti-Semitism continued to raise its ugly head. Jews were still denied most state or civil positions. According to some reports, the republic of Latvia employed only 200 of its nearly 100,000 Jews. The fact, that the civil service was closed to Jews, led to a concentration of the more successful Jews in trade, industry, and the freelance professions. The less successful minority lived in poverty.

Jews were also systematically excluded from the country’s medical and dental schools. Training had to be obtained outside the country, and only after returning to take the 11th semester in the medical school and pass a weighted examination (against the Jewish doctor), was a degree granted. Despite these facts, Jewish Latvian doctors became some of the most respected and well trained experts within a variety of fields. In 1924, the Jewish Hospital Bikur Holim was founded.

I have read about many of the doctors of this time in two highly recommended books, The Murder of the Jews in Latvia, 1941-1945, by Bernhard Press and Riga, City of Life, City of Death, by Max Michelson. The stories of many of these great physicians, their dedication to their fields, the Jewish community, and their ultimate demise are heartbreaking.

The Nazis Arrive

 

 

In mid-August, the Germans ordered the establishment of a ghetto in the southeastern area of the city; this ghetto was sealed in October 1941, imprisoning some 30,000 remaining Jews.

In late November and early December of 1941, the Germans announced that they intended to settle the majority of ghetto inhabitants "further east." However, their intentions were quite different. On November 30 and December 8-9, at least 26,000 Riga Jews were lined up against mass graves and shot by Latvian and German killing squads in the Rumbula Forest, five miles southeast of Riga.
 

 

Memorial at Rumbula Forest

The surviving 4,000-5,000 Jews were incarcerated in an area of the ghetto known as the "small" or "Latvian" ghetto. The Germans also deported some 20,000 Jews from Germany, Austria, and the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia to Riga. The section of the ghetto where these foreign Jews were imprisoned was called the "big" or "German" ghetto, established as a separate entity from the "Latvian" ghetto. An additional transport of 1,000 Jews from the German Reich shared the fate of the murdered Riga Jews. Most of the remaining German Jews deported to Riga were also later murdered in the Rumbula and Bikernieki Forests.
 

In the summer of 1943, the Germans deported some of the remaining ghetto inhabitants to the Kaiserwald concentration camp, a hard labor camp established in March in the north of the city. Others were deported to Kaiserwald subcamps nearby. The Germans destroyed the ghetto in December 1943, and deported the last Jews to Kaiserwald. The surviving Jews in Latvia, from the destroyed ghettos of Riga, Liepaja, and Dvinsk, were now concentrated in Kaiserwald and its subcamps. Most imprisoned there died either from malnutrition, acquired illnesses, or were just plain murdered.
In 1944, in an attempt to destroy evidence of mass murder, the Germans forced prisoners to reopen mass graves in Rumbula and burn the bodies. Once the work was completed, the Germans then killed these prisoners. In the summer of 1944, prior to retreating from the oncoming Soviet army, the Germans murdered thousands of Jews then held in Kaiserwald and its subcamps. Those remaining alive were later deported to the Stutthof concentration camp in Germany.

On October 13, 1944, the Soviet army liberated Riga. Almost all of Riga's Jews had been murdered by the Nazis.
 

The Bikur Holim Hospital

During the 10 year period from its renewal in 1992 to 2002, Bikur Holim provided 40,000 medical treatments and 80,000 dental visits. In 2003, the hospital treated 4200-4300 in-patients, 4,500-5,000 out-patients and provided dentistry to about 9,000. Bikur Holim provides free medical care and medicine to more than 1500 people a year. Hospital improvements are made with help from sponsors and benefactors from abroad, including many Alpha Omegans and the Alpha Omega Foundation US through JHI.

The Jewish community in Latvia now consists of approximately 11,000 who identify themselves as members of the Jewish minority. (A good site to review concerning the Latvian government’s official view toward Jewish history and current Jewish issues is http://www.mfa.gov.lv/en/service/4727/ .) The vast majority of Jews live in Riga. There is a surviving central synagogue, recently restored to its glorious condition prior to WWII.

The Jewish community has its own monthly newspaper, Gersharim (Bridges). There is a Jewish Community Center, located in the old Jewish Theater, and supported by the JDC.
 

There are two Jewish day schools in Riga, and a Center for Judaic Studies was established in 1998 at the University of Latvia. And, Latvia can boast that it is home to the only Jewish Hospital in the former Soviet Union.
 

The Importance of my work in Latvia with JHI

As one can plainly see, Bikur Holim hospital holds a special place in the history of the former Soviet Union, Latvia, and in the hearts of the Jewish community. As a member of the JHI team, my mission is to provide educational support and clinical training to the physicians and dentists who work for the hospital. My colleagues and I, led by Stuart Fischman and Dov Sheldon Sydney, both Alpha Omegans, have worked on developing a dental center of excellence. We have trained the dentists, over the past 10 years, to implement new systems of treatment planning, infection control, pathology recognition, occlusal concepts, periodontics and endodontics, dental implantology, and advanced surgical procedures. I am proud to say, that after my recent mission, these practitioners are some of the most capable dentists I know.
 

Having such a center within the greater confines of this medical complex restores some of the grandeur that was stolen by the Soviets and the Nazis. Promoting its excellence in Riga drives higher end patients to the hospital, improving its reputation regionally, and giving it much needed revenue for other health related services. Bikur Holim continues to treat Latvians of all backgrounds who share the common need of decent, dignified care. It focuses on GI, Ophthalmology, Cancer, and hospice care. In turn, it serves as a source of pride for a Jewish community in need of support, and a community which has shown an incomprehensible ability to survive, an example of persistence, much like the Jewish people in general.