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ACTA TURCICA Çevrimiçi Tematik Türkoloji Dergisi

Online Thematic Journal of Turkic Studies actaturcica.org

Özel Sayı “Polonya ve Türk Dünyası”, Kasım 2019

158

The Karaims in Latvia Through the End of World War II: Status and Research Perspectives

II. Dünya Savaşı Sonlarında Letonya’da Karaimler: Durum ve Araştırma Perspektifleri

Stefan Gąsiorowski

Assoc. Prof., Institute of Jewish Studies Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland

[email protected]

Abstract

The first mentions of Karaims in Riga, the current

capital of Latvia, are from the 17th century. At the

end of that century, Karaim Salomon ben Aron from

Pasvalys lectured on Karaim history and religion in

one of the city's schools. However, it was not until

the end of the 19th century that the Karaims settled

permanently in Latvia. In Riga itself, unlike in other

regions, they were influential and well known,

although their numbers never exceeded 100. The

most distinguished among them were the Majkapar

family. In the 1880s, they established a tobacco

factory, and later a sweets factory and a Karaim

cemetery. The history of this family alone is worth

separate discussion. Yet there were also other

eminent Karaim families in Riga, such as the

Penerdży, Pandulo, and Sultan families. Their

prosperity was put to a brutal end during World War

II. By the end of the war, the Latvian Karaims had

completely dispersed.

Özet

Letonya'nın bugünkü başkenti Riga'da bulunan

Karaimlere dair ilk kayıtlar 17. yüzyıl tarihlidir. Bu

yüzyılın sonunda Pasvalys'li Karaim Salomon ben

Aron, kentin okullarından birinde Karaim tarihi ve dini

hakkında ders veriyordu. Ancak, Karaimlerin

Letonya’ya kalıcı olarak yerleşmeleri 19. yüzyılın

sonlarına kadar gerçekleşmedi. Diğer bölgelerden

farklı olarak Riga’da, sayıları 100’ü geçmemekle

birlikte, nüfuzlu ve tanınmış kişilerdi. Bunlar arasında

en dikkat çekici olanları Majkapa ailesi idi. 1880'lerde

bir tütün fabrikası, ardından bir tatlı fabrikası ve bir

Karaim mezarlığı kurdular. Tek başına bu ailenin tarihi

ayrıca tartışılmaya değer. Riga'da Penerdży, Pandulo

ve Sultan aileleri gibi diğer ünlü Karaim aileleri de

vardı. Refahları, II. Dünya Savaşı sırasında acımasız bir

şekilde sonlandı. Savaşın sonunda, Letonya Karaimleri

tamamen dağılmıştı.

Keywords

Karaims, Riga, Latvia, Majkapar family, a tobacco

factory.

Anahtar kelimeler

Karaimler, Riga, Letonya, Majkapar ailesi, tütün

fabrikası.

Introduction and the state of research

The aim of this paper is to introduce the history of the Karaim people in Latvia, a topic which has

received little attention from scholars. This is most likely due to the fact that the community there was

dispersed, and inhabited the area for a relatively short period of time - from the end of the 19th century until

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the end of World War II. Its numbers never exceeded one hundred. What is more, its members were partially

assimilated and some adopted other religious denominations. However, as shown in a recently published book

by Professor Petr Kaleta on the 56 Karaims in inter-war Czechoslovakia, these are not obstacles to recording

the histories of such communities, provided source materials have been preserved and the histories are of

some scholarly interest (Kaleta, P 2015). In case of the Lavtian Karaims, these two conditions seem to be met,

because despite being such a small group, they were social, economic, and cultural elites in their area of

residence. This is documented by materials from local archives and historical artefacts.

A modest list of publications on the Karaims in Latvia can be found in the Bibliographia Karaitica,

compiled by Barry Dov Walfish and Mikhail Kizilov in 2011 (Walfish, BD, with Kizilov, M (ed.) 2011, No. 4427

and 4428 p. 367). Both this bibliography and original research indicate that the most attention has been

devoted to the Latvian Karaims by Latvian scholar Dr. Valters Ščerbinskis of the Riga Stradiņš University in Riga,

who addressed them in a number of works from the late 1990s. They are mentioned in a five-page chapter of

his book Ienācēji no tālienes. Austrumu un Dienvidu tautu pārstāvji Latvijā no 19. gadsimta beigām lidz

mūsdienām (Arrivals from Afar: Eastern and Southern Peoples in Latvia from the End of the 19th Century to

