Carolina Taitz papers relating to the Rīga ghetto

Carolina Knoch Taitz was born on Feb. 24, 1929, in Rīga, Latvia. She grew up in the countryside outside of Rīga on a small farm. She recalls the time up until the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1941 as a peaceful time. In 1942, her family was forced to move to Rīga when the Germans invaded Latvia. She, her sister, and her mother were transported to the ghetto in Rīga shortly thereafter. Carolina was saved from two Aktionen; the second time, she was saved and given shelter by a Russian priest. She remained hidden in the priest's cellar for two years and eight months. The priest disguised himself as a Jew by wearing a yellow Star of David and sneaked in and out of the ghetto in Rīga, carrying letters between Carolina and her sister and mother who were still imprisoned there. This priest also helped many of the other Jews in the ghetto. She was liberated in 1945 when the Soviet Union seized the Baltic nations of Estonia, Lithuania, and Latvia. She immigrated to the United States in 1967.

United States Holocaust Memorial Museum

The letters from Berta Knoch to her sister, Carolina Taitz, were donated to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum by Carolina Taitz during her survivor interview with the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Oral History Department. English translations of the Latvian originals were provided by Taitz at the time of her oral history interview. The letters were initially given to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Collections Department but were later transferred to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Archives in Mar. 1991 by Lisa Topelmann.