Pod Save America Hosts Call on Democrats to Cut All Israel Military Aid, No Longer Accept AIPAC Funding
Jews, Israelis Targeted in Austria Amid Surge in Antisemitic Incidents; Local Jewish Community Calls for Action
‘All of Our Strength’: Over 1,000 Pro-Israel Activists Gather in DC for Solidarity Conference
‘Devastated’: Wesley LePatner, Killed in Manhattan Mass Shooting, Was a Jewish Communal, Philanthropic Leader
Sen. Angus King Vows to No Longer Vote for Israel Military Aid Until Gaza Conditions Improve
Europe Won’t Pressure Israel to ‘Commit Suicide’ Amid Gaza Backlash, Palestinian State Push, Says Israeli FM
Israel’s National Soccer Coach Attacked in Athens Before Soccer Fans Chant ‘F–K Israel, Free Palestine’ at Match
New York Judge Sentences Neo-Nazi to 5 Years for Livestreaming Bomb Threats Against Jewish Hospitals
US Pressures Lebanon to Issue Cabinet Decision to Disarm Hezbollah Before Talks Continue
UK Plans to Recognize Palestinian State in September Unless Israel Meets Conditions, Starmer Says
New Holocaust Museum Honors Couple that Hid Jews in Latvia
Error: Contact form not found.
by JNS.org
Israeli President Shimon Peres. Photo: Wikimedia Commons
JNS.org – Israeli President Shimon Peres attended a ceremony marking the opening of a museum honoring a couple that saved 50 Jews during the Nazi occupation of Latvia in World War II.
The museum, located in Latvia’s capital of Riga, honors Zanis Lipke and his wife Johana, who hid Jews in a 90-square foot-underground pit. Yad Vashem honored Zanis and Johana in 1966 as “Righteous Among the Nations,” Israel’s official recognition for non-Jews who helped save Jews during the Holocaust.
Latvia had a thriving Jewish community prior to the Holocaust. Jews were represented in Latvia’s parliament during its period of independence between World War I and World War II.
“The Jews of Latvia invested a lot in Latvia’s prosperity, but the Holocaust destroyed them,” Peres said at a state dinner hosted by Latvian President Andris Berzins before the ceremony, The Baltic Course reported.
At the dinner, Peres spoke about the Rumbula Massacre, in which a Nazi SS unit killed about 25,000 Jews with the help of local collaborators. But Peres also mentioned that many Latvians, including Zanis Lipke, worked to save Jewish lives during the Holocaust.
