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ACTA TURCICA Çevrimiçi Tematik Türkoloji Dergisi
Online Thematic Journal of Turkic Studies actaturcica.org
Özel Sayı “Polonya ve Türk Dünyası”, Kasım 2019
158
The Karaims in Latvia Through the End of World War II: Status and Research Perspectives
II. Dünya Savaşı Sonlarında Letonya’da Karaimler: Durum ve Araştırma Perspektifleri
Stefan Gąsiorowski
Assoc. Prof., Institute of Jewish Studies Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland
Abstract
The first mentions of Karaims in Riga, the current
capital of Latvia, are from the 17th century. At the
end of that century, Karaim Salomon ben Aron from
Pasvalys lectured on Karaim history and religion in
one of the city's schools. However, it was not until
the end of the 19th century that the Karaims settled
permanently in Latvia. In Riga itself, unlike in other
regions, they were influential and well known,
although their numbers never exceeded 100. The
most distinguished among them were the Majkapar
family. In the 1880s, they established a tobacco
factory, and later a sweets factory and a Karaim
cemetery. The history of this family alone is worth
separate discussion. Yet there were also other
eminent Karaim families in Riga, such as the
Penerdży, Pandulo, and Sultan families. Their
prosperity was put to a brutal end during World War
II. By the end of the war, the Latvian Karaims had
completely dispersed.
Özet
Letonya'nın bugünkü başkenti Riga'da bulunan
Karaimlere dair ilk kayıtlar 17. yüzyıl tarihlidir. Bu
yüzyılın sonunda Pasvalys'li Karaim Salomon ben
Aron, kentin okullarından birinde Karaim tarihi ve dini
hakkında ders veriyordu. Ancak, Karaimlerin
Letonya’ya kalıcı olarak yerleşmeleri 19. yüzyılın
sonlarına kadar gerçekleşmedi. Diğer bölgelerden
farklı olarak Riga’da, sayıları 100’ü geçmemekle
birlikte, nüfuzlu ve tanınmış kişilerdi. Bunlar arasında
en dikkat çekici olanları Majkapa ailesi idi. 1880'lerde
bir tütün fabrikası, ardından bir tatlı fabrikası ve bir
Karaim mezarlığı kurdular. Tek başına bu ailenin tarihi
ayrıca tartışılmaya değer. Riga'da Penerdży, Pandulo
ve Sultan aileleri gibi diğer ünlü Karaim aileleri de
vardı. Refahları, II. Dünya Savaşı sırasında acımasız bir
şekilde sonlandı. Savaşın sonunda, Letonya Karaimleri
tamamen dağılmıştı.
Keywords
Karaims, Riga, Latvia, Majkapar family, a tobacco
factory.
Anahtar kelimeler
Karaimler, Riga, Letonya, Majkapar ailesi, tütün
fabrikası.
Introduction and the state of research
The aim of this paper is to introduce the history of the Karaim people in Latvia, a topic which has
received little attention from scholars. This is most likely due to the fact that the community there was
dispersed, and inhabited the area for a relatively short period of time - from the end of the 19th century until
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the end of World War II. Its numbers never exceeded one hundred. What is more, its members were partially
assimilated and some adopted other religious denominations. However, as shown in a recently published book
by Professor Petr Kaleta on the 56 Karaims in inter-war Czechoslovakia, these are not obstacles to recording
the histories of such communities, provided source materials have been preserved and the histories are of
some scholarly interest (Kaleta, P 2015). In case of the Lavtian Karaims, these two conditions seem to be met,
because despite being such a small group, they were social, economic, and cultural elites in their area of
residence. This is documented by materials from local archives and historical artefacts.
