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Jossel Dumesh, born in 1908, son of Shender or Sander, brother of Chaim Yehushua, my great-grandfather. Jossel was my grandfather's 1st cousin.<br>

Jossel Dumesh (1924)

Jossel Dumesh, born in 1908, son of Shender or Sander, brother of Chaim Yehushua, my great-grandfather. Jossel was my gr ... See more

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Jossel Dumesh, son of Schender, was born in Vishki, as was his wife Dina. <br><br>In 1941 when the Nazis came to Latvia, Jews were forced into restricted areas, essentially concentration camps, called ghettos. Starvation, extreme confinement, forced labor, daily beatings and worse made them different from concentration camps in name only. I visited the site of the Riga ghetto in 2009. I still feel the chill that I felt looking around the place. I took photos, but the photos didn't capture the dark emotions that the place evoked in me. <br><br>I'm not particularly inclined towards the idea of ghosts or spirits that unhappily linger on in a place, but I sure had that feeling standing there. My Israeli cousin Rina comes from the same family branch as Jossel. Her mother was Jossel's half-sister Leah, who moved to Israel when it was still called Palestine in 1933. Jossel, Dina and daughter Baschewa died in the Riga ghetto in 1941.

Jossel Dumesh (1928)

Jossel Dumesh, son of Schender, was born in Vishki, as was his wife Dina.

In 1941 when the Nazis came to Latvia, ... See more

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