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The internal matters of the ghetto were administered by Jews, but of course under the constant control of the commandant. Each contingent had its council of elders,

in the Kassel group it was the transport leader Dan Blaettner. You know his wife, Alice née Heinemann. They had run a pelt business in Kassel. Their mother was with them.

Above all groups stood one elder, it was a Herr Leiser from Cologne. Every group had a work deployment which assigned people to work according to their abilities. Thus life proceeded for two years with a frequent ”exciting variety” as described earlier.

My stint in the dairy lasted for about a year. I lost most of my mental strength due

to the stress of the controls. On the other hand, I was happy to be able to bring something extra to my folks, especially to my parents. I could also bring every day some milk to infants and the sick. Later I was detailed to other duties, and they,

too, provided the opportunity to take something for the ghetto.

Then came the order from Berlin to liquidate the Riga ghetto, and they began to dissolve the small work details in the summer of 1943. Many people without tasks were sent to the concentration camp Kaiserwald near Riga.

People now feared that great upheavals were in store, and that is what indeed happened.