A modest list of publications on the Karaims in Latvia can be found in the Bibliographia Karaitica,
compiled by Barry Dov Walfish and Mikhail Kizilov in 2011 (Walfish, BD, with Kizilov, M (ed.) 2011, No. 4427
and 4428 p. 367). Both this bibliography and original research indicate that the most attention has been
devoted to the Latvian Karaims by Latvian scholar Dr. Valters Ščerbinskis of the Riga Stradiņš University in Riga,
who addressed them in a number of works from the late 1990s. They are mentioned in a five-page chapter of
his book Ienācēji no tālienes. Austrumu un Dienvidu tautu pārstāvji Latvijā no 19. gadsimta beigām lidz
mūsdienām (Arrivals from Afar: Eastern and Southern Peoples in Latvia from the End of the 19th Century to
Present Day), written in Latvian, as well as his Polish-language article Przedstawiciele narodów muzułmańskich
oraz Karaimi na Łotwie od końca XIX wieku do czasów obecnych (Muslim Nations and Karaims in Latvia from
the End of the 19th Century to Present Day), which was published in one of his collective works and essentially
summarizes the chapter in the book. In the chapter, Ščerbinskis presented an outline of Karaim history in Riga
through the end of World War I, focusing only on the Majkapar, Penerdży, Sultan, and Pandulo families. He
provided general statistical data on the Karaim population and information on the establishment of a Kariam
cemetary and the tobacco factory of Abraham Majkapar (Ščerbinskis, V 1998, pp. 22-27; Ščerbinskis, V 1999,
pp. 302-303). It is worth adding that Bibliographia Karaitica lists two prints from 1914 and 1915 concerning A.
Majkapar's factory (Walfish, BD, with Kizilov, M (ed.) 2011, No. 8060 and 8061, p. 708).
Ščerbinskis' works have been used by Dr. Leo Dribins from the Institute of Philosophy and Sociology of
the University of Latvia in a collective work on the history of minority peoples in Latvia (Dribins, L (comp.)
1998, pp. 245-247), and recently by the abovementioned Mihail Kizilov, a Russian historian living in the
Crimea. The latter devoted nearly two pages to the Latvian Kariams in his book The Sons of Scripture. The
Karaites in Poland and Lithuania in the twentieth century (Berlin 2015). He based them on the works of
Ščerbinskis, the accounts of Dymitr Olechnowicz from Daugavpils, who handles statistical data on the Karaim
population in Latvia in the 19th and 20th centuries, and the Internet. In addition to the information from
Ščerbinskis, Kizilov also cites information on Abraham and Teodor Majkapar, their place of residence in Riga,
and the location of the Karaim cemetary. He also believes that the Rigan Majkapars may have been related to
well-known Russian musicians Samuił Mojsewicz Majkapar (1867-1938), a pianist and composer, and his
grandson Aleksander (b. 1946), an organist and musicologist (Kizilov, M 2015, pp. 185-186). Supplemental
information on the activity of the Karaims in Latvia, mainly in the tobacco industry, and on individual members
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of known Karaim families can be found in the journal, Awazymyz (Sulimowicz, A 2014b, pp. 28-29; Sulimowicz,
A 2014a, p. 4; Dubiński, AJ 2018, pp. 9-10).
Beginnings of settlement
The earliest information on the Karaims in Riga comes from the end of the 17th century and concerns
a middle school established by King Charles XI of Sweden called Schola Carolina (1675-1710). The school
taught religion, history, geography, logic, rhetoric, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew. In 1696, school rector Johann
Uppendorf (1645-1698), a linguist and professor of Greek and oriental languages at the University of Dorpat,
invited Salomon son of Aron from Pasvalys, a Lithuanian Karaim, to lecture at the school. During his lectures,
the scholar presented an outline of Karaism and the history of the Karaim community. These lectures resulted
in the publication of a work entitled Apirion by librarian Adolf Neubauer in the mid-19th century (Neubauera,
A 1866, pp. 79-80; Garber, K 2007, p. 24; Wörster, P 2006, pp. 29-32).
It was not until the second half of the 19th century, during the time of the Russian Empire, that
Karaims settled permanently in Latvian territory. The region was undergoing intense industrial development,
especially in Riga, which became the largest Baltic city and a commercial, industrial, and cultural center. In
1878 in the Riga area, there were 145 factories employing a total of 12,000 workers. During the same period,
banks and new railway lines also appeared. The scale of the phenomenon is illustrated by the fact that from
1897-1913, the population of the metropolis doubled, and before the outbreak of World War I totalled
482,000. In 1913 in Riga there lived 95 Karaims, 47 men and 48 women. Of these, 8 men and 13 women had
Turkish or Persian (Iranian) citizenship (SALR, ref. No. F. 2791, apr. 1, dok. 164, k. 20, 80; Kolendo, IT 2014, pp.
82-83).
It is hardly a surprise that alongside Latvians, Russians, Germans, and Jews, Riga attracted Karaims,
who were heavily involved in developing the tobacco industry. Wealthy members of this nation had factories
in the Crimea, Moscow, and St. Petersburg, and shops and storage facilities all over the Russian Empire,
including in Vilnius and Warsaw.
