The word Holocaust is derived from the Greek holokauston, a translation of the Hebrew word Aolah, meaning a burnt sacrifice offered whole to God. This word was chosen because in the ultimate manifestation of Nazi killing program- the extermination camps- the bodies of the victims were consumed whole in crematoria and open fires.
Origins of Holocaust is visible even befor Nazis came to power in Germany. They had made no secret of their anti – Semitism. In Hitlers book “Mein Kampf”
Author further developed the idea of the Jews as an evil race struggling for word demination.
After coming to power Nazis started assault against the Jews with a boycott of Jewish businesses on April 1, 1933.
Nazis occupied Latvia in 1941.Then the holocaust started in Latvia also.
In my opinion, we build a modern and democratic Latvia without acknowledging open and objective evaluation of our history as our most important priority and moral obligation. We have to look into the heritage of our past.
Mr. Zanis Lipke and other people who saved the lives of Jews in their turn will always serve as symbols of humanism and heroism for the Latvian nation.
We must not permit that Latvia’s development and integration in Euro-Atlantic space is hindered because of half-truths, cowardly silence as regards the past crimes and passivity in the investigation of these crimes. …