Present Day), written in Latvian, as well as his Polish-language article Przedstawiciele narodów muzułmańskich

oraz Karaimi na Łotwie od końca XIX wieku do czasów obecnych (Muslim Nations and Karaims in Latvia from

the End of the 19th Century to Present Day), which was published in one of his collective works and essentially

summarizes the chapter in the book. In the chapter, Ščerbinskis presented an outline of Karaim history in Riga

through the end of World War I, focusing only on the Majkapar, Penerdży, Sultan, and Pandulo families. He

provided general statistical data on the Karaim population and information on the establishment of a Kariam

cemetary and the tobacco factory of Abraham Majkapar (Ščerbinskis, V 1998, pp. 22-27; Ščerbinskis, V 1999,

pp. 302-303). It is worth adding that Bibliographia Karaitica lists two prints from 1914 and 1915 concerning A.

Majkapar's factory (Walfish, BD, with Kizilov, M (ed.) 2011, No. 8060 and 8061, p. 708).

Ščerbinskis' works have been used by Dr. Leo Dribins from the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of

the University of Latvia in a collective work on the history of minority peoples in Latvia (Dribins, L (comp.)

1998, pp. 245-247), and recently by the abovementioned Mihail Kizilov, a Russian historian living in the

Crimea. The latter devoted nearly two pages to the Latvian Kariams in his book The Sons of Scripture. The

Karaites in Poland and Lithuania in the twentieth century (Berlin 2015). He based them on the works of

Ščerbinskis, the accounts of Dymitr Olechnowicz from Daugavpils, who handles statistical data on the Karaim

population in Latvia in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the Internet. In addition to the information from

Ščerbinskis, Kizilov also cites information on Abraham and Teodor Majkapar, their place of residence in Riga,

and the location of the Karaim cemetary. He also believes that the Rigan Majkapars may have been related to

well-known Russian musicians Samuił Mojsewicz Majkapar (1867-1938), a pianist and composer, and his

grandson Aleksander (b. 1946), an organist and musicologist (Kizilov, M 2015, pp. 185-186). Supplemental

information on the activity of the Karaims in Latvia, mainly in the tobacco industry, and on individual members

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of known Karaim families can be found in the journal, Awazymyz (Sulimowicz, A 2014b, pp. 28-29; Sulimowicz,

A 2014a, p. 4; Dubiński, AJ 2018, pp. 9-10).

Beginnings of settlement

The earliest information on the Karaims in Riga comes from the end of the 17th century and concerns

a middle school established by King Charles XI of Sweden called Schola Carolina (1675-1710). The school

taught religion, history, geography, logic, rhetoric, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. In 1696, school rector Johann

Uppendorf (1645-1698), a linguist and professor of Greek and oriental languages at the University of Dorpat,

invited Salomon son of Aron from Pasvalys, a Lithuanian Karaim, to lecture at the school. During his lectures,

the scholar presented an outline of Karaism and the history of the Karaim community. These lectures resulted

in the publication of a work entitled Apirion by librarian Adolf Neubauer in the mid-19th century (Neubauera,

A 1866, pp. 79-80; Garber, K 2007, p. 24; Wörster, P 2006, pp. 29-32).

It was not until the second half of the 19th century, during the time of the Russian Empire, that

Karaims settled permanently in Latvian territory. The region was undergoing intense industrial development,

especially in Riga, which became the largest Baltic city and a commercial, industrial, and cultural center. In

1878 in the Riga area, there were 145 factories employing a total of 12,000 workers. During the same period,

banks and new railway lines also appeared. The scale of the phenomenon is illustrated by the fact that from

1897-1913, the population of the metropolis doubled, and before the outbreak of World War I totalled

482,000. In 1913 in Riga there lived 95 Karaims, 47 men and 48 women. Of these, 8 men and 13 women had

Turkish or Persian (Iranian) citizenship (SALR, ref. No. F. 2791, apr. 1, dok. 164, k. 20, 80; Kolendo, IT 2014, pp.

82-83).

It is hardly a surprise that alongside Latvians, Russians, Germans, and Jews, Riga attracted Karaims,

who were heavily involved in developing the tobacco industry. Wealthy members of this nation had factories

in the Crimea, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, and shops and storage facilities all over the Russian Empire,

including in Vilnius and Warsaw.

