Advisors

Ilya Lensky, Director of “Jews in Latvia” Museum in Riga, LV

Ilya Lensky graduated from the History and Philosophy Department at the University of Latvia, specializing in Modern and Contemporary History. Since 2006 he works at the Museum "Jews in Latvia", director from 2008. His field of interest includes Latvia's Jewish history with emphasis on Enlightment, modernization of Jewish community, Jewish-Latvian relations, as well as issues of Holocaust commemoration.

Publications

  • Еврейская Рига: краткий путеводитель [Jewish Riga: A Brief Guidebook] / [составители Илья Ленский и др.]. Рига: Совет еврейских общин Латвии, 2008

  • Bergs, Arvēds; Celmiņš, Gustavs// Handbuch des Antisemitismus: Judenfeindschaft in Geschichte und Gegenwart. Band 2. Berlin; New York: De Gruyter – Saur, 2009

  • Antisemītisma izpausmes: vēsture un mūsdienas [Manifestations of Antisemitism: History and Present Day]/ autori: Iļja Ļenskis, Didzis Bērziņš ; zinātniskais redaktors, priekšvārda autors Kaspars Zellis. Rīga : Latvijas Cilvēktiesību centrs, 2015

  • Holokausta piemiņa Latvijā laika gaitā (1945–2015): izstādes katalogs = Holocaust Commemoration in Latvia: 1945–2015. Exhibiton Catalogue. – Rīga: Muzejs “Ebreji Latvijā”, 2017

  • Jūdaisms Latvijā [Judaism in Latvia]//Latvijas Nacionālā enciklopēdija. Riga: Latvijas nacionālā bibliotēka, 2018

Eliyohu Krumer, Rabbi of Peitavshul Synagogue in Riga, LV

Eliyohu Krumer has been a student and teacher of Beis Medrash of Riga, under the patronage of Yeshivah Shvut Ami in Jerusalem, Israel, since 2002. In 2006 he was appointed as the head of that institution. Within a small local orthodox Jewish community Beis Medrash of Riga has managed to uphold very high standards of Jewish education in Talmud, Shulchan Oruch and philosophical aspects of Torah. In 2018, Eliyohu Krumer was invited to assume the position of Rabbi of Peitavshul – the only fully functional synagogue in Latvia. His responsibilities also include servicing the Jewish Cemetery. 

Besides religious education, Eliyohu Krumer also holds a degree in Psychology having studied at Universities of Latvia and Stockholm, and has worked for several years as an analyst in marketing and social research.  

Mitchell Lieber, Producer-director of the forthcoming documentary, Rumbula's Echo, about the Holocaust in Latvia.

Mitchell Lieber is producer-director of the forthcoming documentary, Rumbula's Echo, about the Holocaust in Latvia. Early work-in-progress screenings received critical acclaim and the film's complete rough cut (draft) is being finished in 2019. The documentary is based on thousands of hours of archival research as well as 100 hours of original footage.

Lieber has made three documentary shorts related to the Holocaust in Latvia. Prior, in 2002, he created the Rumbula.org web portal which grew to 140 native pages.

Mitchell Lieber has spoken and presented Rumbula’s Echo work-in-progress at numerous conferences such as Jews in A Changing World, the IAJGS International Jewish Genealogy Conference, the Deutsch-Baltische Gessellschaft’s Rumbula Conference in Germany and New Directions in Holocaust Research in Latvia, organized by the University of Latvia and U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Lieber's early career was in radio, spanning 10 years at Chicago's WNIB (now WDRV) where he served as public affairs director, producing and hosting, Chicago, a program of interviews and documentaries. His earlier show was This Is A Test, which critic Ray Townley described as “the most culturally satisfying program on the air" in Chicago. Lieber began as a news stringer for Chicago’s WGLD-FM (now WVAZ). He served as treasurer and a board member of the public radio organization, the National Federation of Community Broadcasters (NFCB). For 25 years he was an officer and board member of Chicago Classroom TV.

Mitchell Lieber has had a simultaneous career in business as the award-winning leader of the consulting firm, Lieber & Associates. He has served as president of the Chicago Association of Direct Marketing (CADM) and chair of the ANA International ECHO Awards. For nine years he taught in the Integrated Marketing Certificate Program at DePaul University and is a contributing author to three books.

Lolita Tomsone, Director of the Janis Lipke Memorial and Museum, LV.

Lolita Tomsone is the Director of Žanis Lipke Memorial and museum, dedicated to collecting and sharing hidden stories of Jewish rescuers in Riga, Latvia. The museum commemorates a human rescue operation devised by Žanis (Janis) Lipke, a Latvian dockworker and smuggler, who succeeded in saving the lives of over 50 Jews from the Riga Ghetto during the Second World War. Žanis and his wife Johanna assisted Soviet POW and sheltered people regardless of their social status, religion or nationality. The captivating story, brilliant new building and innovative presentation make the visitors’ experience exceptionally rich and deep. The memorial is designed so that the passage through the enclosed tunnel bears no suggestion of the real scale and structure of the building. A visitor for a short while is surrounded by warm darkness, sounds and music and can focus on the intense story of the rescue. It takes a while for a visitor to locate its center, allowing a glimpse of the bunker from the attic. It takes time and dedication to discover the long, hidden memories. 

In 2014, the museum initiated a project Underground Riga, where high school students were involved to film video interviews of the last generation of people who still remember the WWII as eyewitnesses, boys and girls who were hidden behind the Riga walls. In Lolita Tomsone’s words:

I’m interested in “silent heroes” – people who went against mainstream and their own fear to help persecuted fellow human beings. I worked as a journalist in Israel and Latvia so I’m fascinated how WW2 is still used in political discourse and perceived in Europe, Israel and, especially, in Latvia where it always causes heated discussions and very polarized opinions.