Out of the Holocaust

PREFACE

Throughout the eighty years of my life God has been truly good to me. He has blessed me beyond measure, and I thank Him for everything He has done for me, within me, and through me. Without Him, I can do nothing, but through Him I can do all things. (See John 15:5 and Philippians 4:13.)

This book represents a portion of what I’ve learned during my eight decades of life, which likely began in Belarus or nearby Latvia. My brother, Thomas Christopher (aka Tolja Sinegins), and I (aka Volodja Sinegins) were considered to be orphans. My mother, who was dying, had surrendered us because she could no longer take care of us.

We were first placed in the Baldone Children’s Home, which was located about twenty-one miles southeast of the capital city of Latvia, Rīga. Later in 1944, we were taken to Germany and I remember very vividly the fears we experienced as we heard bombs exploding and saw troops marching nearby. The horrors of the war were very real to us.

Faithful people took care of us and protected us as we traveled from Latvia to Germany. It was a very frightening time for us—a time when we knew very little about the world around us and the terrible things that were happening in Europe and elsewhere.

The severance from my biological ties opened the door for me to be assimilated into the larger, extended family of humankind, and it prompted me to search for my true identity. I believe we are all searching for our origins, and that is especially true when we no longer have a record of our biological roots, which was the case with me and my brother. The name and location of our birthplace, as well as the why, how, and when concerning the same, are all unknown due to the loss or destruction of those records during World War II.

Hence, my search for my personal identity began, and it culminated many years later in Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and the life. (See John 14:6.) No one can come to the Father except by Him.

Thanks to the help of Rose Austrums and four other service workers, Tom and I, along with 128 other children, were well cared for while we remained in Germany (throughout the Holocaust) until 1950, when my brother and I were adopted by an American couple, Pastor Victor C. Boe and his wife, Hilda Groberg Boe.

Now you know a little bit about me and my identity. In all likelihood, I have a Belarussian Jewish background. (This is based on a study of my DNA that was done in 2007.) I am a Lutheran pastor, a husband, a father, a grandfather, a writer, and a teacher. For some years (1965–1971) I served as a missionary in Nigeria, West Africa—mostly in the Numan community. But the most important part of my identity is the knowledge that I am a Christian who is rooted and grounded in Christ and His way.

God has created us in His image. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. He is in the process of conforming us into the very image of Christ. This is our destiny as Christians, and what an exciting destiny it is.

Christ within us is the hope of glory, and He enables us to know who we are in Him. There is such a vast difference between believing in Him and actually knowing Him, as the following Scripture reveals:

and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of his resurrection….

(PHILIPPIANS 3:9–10, NKJV)

It is wonderful for me to be able to say that I know Him, and the power of His resurrection can be seen throughout this book.

INTRODUCTION

Before I formed you in the womb I knew you;

Before you were born I sanctified you;

I ordained you a prophet to the nations.

(JEREMIAH 1:5, NKJV)

Early Memories

One of my earliest memories came about when we were living with our mother (Miss Sinegins) in a small apartment in a two-story home that was located either in Belarus or lower Latvia. I remember my brother Tolja (aka Tom) yelling, You cut me with the scissors!

I replied, No, I did not.

Yes, you did, Volodja! (Volodja was my real name, and it is an affectionate term that stems from the Russian name Vladimir.)

Our mother intervened, and everything went back to normal.

I feel quite certain that Tom and I—Tolja and Volodja Sinegins—are blood brothers. Mūs esam brāļi! (We are brothers!) We were always together in those early days. I recall that our home was sparsely furnished. Even so, it was home to me and I always felt safe there.

One day, while playing outside, I needed to go to the toilet. I remember a man taking me to an outhouse nearby and lifting me above an open hole so I could go potty. This was new to me because we had always used a chamber pot inside our home. I remember that large hole so clearly and the horrible smells that emanated from it, and I was frightened. I wondered what would happen if I slipped from the man’s hands and fell into that stinking hole. I clung to the man very tightly even though he attempted to assure me that there was nothing to worry about.

My mother had a spinning wheel that she used for spinning a bundle of thread onto a spool that she used for knitting. I recall a time when the back door was open and my mother was hanging clothes on a line outside. There was fresh, bright snow on the ground. I could not remember having seen snow before, and my mother coaxed me to come outdoors with her. As I did so, I found myself in waist-deep snow!

A couple of times she took Tolja and me to a Finnish steam house where we sat naked on boards and inhaled the hot, steamy air. This was supposed to be good for us, but after we returned home with fleas jumping all over our bodies, we never went there again!

