1942: German Occupation

The next year the Germans came in. They found all the documents and lists left by the Russians and the names of people who had denounced those arrested by the Russians. Amongst them was the factory cashier. They were jailed in Kuldiga, condemned to death and shot. The military court captain, Kukis, was a previous National Guard officer.  After the Germans came in, a lot of the administration was taken on by past Latvian National Guard, and at first the police in Kuldiga was run by agricultural officers, managed by Peteris Skujins and Pelekis, both from the agriculture department.

All of the Jews were put in a ghetto, a field with barbed wire around. All of their possessions were plundered and sold. Skujins was urging me to take a piano and some good furniture but I refused, I found all this action repulsive.  I got to know Skujins before the Germans came in, he had come to Snepele factory to check on the distribution of seeds to the farmers (these seeds were sent from Russia and they wanted them grown by the farmers to then produce rubber.)  This was at a time when the Germans had already taken Liepaja and everything was very dangerous, particularly to be on the roads. So Skujins hid near the factory in some bushes till the Germans came in and he could go back to Kuldiga.
After the Germans came in life went on as in independent Latvia, things started with great enthusiasm and we were happy to get on with work again.  The noise of the war went quickly far away in Russia.