The Names

The decision to rely on four listings of victims and survivors, deported to the Jungfernhof concentration camp on four different transports during the first week of December 1941, requires further explanation. There are no surviving records, documents, or photos of the Jungfernhof concentration camp in operation. Are the Nazi deportations lists the best and perhaps only source for identifying who was imprisoned at the camp during its first few months of operation? What was the criteria for these early deportations? Was it location—everyone in a house or on a street—or were there other measures, such as political affiliation, or education, or the degree of assimilation? Spiritual resistance in the Holocaust refers to a non-violent form of resistance linked to human values of dignity and civilization, running counter to Nazi attempts to dehumanize the prisoners. There were a number of artists and teachers at the camp. A series of covert classes and religious experiences, such as two Bar Mitzvah’s, a Chanukah party, and baking matzah, took place there. There was also a small group of non-Jews who were imprisoned at the camp.

The first transport deported from Berlin to Jungerfernhof, never arrived at the camp. The next four transports appear to have arrived at the Skirotava train station intact. The treacherous walk to the Jungfernhof concentration camp included beatings. Survivors report that a small number of victims were lost along the way. The next transport from Vienna arrived a few weeks later, some dying before arriving at the Skirotava train station. Over the next months, prisoners were transferred to the Riga Ghetto or Salaspils concentration camp, and prisoners at the Riga Ghetto were brought to Jungfernhof. These transfers, in addition to the Dünamünde Action, and about 700 unnamed deportees arriving at the Skirotava train station, make a reliable listing of prisoners at the camp nearly impossible to ascertain. The first four deportation lists appear to provide the most accurate reading of who was at the camp.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum released the deportation lists to the project. In addition, deportation lists can be downloaded from the USHMM’s website, as well as from the Leo Baeck Institute’s website. A team of technicians were hired to manually transfer the 3985 names of victims and survivors, preserved in PDF and jpeg formats, to an excel sheet. While this process can be prone to errors, the new listings appeared to correspond to the original lists. The names were then carefully reviewed for spelling errors and missing information. The excel sheets were compared to the original deportation lists and corroborated with the Buch der Erinnerung published in 2003, to ensure an additional layer of accuracy. This development enabled us to post the names to the website, allowing families to find the names of relatives, dates of birth, city of origin, and last addresses.

Ilya Lensky, Director of the Museum “Jews in Latvia” provides oversight for the review process. Please use this form for further inquiries.

Research Methodologies

Working as an interdisciplinary team of historians, technologists, artists and scientists, the range and scope of the research on a limited budget, is noteworthy. Joining historic rigor with technological innovation, the website displays a variety of research methodologies to include: timelines, 3-D tours, interactive timelines attached to an interactive map, animated maps. archival maps, base maps, photogammetry and 3-D modeling, interviews, case study presentations, videos, photography, and heirloom objects as story-telling devices. The work carries the project into a 21st century model of remembrance.

Initial Interviews

Starting in 2019, project director Karen Frostig conducted three testimonial interviews. Margers Vestermanis, the oldest living Latvian Holocaust survivor is also an esteemed historian and founder of the Jewish Museum in Latvia. As a teen, he was assigned work duties at the camp. Interviewed by project director and recorded on film in October 2019 by Latvian crew, he recalled his memories and knowledge about the camp, specifically, the location of a mass grave.  

A rare interview of two surviving brothers imprisoned at the camp in 1941, took place with Frostig in the fall of 2020. The Stern brothers, Peter and Samuel, shared their unique story about their short stay at the Jungfernhof camp as young children, ages six and two. Their unusual journey of escape and survival took place under the protective watch of their mother.

Frostig also interviewed Herbert Mai and Fred Zielberger, two survivors ro Wurzberg who lived on the same street #6 and #12, and were deported to Jungfernhof on the same train. Aboard the Nuremberg transport, they were the first to arrive at the camp and the last to leave, in July 1944. They returned to Wurzberg together. They came to the United States on the same ship and were drafted into the US army on the same day.

A third interview occurred with Fred Zimmak, son of Leonhard Zimmak. Leonhard testified against Rudolf Joachim Seck, chief commandant of the Jungfernhof concentration camp, aiding to his conviction as a Nazi sergeant committing crimes against humanity. Seck received a lifetime sentence by a West German court, dying at the Flensburg prison at age 66.

Folder covers of Nazi transports from Austria to the East. Photo Karen Frostig (2018)