Karaims in Riga and the Majkapar family
The history of the Karaims in Latvia is limited almost exclusively to Riga and spans from 1887-1945. On
7 December 1887, Abraham Samuel Majkapar (29 February 1840 - 24 July 1906) established a tobacco factory
there. In 1945, the last Karaims left the city, again occupied by the Soviet Union. Thanks to preserved source
materials, scholarly works, and photographs, the history of only a few Karaim families living in Latvia can be
recreated, including that of the best-known, the Majkapar family, as well as that of individual members of the
Egiz, Fuki, Kojlju, Kuszul, Pandulo, Penerdżi, and Sultan families (On the basis of tombstone inscriptions from
the Karaim cemetery in Riga).
The largest amount of preserved data concerns the tobacco factory of Abraham Samuel Majkapar,
which in 1907 was transformed into a limited partnership (A form of partnership similar to a general
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partnership, except that in addition to one or more general partners (GPs), there are one or more limited
partners (LPs)), and in 1915 into a joint-stock company (A company limited to the shares invested or
guaranteed to it). After Latvia was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940, the factory was nationalized together
with other similar businesses, and some of the family's members were deported to Syberia. Initially, the
factory was located on Kolodjeznaja Street (Колодезная), but in 1930 the building became city property and a
middle school was opened in its place. The new factory headquarters was established at 58 Miera Street
(Миера). Its buildings still stand and are currently being renovated. One of them will be converted into a
theater. The Majkapar family also owned canning and chocolate factories next to the tobacco factory.
In addition to extensive source documentation of the Majkapar tobacco factory from the State
Archives of Latvia in Riga, there are relatively rich iconographical collections containing advertisements for the
factory's tobacco products (including in publications in various languages), photographs of the factory and its
cigarette boxes (from the Museum in Riga and on the Internet), as well as materials from the Latvia State
Archive of Audiovisual Documents, including films from the series "Soviet Latvia," filmed in 1940 just after the
factory was nationalized. Partially available online, the films show the Majkapar palace, built in 1876 at 3
Aristida Briana iela Street, a workers' club located in the old factory building (Padomju Latvija, No. 4/20), and
the transfer of a new flat to worker Feodosija Larionova (Padomju Latvija, No. 1/17).
Also preserved is the Karaim cemetery in Riga, which was established in 1892 on a 100-square-fathom
plot (1 fathom = 3 archines. From 1849-1915, 1 Russian archine = 71 cm) in Mežaparks, near the Muslim
cemetery on Mjulgrabenskaja Doroga Street (Мюльграбенская дорога). In 1911 the cemetery was expanded
by another 100 square fathoms. On 21 October 1939, an association was created to protect the cemetery.
Members included Samuel Majkapar (1874-1941), Teodor Majkapar (b. 1878), Samuel Penerdżi (b. 1894),
Mikołaj Majkapar (b. 1879), and Semion Sultan (b. 1908) – all residents of Riga (SALR, ref. No. F. 3235, apr. 5,
dok. 2835, k. 4). There are still a few Karaim gravestones in the cemetery, including that of Abraham Samuel,
the elder of the Majkapar family.
Outside of the cemetery, there is almost no indication of the religious life of the Rigan Karaims. There
is only mention from 1931 of a man named Burcze who acted as a hazzan in Riga and most likely lived near the
Majkapar tobacco factory (PAASK, Letter from Szymon Firkowicz, senior Karaim hazzan in Trakai, to the
president of the Karaim Religious Community in Lutsk, dated 27 June 2931. Collection: Archive of the Karaim
Religious Community in Lutsk, ref. No. VII.05.76, without pagination). Nor is anything known about the Kenesa
there; therefore, prayers and religious services probably took place in private homes or within the Majkapar
factory.
Karaims during World War II
Finally, a very interesting topic in the study of Latvian Karaims is their rescue from extermination
during World War II. The collection of Seraya Shapshal, kept in the Library of the Lithuanian Academy of
Sciences in Vilnius, contains a 1944 document for Michał Majkapar (d. 1958) certifying that he is not a Jew, as
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well as a letter from the aforementioned Semen Ilicz Sultan to the hachan requesting the same certificate for
him and his sister Zofia Muraszkina née Sultan (b. 1912) (LMAB. Seraya Shapshal Collection, ref. No. F. 143-
1057, k. 30, 47-47v). Because Shapshal also issued such documents to Karaims in the Czech Republic, France,
Lithuania, Germany, and Romania, it is possible that more Latvian Karaims also attempted to obtain them
(LMAB. Seraya Shapshal Collection, ref. No. F. 143-1082, k. 9).
