MAKA

Riga, 16th May 1942 [1943][1]

My dear Heda, Stana, and Rudíček,
Once again, I have the opportunity to write to you. I want to tell you briefly how things are here. I can only describe about 10% of it; no room for details. The transport train stops in the suburbs of Riga, about eight km away. We get off the train while the SS with pistols in hand are going berserk. Leave all baggage, watches, rings, hand over documents; then my turn came... nothing happened, and yet it seems that the watches are ticking more loudly. The trip to the ghetto.... 8 km, I only carried one bag of food. In the ghetto, we were received by the Jewish police with sticks, and in some cases... The beginning was terrible. Four transports from Germany came here before us. Muster (Appel) for men was in... days; they were sent to work 10 km from the ghetto. Men under 55 years old... went off, most were from our transport. They returned after 6 months in terrible shape. Of 2,000 men, 1,200 came back. Exactly half of the 430 men from Prague came back. Everywhere, the Jewish police behaves worst of all. In the first weeks, we were given no food, only a piece of bread a day, something like two slices.
The ghetto is big. The poorest people had lived here in the old days. It is surrounded by barbed wire and guarded outside by the Latvian police. Barbed wire also separates us from 4,000 Latvian Jews: they can come over to us with permission. Their 400 women live separately from the men. All in all, 94,000 people lived here before. Twice in a row, they shot the women and children in the ghetto, during their evening muster (Appel). Then the men had to bury them themselves. Many found their wives, children, etc., or course dead. Three days later, we are sent to work in the shelters for... under escort. We can... take food along. There was a layer of [clothing?] on the ground up to two feet high... a table was set, and food... We reported there at 6:15 am and returned home at 9 PM with a piece of dry bread. It was 35 degrees below zero, the hunger was terrible. Two months later, I was detailed to snow clearance at the place where I arrived. Work began; there were still piles of … in the ghetto. Most people sold watches and rings for a mere pittance.

I could not part with mine … and because of this I was terribly hungry.

There were frequent checks at gunpoint. Black marketeering is punishable by death. Every day, someone was shot or hanged for it. Often, we were taken to the gallows to watch the executions after work. All of this was awful. We never got back anything from our luggage.

Only a few got their rucksacks back. Myself, I only got back my betroža [?]. Most probably, all our luggage was sent to the SS in Riga. There is a clothing depot here but it's hard to get anything from there except some broken things: all the good things had been taken by the police. A second transport arrived from Terezín - 65 men were sent to Salaspils, the women and all the others were taken to the woods - to meet their Maker. After that, a few more transports came from Germany and Vienna. The first action took place here two months after our arrival. 1500 elderly people were taken to the forest, to meet their Maker. The second took place last year at Passover; the third involved Latvian Jews. 41 Latvian Jewish policemen were killed in the ghetto by machine guns, 140 were sent to the forest to meet their Maker. I won’t write about individual cases. In Salaspils, most died from starvation or a bullet. German and Czech Jews would just as soon kill each other as look at each other. Aryans and Dutch Jews favor Czech Jews but not German ones.

