Author’s Note Harry They Killed my Grandfather We begin working for the Germans We are moving to the Ghetto The Horrible Days German Jews arrive at the Ghetto Life in the Small Ghetto and at Work Life in the Small Ghetto and at Work (Cont.) Kaiserwald Concentration Camp Ballastdamm Return to Kaiserwald: The Murder of my Father and other Inmates at Ballastdamm In Memory of my Father In Kaiserwald yet AgainJourney from Kaiserwald to Stutthof Stutthof Concentration Camp Buchenwald Concentration Camp: MagdeburgSubcamp Magdeburg: Seven Hours of Freedom Magdeburg: I am a Prisoner again The Second Liberation: I meet Mika and Zigy in Saxony-Anhalt Somewhere in the State of Saxony-Anhalt Smuglova’s Household Berlin-Lichtenberg Września (Poland) The Road to Riga Epilogue Photographs Amsterdam Publishers Holocaust Library About the AuthorFrom Nazi-occupied Latvia through deportation and imprisonment, this Holocaust memoir bears witness to a young life shaped by persecution, endurance, and the victory of an unbroken spirit.Aleksandr Bergman was born in Riga, Latvia in 1925. The son of a teacher, his youth was filled with the promise of a vibrant European future – until the world caught fire.At 15, Aleksandr watched as the Red Army shuttered his country’s borders. But the Soviet occupation was only the beginning of the nightmare. In June 1941, the Nazis entered Riga, and the life he knew vanished forever.From the mass executions of the Riga Ghetto to the harrowing depths of the Kaiserwald, Stutthof, and Buchenwald concentration camps, Aleksandr bears witness to the darkest corners of the human experience. Yet, amidst unthinkable inhumanity, his story is defined by a different force: unyielding resilience. Liberated from Buchenwald, Aleksandr decided to return to Riga. To honor his parents’ murdered dreams, he built a life from the ashes – graduating in law, raising a family, and ensuring his grandchildren became the living legacy the regime tried to extinguish.In his later years, Aleksandr became the voice for the 70,000 Latvian Jews who perished, founding the Latvian Ghetto and Concentration Camps Prisoners Association. This book is more than a Holocaust memoir; it is a flame of memory for the 90% of the Jewish population of Latvia lost to history, and a testament to the “tree of life” that continues to grow against all odds.Aleksandr Bergman was born in Riga, Latvia in 1925. The son of a teacher, his youth was filled with the promise of a vibrant European future – until the world caught fire.At 15, Aleksandr watched as the Red Army shuttered his country’s borders. But the Soviet occupation was only the beginning of the nightmare. In June 1941, the Nazis entered Riga, and the life he knew vanished forever.From the mass executions of the Riga Ghetto to the harrowing depths of the Kaiserwald, Stutthof, and Buchenwald concentration camps, Aleksandr bears witness to the darkest corners of the human experience. Yet, amidst unthinkable inhumanity, his story is defined by a different force: unyielding resilience. Liberated from Buchenwald, Aleksandr decided to return to Riga. To honor his parents’ murdered dreams, he built a life from the ashes – graduating in law, raising a family, and ensuring his grandchildren became the living legacy the regime tried to extinguish.In his later years, Aleksandr became the voice for the 70,000 Latvian Jews who perished, founding the Latvian Ghetto and Concentration Camps Prisoners Association. This book is more than a Holocaust memoir; it is a flame of memory for the 90% of the Jewish population of Latvia lost to history, and a testament to the “tree of life” that continues to grow against all odds.