According to source documents, German doctors Herbert Bernsdorff (1892-1968) and Fritz Steiniger
(1908-1985) likewise helped the Karaims from Latvia and other areas of German occupation. The doctors were
employed by the Civil Administration of the Reich Commissariat for Eastern Countries (Zivilverwaltung
Reichskommissariat Ostland) with headquarters in Riga, which encompassed territory in Latvia, Lithuania,
Estonia, and Belarus. Their anthropological research in Lithuania and Latvia confirmed that the Karaims are not
Jews and therefore cannot be confined to ghettos (although this had already taken place in Vilnius).
Furthermore, Steiniger announced his findings in the daily press, including in Deutsche Zeitung im Osten
(German Newspaper of the East) (LMAB. Seraya Shapshal Collection, ref. No. F. 143-1082, k. 8, 58; ELMR.
Collection of Dr. H. Bernsdorff, inv. No. III/106; Steiniger, 1942, p. 1; Kangeris, K 2008, p. 409; Kolendo, IT 2014,
p. 194; Fiebrandt, M 2014, p. 279).
The post-war reports and correspondence of H. Bernsdorff indicate that he was personally engaged in
saving the Karaims from extermination as a result of his prior contact with them. In 1912, while still a student
of medicine, he visited Bakhchysarai and Czufut Kale in the Crimea. Then in the 1920s and 30s in Riga, he had
several Karaims as pacients. Also before World War II, he held an apprenticeship together with Teodor
Majkapar at the Ķemeri resort near Riga. It seems that he led doctor of philosophy and life scientist Fritz
Steiniger, who worked as an associate professor at the Institute of Heredity (Institut für
Vererbungswissenschaften) of the University of Greifswald and as head of the Institute of Medical Zoology in
Riga (des Medizinisch-Zoologischen Instituts), to decisive and inconspicuous activity aimed at protecting the
Karaims (ELMR. Letter from H. Bersdorff to Szymon Szyszman, dated 3 March 1965. Collection of Dr. H.
Bernsdorff, inv. No. III/106 k. 72-73).
Distraction and fall
After World War II, the Karaims who had been saved left Riga and all of Latvia, which again found
itself under Soviet occupation. Some of them went to Germany (Hamburg, Lübeck), and then to France,
Canada, and the USA (ELMR. Collection of Dr. H. Bernsdorff, inv. No. III/106 k. 48-49, 51, 61). Determination of
their fates and location of their descendents requires further research and archival inquiry.
References
1. Archival sources
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ELMR, Ebreji Latvijā Museum in Riga, Collection of Dr. H. Bernsdorff, inv. No. III/106, inv. No. III/106 k. 48-49,
51, 61; Letter from H. Bersdorff to Szymon Szyszman, dated 3 March 1965, inv. No. III/106 k. 72-73.
LMAB, Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences in Vilnius: Seraya Shapshal Collection, ref. No. F. 143-
1057, k. 30, 47-47v; Seraya Shapshal Collection, ref. No. F. 143-1082, k. 8, 9, 58.
PAASK, Private archive, A. Sulimowicz-Keruth: Letter from Szymon Firkowicz, senior Karaim hazzan in Trakai, to
the president of the Karaim Religious Community in Lutsk, dated 27 June 2931. Collection: Archive of the
Karaim Religious Community in Lutsk, ref. No. VII.05.76, without pagination.
Padomju Latvija, No. 4/20, online video, viewed 3 April 2019,
<http://www.redzidzirdilatviju.lv/lv/search/160765?q=maikapar>.
Padomju Latvija, No. 1/17, online video, viewed 3 April 2019,
<http://www.redzidzirdilatviju.lv/lv/search/160761?q=maikapar>.
SALR, State Archives of Latvia in Riga: ref. No. F. 2791, apr. 1, dok. 164, k. 20, 80; ref. No. F. 3235, apr. 5, dok.
2835, k. 4; ref. No. F. 2996, apr. 12, dok. 1383; ref. No. F. 2996, apr. 12, dok. 1384; ref. No. F. 2996, apr. 12,
dok. 1375;ref. No. F. 105, apr. 1, dok. 269, k. 23.
