Latvia honours Holocaust rescuers

RIGA (AFP-EJP)---Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga paid tribute Wednesday to a Latvian dock worker and others who saved dozens of Jews during the Nazi occupation of the Baltic country in WWII.

Unveiling a new memorial to Zanis Lipke and more than 260 less well-known Latvian rescuers, Vike-Freiberga said that the lessons of the Holocaust must never be forgotten.

"Each year, we bow our heads in honour of the Jewish nation, remembering the innocent souls who were brutally annihilated only because they did not fit Nazi ideology and were considered ’untermensch’," said Vike-Freiberga, using the German term for "subhuman".

"It must be remembered at all times that the Jews who were brutally murdered were our brothers, and this was a loss for our nation, for all of humanity," she said at the site of the monument, near the ruins of the Riga synagogue which was blown up by the Germans on July 4, 1941, with the worshippers still inside.

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However we shouldn't fall into the trap of thinking that the Jews of the Baltic region were killed simply because they did not fit "Nazi ideology". There were all too many local collaborators. Because of that, though, we must draw extra attention to those who were on the side of righteousness. God bless them.