A Riga court trying six Latvians on charges of the wartime murder of several thousand Jews in the Latvian town of Rezneke, heard testimony today that the defendants carried out the killing with such “efficiency” that only one Jewish resident of the town survived. The only survivor was Jacob Israeli, then a boy of 14, who was not killed by the Latvian collaborators with the Nazis because a non-Jewish neighbor had hid him.
The trial is being held in the Latvian capital’s huge Palace of Culture and three of the defendants are being tried in absentia. Latvian Soviet officials charged earlier in the case that Albert Eichelis, former police chief in Rezneke was in West Germany. They also said that Boleslaw Miakowskis, a former Rezneke police officer is now in the United States, and that Harold Puntelis, another former Rezneke police officer, is now residing in Canada. The court indicated that a verdict was probable November 5.
The three defendants present are Josef Basankowcs, a former police officer, Yannis Krasofsky, another former police office, and Peter Voicuk, former chief of the Rezneke prison. All three pleaded not guilty, contending that they had no choice but to carry out orders and that they were merely “minor cogs” in a machine which they did not control.
The prosecution charged that Eichelis gave an order that “not one Jew must remain alive in Rezneke” and that the other five defendants not only carried out that order but also took the initiative in murdering Jewish victims. The prosecutor also charged that there was conclusive evidence that the defendants had served the Nazis willingly and committed brutal murders on their own volition. He also noted that they had appropriated the possessions of their victims.
Thousands of spectators have crowded the hall during the trial. The walls of the lobby have been covered with photographs and photo static copies of documents dealing with the crimes of the defendants. V. Kauka, Deputy Chief Justice of the Soviet Latvian Republic, is serving as president of the court. Each of the defendants, including the three who are missing, has been assigned legal aid and defended by a Riga attorney.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