Karaims in Riga and the Majkapar family

The history of the Karaims in Latvia is limited almost exclusively to Riga and spans from 1887-1945. On

7 December 1887, Abraham Samuel Majkapar (29 February 1840 - 24 July 1906) established a tobacco factory

there. In 1945, the last Karaims left the city, again occupied by the Soviet Union. Thanks to preserved source

materials, scholarly works, and photographs, the history of only a few Karaim families living in Latvia can be

recreated, including that of the best-known, the Majkapar family, as well as that of individual members of the

Egiz, Fuki, Kojlju, Kuszul, Pandulo, Penerdżi, and Sultan families (On the basis of tombstone inscriptions from

the Karaim cemetery in Riga).

The largest amount of preserved data concerns the tobacco factory of Abraham Samuel Majkapar,

which in 1907 was transformed into a limited partnership (A form of partnership similar to a general

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partnership, except that in addition to one or more general partners (GPs), there are one or more limited

partners (LPs)), and in 1915 into a joint-stock company (A company limited to the shares invested or

guaranteed to it). After Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, the factory was nationalized together

with other similar businesses, and some of the family's members were deported to Syberia. Initially, the

factory was located on Kolodjeznaja Street (Колодезная), but in 1930 the building became city property and a

middle school was opened in its place. The new factory headquarters was established at 58 Miera Street

(Миера). Its buildings still stand and are currently being renovated. One of them will be converted into a

theater. The Majkapar family also owned canning and chocolate factories next to the tobacco factory.

In addition to extensive source documentation of the Majkapar tobacco factory from the State

Archives of Latvia in Riga, there are relatively rich iconographical collections containing advertisements for the

factory's tobacco products (including in publications in various languages), photographs of the factory and its

cigarette boxes (from the Museum in Riga and on the Internet), as well as materials from the Latvia State

Archive of Audiovisual Documents, including films from the series "Soviet Latvia," filmed in 1940 just after the

factory was nationalized. Partially available online, the films show the Majkapar palace, built in 1876 at 3

Aristida Briana iela Street, a workers' club located in the old factory building (Padomju Latvija, No. 4/20), and

the transfer of a new flat to worker Feodosija Larionova (Padomju Latvija, No. 1/17).

Also preserved is the Karaim cemetery in Riga, which was established in 1892 on a 100-square-fathom

plot (1 fathom = 3 archines. From 1849-1915, 1 Russian archine = 71 cm) in Mežaparks, near the Muslim

cemetery on Mjulgrabenskaja Doroga Street (Мюльграбенская дорога). In 1911 the cemetery was expanded

by another 100 square fathoms. On 21 October 1939, an association was created to protect the cemetery.

Members included Samuel Majkapar (1874-1941), Teodor Majkapar (b. 1878), Samuel Penerdżi (b. 1894),

Mikołaj Majkapar (b. 1879), and Semion Sultan (b. 1908) – all residents of Riga (SALR, ref. No. F. 3235, apr. 5,

dok. 2835, k. 4). There are still a few Karaim gravestones in the cemetery, including that of Abraham Samuel,

the elder of the Majkapar family.

Outside of the cemetery, there is almost no indication of the religious life of the Rigan Karaims. There

is only mention from 1931 of a man named Burcze who acted as a hazzan in Riga and most likely lived near the

Majkapar tobacco factory (PAASK, Letter from Szymon Firkowicz, senior Karaim hazzan in Trakai, to the

president of the Karaim Religious Community in Lutsk, dated 27 June 2931. Collection: Archive of the Karaim

Religious Community in Lutsk, ref. No. VII.05.76, without pagination). Nor is anything known about the Kenesa

there; therefore, prayers and religious services probably took place in private homes or within the Majkapar

factory.

Karaims during World War II

Finally, a very interesting topic in the study of Latvian Karaims is their rescue from extermination

during World War II. The collection of Seraya Shapshal, kept in the Library of the Lithuanian Academy of

Sciences in Vilnius, contains a 1944 document for Michał Majkapar (d. 1958) certifying that he is not a Jew, as

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well as a letter from the aforementioned Semen Ilicz Sultan to the hachan requesting the same certificate for

him and his sister Zofia Muraszkina née Sultan (b. 1912) (LMAB. Seraya Shapshal Collection, ref. No. F. 143-

1057, k. 30, 47-47v). Because Shapshal also issued such documents to Karaims in the Czech Republic, France,

Lithuania, Germany, and Romania, it is possible that more Latvian Karaims also attempted to obtain them

(LMAB. Seraya Shapshal Collection, ref. No. F. 143-1082, k. 9).

