The Destruction of the Jews of Latvia

Max Kaufmann (1897 - 1987) – entrepreneur and public figure, was born in Daugavpils, Latvia and later lived in Riga. During the Nazi occupation, he, his wife and teenage son became prisoners in the Riga ghetto. They were then taken to concentration camps Kaiserwald (Riga), Stutthof (Poland), Buchenwald (Germany), and participated in the “death march” to the concentration camp, Sachsenhausen, where Kaufmann’s wife and son died. After his release, Max Kaufmann worked with the Central Committee for Jewish refugees in Munich, Germany. Through his initiative, an organization was established to search for Nazi war criminals and their accomplices, who were responsible for the extermination of Jews in Latvia. Since 1947 Kaufmann lived in the USA (New York). Former prisoners from the Riga Ghetto who were part of the group Kaufmann organized in the early 50s, became the foundation of the organization “Jewish Survivors of Latvia”, based in the USA. He served as its first president. Max Kaufmann’s book reflects the author’s personal memories, along with testimonies of other prisoners. It was published in German in Munich in 1947, was reprinted in 1999 in Constance, Germany and has since been distributed by a German publisher in English in 2010.