Terror Has No Diary

Of the 7000 Jews living in the Baltic seaport of Libau (Liepaja), Latvia when the Germans invaded on June 21, 1941, only 200 remained alive when the city was liberated May 9,1945. Of these, maybe two dozen were hiding within Libau itself. This story is about 12 of them. Eleven adults were in the care of Robert and Johanna Sedols who hid them in a cellar behind a false wall constructed with the "holy bricks" of the demolished Choral Synagogue; the lone child was cared for by a widow, Otilija Schimelpfenig, in the secure comfort of her home. For their courage and moral stature, the Sedols and Mrs. Schimelpfenig are memorialized as "Righteous Among the Nations" at Yad Vashem. How these 12 Jews arrived at their hiding places, and how they endured until liberation, is a remarkable story, one of miracles. Inscrutable miracles, cast naked upon the ruins by men and women of courage and cunning, not saints.