According to source documents, German doctors Herbert Bernsdorff (1892-1968) and Fritz Steiniger

(1908-1985) likewise helped the Karaims from Latvia and other areas of German occupation. The doctors were

employed by the Civil Administration of the Reich Commissariat for Eastern Countries (Zivilverwaltung

Reichskommissariat Ostland) with headquarters in Riga, which encompassed territory in Latvia, Lithuania,

Estonia, and Belarus. Their anthropological research in Lithuania and Latvia confirmed that the Karaims are not

Jews and therefore cannot be confined to ghettos (although this had already taken place in Vilnius).

Furthermore, Steiniger announced his findings in the daily press, including in Deutsche Zeitung im Osten

(German Newspaper of the East) (LMAB. Seraya Shapshal Collection, ref. No. F. 143-1082, k. 8, 58; ELMR.

Collection of Dr. H. Bernsdorff, inv. No. III/106; Steiniger, 1942, p. 1; Kangeris, K 2008, p. 409; Kolendo, IT 2014,

p. 194; Fiebrandt, M 2014, p. 279).

The post-war reports and correspondence of H. Bernsdorff indicate that he was personally engaged in

saving the Karaims from extermination as a result of his prior contact with them. In 1912, while still a student

of medicine, he visited Bakhchysarai and Czufut Kale in the Crimea. Then in the 1920s and 30s in Riga, he had

several Karaims as pacients. Also before World War II, he held an apprenticeship together with Teodor

Majkapar at the Ķemeri resort near Riga. It seems that he led doctor of philosophy and life scientist Fritz

Steiniger, who worked as an associate professor at the Institute of Heredity (Institut für

Vererbungswissenschaften) of the University of Greifswald and as head of the Institute of Medical Zoology in

Riga (des Medizinisch-Zoologischen Instituts), to decisive and inconspicuous activity aimed at protecting the

Karaims (ELMR. Letter from H. Bersdorff to Szymon Szyszman, dated 3 March 1965. Collection of Dr. H.

Bernsdorff, inv. No. III/106 k. 72-73).

Distraction and fall

After World War II, the Karaims who had been saved left Riga and all of Latvia, which again found

itself under Soviet occupation. Some of them went to Germany (Hamburg, Lübeck), and then to France,

Canada, and the USA (ELMR. Collection of Dr. H. Bernsdorff, inv. No. III/106 k. 48-49, 51, 61). Determination of

their fates and location of their descendents requires further research and archival inquiry.

References

1. Archival sources

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ELMR, Ebreji Latvijā Museum in Riga, Collection of Dr. H. Bernsdorff, inv. No. III/106, inv. No. III/106 k. 48-49,

51, 61; Letter from H. Bersdorff to Szymon Szyszman, dated 3 March 1965, inv. No. III/106 k. 72-73.

LMAB, Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences in Vilnius: Seraya Shapshal Collection, ref. No. F. 143-

1057, k. 30, 47-47v; Seraya Shapshal Collection, ref. No. F. 143-1082, k. 8, 9, 58.

PAASK, Private archive, A. Sulimowicz-Keruth: Letter from Szymon Firkowicz, senior Karaim hazzan in Trakai, to

the president of the Karaim Religious Community in Lutsk, dated 27 June 2931. Collection: Archive of the

Karaim Religious Community in Lutsk, ref. No. VII.05.76, without pagination.

Padomju Latvija, No. 4/20, online video, viewed 3 April 2019,

<http://www.redzidzirdilatviju.lv/lv/search/160765?q=maikapar>.

Padomju Latvija, No. 1/17, online video, viewed 3 April 2019,

<http://www.redzidzirdilatviju.lv/lv/search/160761?q=maikapar>.

SALR, State Archives of Latvia in Riga: ref. No. F. 2791, apr. 1, dok. 164, k. 20, 80; ref. No. F. 3235, apr. 5, dok.

2835, k. 4; ref. No. F. 2996, apr. 12, dok. 1383; ref. No. F. 2996, apr. 12, dok. 1384; ref. No. F. 2996, apr. 12,

dok. 1375;ref. No. F. 105, apr. 1, dok. 269, k. 23.