2. Secondary literature
Dribins, L (comp.) 1998, Mazākumtautību vēsture Latvijā: eksperimentāls metodisks līdzeklis (The History of
Latvian Minority Peoples: A Textbook of the Experimental Method), Zvaigzne ABC, Rīga.
Dubiński, AJ 2018, ‘Kochający teatr fabrykanci – filantropi z Sum i ich Demony. Karaimscy kupcy tytoniowi w
XIX-wiecznej Warszawie’, Awazymyz, vol. 29, no. 3.
Fiebrandt, M 2014, Auslese für die Siedlergesellschaft: Die Einbeziehung Volksdeutscher in die NS-
Erbgesundheitspolitik im Kontext der Umsiedlungen 1939-1945, Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, p. 279.
Garber, K 2007, Schatzhäuser des Geistes: alte Bibliotheken und Büchersammlungen im Baltikum, Böhlau, Köln-
Weimar-Wien.
Kaleta, P 2015, Tajemné etnikum z Krymu. Osudy příslušníků karaimské emigrace do mezviválečného
Československa [A Secret Ethnicity from the Crimea: The Fate of Karaim Immigrants to Interwar
Czechoslovakia], KLP, Praha.
Kangeris, K 2008, ‘Die Rückkehr und der Einsatz von Deutschbalten im Generalbezirk Lettland 1941-1945’, in
Deutschbalten, Weimarer Republik und Drittes Reich. Bd. 2, Ed. Michael Garleft, Böhlau, Köln, p. 409.
Kizilov, M 2015, The Sons of Scripture. The Karaites in Poland and Lithuania in the twentieth century, Sciendo,
Berlin.
Kolendo, IT 2014, Łotwa. Zarys dziejów narodu i państwa. Od czasów najdawniejszych do początku XXI wieku,
KSIĘŻY MŁYN Dom Wydawniczy Michał Koliński, Łódź, pp. 82-83.
Neubauera, A 1866, Aus der Petersburger Bibliothek, O. Leiner, Lipsk.
Sulimowicz, A 2014a, ‘Karaimi w dawnych reklamach’, Awazymyz, vol. 25, no. 4, p. 4.
Sulimowicz, A 2014b, ‘Przewodniki, reklamy i Karaimi’, Awazymyz, vol. 25, no. 3, pp. 28-29.
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Ščerbinskis, V 1998, Ienācēji no tālienes. Austrumu un Dienvidu tautu pārstāvji Latvijā no 19. gadsimta beigām
lidz mūsdienām, Rīga, pp. 22-27.
Ščerbinskis, V 1999, ‘Przedstawiciele narodów muzułmańskich oraz Karaimi na Łotwie od końca XIX wieku do
czasów obecnych’, in Europa NIEprowincjonalna. Non-provincial Europe. Przemiany na ziemiach wschodnich
dawnej Rzeczypospolitej (Białoruś, Litwa, Łotwa, Ukraina, wschodnie pogranicze III Rzeczypospolitej Polskiej) w
latach 1772-1999. Changes on the Eastern Territories of the former Polish Republic (Belarus, Latvia, Lithuania,
Ukraine, eastern borderland of the III Republic) in 1772-1999, collective work, Krzysztof Jasiewicz (ed.), Oficyna
Wydawnicza RYTM, Warsaw-London, pp. 302-303.
Steiniger, 1942, ‘Die Karaimen’, Deutsche Zeitung im Osten, Jahrg. 2, Sonntag, 15. Nov., No. 314, p. 1.
Walfish, BD, with Kizilov, M (ed.) 2011, Bibliographia Karaitica. An Annotated Bibliography of Karaites and
Karaism, Brill, Leiden-Boston.
Wörster, P 2006, ‘Die Matrikel des Lyzeums in Riga als Quelle zur Personen- und Familienforschung’, Baltische
Ahnen- und Stammtafeln, Jg. 48, pp. 29-32.
List of photos
1. Teodor Maykapar. Fot. SALR, ref. No. F. 2996, apr. 12, dok. 1383.
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2. Samuel Abram Maykapar. Fot. SALR, ref. No. F. 2996, apr. 12, dok. 1384.
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3. Mikołaj Maykapar. Fot. SALR, ref. No. F. 2996, apr. 12, dok. 1375.
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4. Tobacco factory Maykapar in Riga. Logo. Fot. S. Gasiorowski. SALR, ref. No. F. 105, apr. 1, dok. 269, k. 23.
5. Tobacco factory Maykapar in Riga. Postcard.