Holocaust memorial in Vecsaule forest is crumbling, and no one owns it
A Holocaust memorial in the Vecsaule forest in Bauska municipality needs restoration costing about 90,000 euros, but its owner has not been established. The local authority is seeking a solution with the Israeli embassy.
A memorial to Holocaust victims in the Vecsaule forest, in Bauska municipality in Latvia's Zemgale region, is crumbling. In August 1941, a mass killing organised by the Nazis took place there, in which roughly 500 to 600 Jews from Bauska and the surrounding area were murdered. The memorial was created 55 years ago by sculptor Imants Murovskis, but today its owner is unknown. That is what holds up the restoration, because the local authority considers it cannot invest funds in property that is not its own.
Damage and cost
The site features Murovskis' dolomite monument "Cilvēku stāvi" ("Figures of People"), which symbolises the Holocaust victims. Aigars Urtāns, director of the Bauska museum, says the ensemble needs serious restoration: plants are growing on the stone, their roots are damaging the dolomite, and pieces are falling off. The municipality has drawn up a provisional estimate of about 90,000 euros.
Unclear ownership
The memorial stands on state forest land and is maintained by the Vecsaule parish administration together with local residents. Aivars Mačeks (National Alliance), chairman of the Bauska municipal council, says there is no official information about ownership. Unofficially, it has been said that the World Jewish community once built the memorial. The structure stands on Latvian state forest land.
Mačeks says he has met the Israeli ambassador in person, but there has been no feedback so far. In his view, the Israeli embassy should take on the responsibility. The municipality will continue talks with the embassy about ownership.
Ilja Ļenskis, a historian and director of the museum "Jews in Latvia", said the museum can work with the municipality or with whichever institution takes over the monument once its legal status is settled, in order to attract funding for the upkeep of memorials.
The site's significance
Agrita Hatkēviča, head of the Vecsaule library, recalls local accounts of the events in the forest, including gunshots heard at night. As a schoolgirl she herself recited a poem at the ensemble's opening in 1971. About 230 Jewish extermination sites have been identified in Latvia, and the Vecsaule forest ensemble is one of them. Until the owners are established, the start of restoration remains unclear. The situation was reported by Zemgale regional television.