A year ago, I was detailed to a factory where they repair train wagons. Forty Latvian Jews and 8 women from Prague work there. We report for work at a quarter to seven in the morning and get home at 7 PM. Sometimes the work is very hard. The way from the ghetto and back takes altogether 3 hours. Here work 500 Latvian Aryans, Russian prisoners and the Dutch. I've gotten very good at communicating in Russian. With the Aryans, I speak only Russian. There are Germans here as well. My friend works here, too. He is a very good man, middle-aged. He brought me the latest greetings from Heda and Jenda. You can’t imagine what a joy it was. Mail is a big problem, there is censorship; I gave him tobacco for the first news. I get it by black marketeering, keep a third for myself, and live from that. The rations are too small to survive on. We get 100 grams of sugar per two weeks, the bread they give us for three days lasts me a day and a half; also coffee, cereal, black flour, salt, gryce,[2] smelly fish heads and greens. We pick nettles and use them as spinach – it’s delicious. We are four to one room, with the Fesslers;[3] they know Jožka, K. and E., but no collective. But I've had enough, I have risked enough already. Sometimes I am amazed that I’m still here. On the black market everything is very expensive: 1 kg of butter 90 rubles, 1 kg of lard 65 rubles, an egg 3-6 rubles, flour 25 rubles, etc. I sell textiles for money and take food at lower prices. They say I’m tychtig.[4] No jinx! My friend, the one that brought me greetings from you, is leaving for 6 days on vacation. Heda, if you could arrange one thing, I would be very grateful to you. I need men's shoes, size 40-41, maybe Jenda has an extra pair that are still good for work. I now wear men’s size 42, but they are almost worn out; and I can only manage the walk in comfortable footwear (hafrlata[5] would do). Then also men's sandals, 39-40, like those which Stana wore to the office. Just so they are okay. Then about 3 pairs of socks for the summer, I wore ski socks all summer; 2 tubes of toothpaste and a few Czech cigarettes for the head of our group, who is very good to me, his word means a lot in the ghetto. Then, my ring is at Sembera’s[6] - Jenda will give you the address – also, if possible, my bracelet that you have, and if possible get some other gold – and hide all this in the heels of the shoes. Put letters from all of you under the sole and send one separately to his address. The package cannot be large, just a little bigger than a shoe box. Heda, if you have a piece of fabric of the kind they use to make aprons, it doesn’t matter what kind, sew it into a duvet, and I’ll have it made for a work dress here, add it in the package. Talk it over with Stana, and also with Jožka is still in Brno, if he is still in Brno. Just arrange everything quickly so everything reaches him in time. He is traveling from Germany on the 27th of this month, he has only 6 days of vacation. Send cigarettes for him separately - he’s a heavy smoker - without a letter. I don’t know if you can get it all, I don’t know your situation and the conditions there at all. I enclose another letter, if possible, I’d like at least a short answer, and check if Ota Polák is in Prague and at this address: Prague 8, King Jiří Square, 917. I... owe him much. Congratulations on your baby. Write me everything, my darling Heda and Stana, write about how you live, what is going on, how little Pepíček is doing, and what you hear from Isa. Getting any kind of word is a real miracle, so is being able to write anything. There are many partisans and paratroopers in the forests around here. It is difficult to get in touch with them, but I already have friends here in case something happens. I do not know if I will be able to get out of here, after what happened in Warsaw and Kovno, we’re beginning to have our doubts. So, dearest Heda, Stana and Rudíček, thank you many times in advance for your willingness to help and for your sacrifices. Be healthy, all of you, stay together forever, even in times like I am facing now. It's terrible when a person is alone.
All the best
Yours Marta.

Dear Jožka... and Jiříček, I cannot write much, but I think of you often. Let me know if your sister is writing, her exact address and how she's doing. I would like to establish contact with her too. The thought of your parents, it's terrible. Write what happened to them; they are old people, and you get all sorts of ideas in your head. But write only the truth. How are you, what's new? Here is... Neugebauer’s[7] brother from the [Jewish] community is here with the Latvian Jews, we often talk with them. What's going on with the Kohns? Help Heda to send everything. Stay healthy, all of you. Greetings and a kiss,
Marta

Write a few lines to Heda, let them write everything on thin paper. I will accept things for Dicky if there is still room (in the package), she is my only friend.[8]

[1] The date 1942 must be a mistake; some of the events the letter describes took place in 1943.

[2] Meaning not established.

[3] Ludvik (1879) and Eliška (1893) Fessler from Brno.

[4] Efficient, competent (from the German “tüchtig;” used in colloquial Czech before World War Two).

[5] Low shoes with long tongues that flip over the lacings (from the Austrian German “Haferl;” used in colloquial Czech).

[6] Evidently an acquaintance with whom Marta left the ring for safekeeping.

[7] Probably Rudolf Neubauer (b. January 17, 1904) from Prague.

[8] Courtesy Jewish Museum, Prague.