Isi Brauman, the older son of Ana and Abram Brauman, was born in 1934. The family lived in the port city of Liepaja, Latvia, on the shores of the Baltic Sea. Isi’s father was a tailor and managed to support the family. In 1935, the city had a Jewish population of 7,379 out of a total population of 57,098.
Latvia was annexed to the Soviet Union in 1940. On June 29, 1941, when Isi was a 7-year-old schoolboy, the Germans occupied Liepaja. The Germans immediately instituted anti-Jewish measures, Jews were required to wear yellow stars to identify them as Jews. Jewish males ages 16 to 60 were required to report daily to the city square. Of those who reported, some were used for forced labor, and others were taken to prison. Those who failed to report were arrested in their homes or on the streets and later murdered.
By August 1941, most Jews were forced to work for the German Army. Jews considered not fit to work were murdered, including the residents of old-age homes. Many Jews had their money, furniture, and household goods confiscated and were then forced from their homes. By November 1941, half of the Jewish population of Liepaja had been killed.
On December 13, 1941, Jews were ordered to stay at home on December 15 and 16. On the night of December 14, Latvian police, working under German orders, rounded up Jews in their homes and took them to prison. Jews with work permits and their families were released, but most of the other Jews were taken to a small fishing village to be murdered. They were ordered to undress in freezing temperatures and then were led, in groups of 10, to the edge of prepared trenches. They were shot by firing squads, two gunmen for each victim. Women were told to hold their babies against their shoulders to make them easier targets. Over 2,700 Jews, including women and children, were murdered.
Two similar massacres took place in February and April 1942. After that, the 805 Jews left in the city were confined to an overcrowded, sealed-off ghetto. The ghetto was emptied in October 1943. The residents were taken to Kaiserwald Concentration Camp, where most died.
We know nothing about Isi and his family after the Germans occupied Liepaja in 1941. No further traces were ever found.
Isi was one of 1.5 million Jewish children murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during the Holocaust.
A personal history from the Archives of the SIMON WIESENTHAL CENTER 1991-398 [001]