2. Secondary literature

Dribins, L (comp.) 1998, Mazākumtautību vēsture Latvijā: eksperimentāls metodisks līdzeklis (The History of

Latvian Minority Peoples: A Textbook of the Experimental Method), Zvaigzne ABC, Rīga.

Dubiński, AJ 2018, ‘Kochający teatr fabrykanci – filantropi z Sum i ich Demony. Karaimscy kupcy tytoniowi w

XIX-wiecznej Warszawie’, Awazymyz, vol. 29, no. 3.

Fiebrandt, M 2014, Auslese für die Siedlergesellschaft: Die Einbeziehung Volksdeutscher in die NS-

Erbgesundheitspolitik im Kontext der Umsiedlungen 1939-1945, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, p. 279.

Garber, K 2007, Schatzhäuser des Geistes: alte Bibliotheken und Büchersammlungen im Baltikum, Böhlau, Köln-

Weimar-Wien.

Kaleta, P 2015, Tajemné etnikum z Krymu. Osudy příslušníků karaimské emigrace do mezviválečného

Československa [A Secret Ethnicity from the Crimea: The Fate of Karaim Immigrants to Interwar

Czechoslovakia], KLP, Praha.

Kangeris, K 2008, ‘Die Rückkehr und der Einsatz von Deutschbalten im Generalbezirk Lettland 1941-1945’, in

Deutschbalten, Weimarer Republik und Drittes Reich. Bd. 2, Ed. Michael Garleft, Böhlau, Köln, p. 409.

Kizilov, M 2015, The Sons of Scripture. The Karaites in Poland and Lithuania in the twentieth century, Sciendo,

Berlin.

Kolendo, IT 2014, Łotwa. Zarys dziejów narodu i państwa. Od czasów najdawniejszych do początku XXI wieku,

KSIĘŻY MŁYN Dom Wydawniczy Michał Koliński, Łódź, pp. 82-83.

Neubauera, A 1866, Aus der Petersburger Bibliothek, O. Leiner, Lipsk.

Sulimowicz, A 2014a, ‘Karaimi w dawnych reklamach’, Awazymyz, vol. 25, no. 4, p. 4.

Sulimowicz, A 2014b, ‘Przewodniki, reklamy i Karaimi’, Awazymyz, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 28-29.

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Ščerbinskis, V 1998, Ienācēji no tālienes. Austrumu un Dienvidu tautu pārstāvji Latvijā no 19. gadsimta beigām

lidz mūsdienām, Rīga, pp. 22-27.

Ščerbinskis, V 1999, ‘Przedstawiciele narodów muzułmańskich oraz Karaimi na Łotwie od końca XIX wieku do

czasów obecnych’, in Europa NIEprowincjonalna. Non-provincial Europe. Przemiany na ziemiach wschodnich

dawnej Rzeczypospolitej (Białoruś, Litwa, Łotwa, Ukraina, wschodnie pogranicze III Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej) w

latach 1772-1999. Changes on the Eastern Territories of the former Polish Republic (Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania,

Ukraine, eastern borderland of the III Republic) in 1772-1999, collective work, Krzysztof Jasiewicz (ed.), Oficyna

Wydawnicza RYTM, Warsaw-London, pp. 302-303.

Steiniger, 1942, ‘Die Karaimen’, Deutsche Zeitung im Osten, Jahrg. 2, Sonntag, 15. Nov., No. 314, p. 1.

Walfish, BD, with Kizilov, M (ed.) 2011, Bibliographia Karaitica. An Annotated Bibliography of Karaites and

Karaism, Brill, Leiden-Boston.

Wörster, P 2006, ‘Die Matrikel des Lyzeums in Riga als Quelle zur Personen- und Familienforschung’, Baltische

Ahnen- und Stammtafeln, Jg. 48, pp. 29-32.

List of photos

1. Teodor Maykapar. Fot. SALR, ref. No. F. 2996, apr. 12, dok. 1383.

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2. Samuel Abram Maykapar. Fot. SALR, ref. No. F. 2996, apr. 12, dok. 1384.

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3. Mikołaj Maykapar. Fot. SALR, ref. No. F. 2996, apr. 12, dok. 1375.

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4. Tobacco factory Maykapar in Riga. Logo. Fot. S. Gasiorowski. SALR, ref. No. F. 105, apr. 1, dok. 269, k. 23.

5. Tobacco factory Maykapar in Riga. Postcard.

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