Žanis Lipke Memorial
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The Žanis Lipke Memorial () is a memorial
museum A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
located on the island of
Ķīpsala Ķīpsala is an island on the left bank of the Daugava river, connected to Riga city center and Pārdaugava by the Shroud Bridge. Ķīpsala is divided from the rest of Riga by the Daugava in the east, '' Roņu dīķis'' in the north, '' Zun ...
in
Riga Riga ( ) is the capital, Primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Latvia, largest city of Latvia. Home to 591,882 inhabitants (as of 2025), the city accounts for a third of Latvia's total population. The population of Riga Planni ...
,
Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...
, at Mazais Balasta dambis, 9. It was opened in 2012 next to the former home of rescuer of
Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...
Žanis Lipke, where he had arranged a shelter for rescued Jews from the
Riga Ghetto Riga Ghetto was a small area in Maskavas Forštate, a neighbourhood of Riga, Latvia, where Nazis forced Latvian Jewish, Jews from Latvia, and later from the German "Reich" (Germany, Austria, Bohemia, and Moravia), to live during World War II. On ...
during
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
. At the beginning of World War II, Žanis Lipke hid the first Jewish refugees in temporary hiding places in different locations in Riga. During winter of 1941/1942 harboring people in hideouts in Riga and his own house became too dangerous, so he started building a shelter under the woodshed that stood next to his house. In January 1942 he dug out the first bunker all on his own, working at nights. At the beginning this bunker housed four people. In 1942 it collapsed when the spring thaw set in. Žanis Lipke immediately built a better-designed replacement. This improved bunker housed 8-12 Jews at a time, from 1942 to the summer of 1944. After the war Žanis Lipke used the bunker as a car pit. Over time, the pit caved in and the shed burned down in 1980s. Before the construction of the
Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects such as home ...
, a new shed was built for the Lipke family in the same place where the old shed with the secret bunker once stood.


Original idea

In 2000 AD the founders of the society "Žanis Lipke Memorial" – entrepreneur Māris Gailis, the honorary director of International Film Forum "Arsenāls", Augusts Sukuts and the daughter-in-law of Žanis Lipke, Ārija Lipke came to the idea of creating the memorial, after the unveiling of a memorial plaque by Lipke's house in Ķīpsala, 8 Mazais Balasta dambis. Their aim was to bring local and international attention to the legacy of Žanis Lipke. In 2005 they founded a society to begin
fundraising Fundraising or fund-raising is the process of seeking and gathering voluntary financial contributions by engaging individuals, businesses, charitable foundations, or governmental agencies. Although fundraising typically refers to efforts to gathe ...
for building a memorial in Riga.


