Žanis Lipke
Žanis Lipke
1900–1987
○ Died in Riga
Riga docker who used his contract work for the Luftwaffe to smuggle dozens of Jews out of the ghetto and camps and hide them
Born in Jelgava, he served in the Latvian Army’s artillery during the War of Independence in 1919–1920 and then worked as a docker in the port of Riga. Having witnessed the persecution of Jews in the streets, he resolved to save them, became a contractor for the Luftwaffe and from late November 1941 smuggled Jewish workers out of the Riga ghetto and nearby camps. With his wife Johanna and friends he hid them in warehouses and a bunker dug in his yard until the Red Army arrived in October 1944. The number saved is given as forty to about 55. After the war the KGB questioned him repeatedly. In 1966 Yad Vashem recognised him and his wife as Righteous Among the Nations, and when he died in 1987 the Jews of Riga arranged his funeral.
Career timeline
- 1919–1920Artillery service in the War of Independence
- 1941–1944Smuggled Jews out of the Riga ghetto and camps and hid them
- 1966Recognised as Righteous Among the Nations