Design concepts

The author of project of Žanis Lipke Memorial is
architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
Zaiga Gaile. Her idea for the external appearance of the building came from tarred sheds of
Ķīpsala Ķīpsala is an island on the left bank of the Daugava river, connected to Riga city center and Pārdaugava by the Shroud Bridge. Ķīpsala is divided from the rest of Riga by the Daugava in the east, '' Roņu dīķis'' in the north, '' Zun ...
fishermen and seamen, who built them of heavy floated logs, with their characteristic color and smell. Conceptually and visually, the shape of the museum evokes Noah's Ark or an overturned boat, which too could be considered as a shelter of life. On the basement floor of the memorial there is a bunker that matches the size of the original cache – 3x3m. Along its walls there are nine bunks attached to the wall. The bunker had two entrances – one was covered by a kennel, the other led to a nearby ravine, in case the bunker was discovered. During the construction of the bunker Žanis Lipke did not know how long people would have to hide in it, so he built it in such manner that kept its inhabitants connected to the outside world. They had newspapers brought to them as well as books. There was even electricity installed in the bunker and a radio was brought. Electricity was also used as a signal – if someone from Lipke family turned it off, it served as a signal that a stranger was approaching. Inhabitants of the bunker were supplied with weapons so they could defend themselves if necessary. Life in such cramped circumstances, and uncertainty of the future was a great emotional and spiritual challenge that sometimes led to conflicts.Kā zvaigzne tumsā, Dāvids Zilbermans, 16. lpp., Right above the bunker, on the first floor of the building, stands
sukkah A or succah (; ; plural, ' or ' or ', often translated as "booth") is a temporary hut constructed for use during the week-long Jewish festival of Sukkot. It is topped with branches and often well decorated with autumnal, harvest or Judaic ...
, a fragile scaffold-like wooden construction with transparent paper inner walls. The outside of it is sheathed with black boards to resemble the Lipke's woodshed. In Judaism, sukkah is a temporary shelter whose religious significance is celebrated during
Sukkot Sukkot, also known as the Feast of Tabernacles or Feast of Booths, is a Torah-commanded Jewish holiday celebrated for seven days, beginning on the 15th day of the month of Tishrei. It is one of the Three Pilgrimage Festivals on which Israelite ...
or the Feast of Booths. To Jews sukkah serves as a reminder of the tents and other fragile shelters of the ancient Israelites where they lived for forty years after God, with the help of
Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...
, had freed them from slavery in
Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
but had yet to bring them to the
Promised Land In the Abrahamic religions, the "Promised Land" ( ) refers to a swath of territory in the Levant that was bestowed upon Abraham and his descendants by God in Abrahamic religions, God. In the context of the Bible, these descendants are originally ...
. This joyful celebration takes place shortly after days of
Yom Kippur Yom Kippur ( ; , ) is the holiest day of the year in Judaism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, corresponding to a date in late September or early October. For traditional Jewish people, it is primarily centered on atonement and ...
fasting and repentance. Sukkah is a temporary shelter, and as such it must be simple to erect. The author of art conception of the Memorial, Viktors Jansons, conceived of the sukkah as a symbolic double of the bunker, the temporary shelter that hangs in between the heaven and the earth. This tent stands for the fragility of life and its dependence on God, reminding that it is not the walls that provide security, it is the faith. On the thin walls of the sukkah artist Kristaps Ģelzis has drawn – with light strokes discernible only in good light – a landscape with a verdant valley at the height of the summer. This landscape that Ģelzis calls "a meditation" can be seen both as meditation on the Promised Land and a vision of a summer in the Latvian countryside before the war. It is nature in its primeval simplicity and beauty, an archetypical testimony to life, the source of life and constant rebirth. The drawing is dim and vague as an image that is stored only in memories, or conjured in one's imagination by hope and longing for freedom. Above the sukkah on the attic level, there is an open hatch in the floor through which the lower two levels can be observed. The authors of the memorial consider it essential for the visitor to look at the real shelter, the bunker, and the symbolic shelter, the sukkah, from above. First of all, it implies looking back at the past from a point in the future where one no longer can discern details but has gained a perspective on the bigger picture: interconnections, immutable values, the intransient. Second, it resembles looking from the vantage point of view, the one of a narrator or, figuratively speaking, God, for we know that the people who found shelter in the bunker survived the war whereas at the time, they could only hope for such an outcome.


Opening

Construction of the memorial, which started in 2009, lasted for three years. The construction was funded solely by private donations and cost around half million
euros The euro (currency symbol, symbol: euro sign, €; ISO 4217, currency code: EUR) is the official currency of 20 of the Member state of the European Union, member states of the European Union. This group of states is officially known as the ...
in total. In 2012 the memorial was officially opened by both president of Latvia Andris Bērziņš and the president of
Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...
,
Shimon Peres Shimon Peres ( ; ; born Szymon Perski, ; 2 August 1923 – 28 September 2016) was an Israeli politician and statesman who served as the prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1996 and as the president of Israel from 2007 t ...
. Among the guests of the opening there were descendants of the saved Jews – representatives of the Smoļanski, Cesvaini and Lībheni families who came from Israel. Boriss Smoļanskis gave a speech during the opening ceremony and also deposited a relic of his family to the memorial – the
Torah The Torah ( , "Instruction", "Teaching" or "Law") is the compilation of the first five books of the Hebrew Bible, namely the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. The Torah is also known as the Pentateuch () ...
that belonged to his father Haims Smoļanskis, a close friend of Žanis Lipke. The Torah was preserved during the fateful events of the family – Jewish persecution, imprisonment in the ghettos and hiding places. Esther Schumacher and Jeanna Levitt, the daughters of Ābrams Lībhens who was also saved, brought a branch from the tree Žanis Lipke planted in
Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...
in 1977 near
Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (; ) is Israel's official memorial institution to the victims of Holocaust, the Holocaust known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (). It is dedicated to preserving the memory of the Jews who were murdered; echoing the stories of the ...
memorial.


See also

*
The Holocaust in Latvia The Holocaust in Latvia refers to the crimes against humanity committed by Nazi Germany and collaborators victimizing Jews during the occupation of Latvia. From 1941 to 1944, around 70,000 Jews were murdered, approximately three-quarters of the ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Zanis Lipke Memorial Monuments and memorials in Riga The Holocaust in Latvia