In one of the rooms on the first floor of the house in which we lived, there was a mother with two daughters. We never really got to know them but would see them from time to time. Some elderly invalids, who may have been victims of the war, lived upstairs. I remember being quite frightened once when one of them reached out to touch me and greet me. However, when that man gave me some candy my fears diminished.

Winters were rough in that area. Often, the snow was hip deep! During the spring and summer months, though, my mother would take us for walks, and we would sometimes visit our neighbors. In one of the homes we visited, a little boy showed us his toys, including strings of empty thread spools. How I wished I could have such chains of spools and other toys.

On other occasions we would walk through the nearby rolling hills that were resplendent with beautiful flowers, including daisies, which were used by beautifully dressed young ladies as crowns during the local fall festival.

Most of the memories I’m sharing here relate to the years when I was four or five years old. I have no memories of events in my life prior to that time.

As to the fate or identity of my father, very little is known. At most I saw him only a couple of times. I remember him to be a short man of light weight with a joyful mood. I remember he once gave me a horseback ride and I recall sitting on his lap. At the time I believed he was my biological father. It is likely that he became a Belarussian-partisan fighter aligned with the Russians against the Germans. The Germans, as you may know, were bent on exterminating all inferior and undesirable people, and this, from their point of view, included many Belarussians and Latvians.

The Nazis victimized millions of people in death camps and gas chambers. These victims included Jews, Jehovah’s Witnesses, homosexuals, Gypsies, Roman Catholics, mentally and physically challenged people, those who they branded as social misfits, and anyone who aided Jews. These were challenging times.

Throughout this book I will be sharing personal stories, along with scriptural teaching. I have so much to share, and I feel particularly fortunate to be able to do so in this book. It is my desire to show you how I came to know the way of eternal oneness and fellowship in Jesus Christ. This gave me a sense of being a member of God’s family even though I was cut off from my biological family and roots during World War II.

Talents and Gifts

My studies have included various languages, human nature, theology, psychology, anthropology, and many other subjects. I have formally studied the following languages: English (one of my college majors), Latvian, German, Latin, Greek, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Hausa, though I must admit that my fluency in languages other than English is not as good as it once was.

Some who are not always thinking in religious terms are guided by God’s will in the application of their specific skills, talents, and special gifts. Some may have musical, artistic, medical, agricultural, mathematical, scientific, linguistic, writing, intuitive, and many other specialized talents and gifts at which they excel and which they apply in God’s service without, say, quoting Scripture at every point. For example, a surgeon can still be divinely guided without focusing his or her attention on the Lord or Scripture-based logic. The application of your special gifts and talents is much appreciated, especially when directed toward the improvement of our lives, health, and well-being.

The same could be said of inventors and other professionals who are guided by a creative impulse that stems from the Creator himself. Each person seems to possess specific talents that are like gifts in their lives. Some may have musical talents, while others do well with writing, teaching, science, business, and mathematics. Whatever your talent, it can be used for creative purposes that can help others in a variety of ways.

No matter what our talents and gifts may be, we should never feel superior (or inferior) to others. We are all equally important in the grand scheme of things. We complement and even complete one another as we apply our various gifts and talents.

We have been called to preach and proclaim the Word of God through our words, actions, and appropriate behaviors. Empowered by the Spirit of Christ, we are able to emit, reveal, and speak the truth to others. In so doing we become living commentaries and walking illustrations of God and His Word. This is so important for us to realize.

St. Paul wrote, You are our epistle written in our hearts, known and read by all men; clearly you are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart.

(2 CORINTHIANS 3:2–3, NKJV)

What are people reading when they see and hear you? Does your witness draw them closer to Christ? Does it improve their lives?

Spiritual Discernment

According to the ladies who helped us (Rose Austrums, in particular), my brother and I were the only two undocumented children in the entire group of 130 who were taken to Germany. However, the lack of documentation and my inability to know my birth date do not really cause me any concern, because I now know I am a member of the family of God in Jesus Christ, and this is a sufficient-enough cause for me to live a lifetime of eternal joy.

True spiritual discernment comes to those who can continually differentiate between the way of Christ and the way of human nature. This comes about when we seek Him with all our hearts, minds, souls, and strength.

Remember this, being religious will save no one. Jesus does the saving in His timing and according to His purposes. Wait upon Him and He will lead you.

The Lord Jesus Christ gives us certainty even during extremely uncertain times and challenging circumstances.

Whenever possible, I document and support my statements with truth from the Holy Scriptures, a personal knowledge of Jesus Christ, and my understanding of human nature.

Peter Boe

CHAPTER 1

DARK DAYS OF INSECURITY AND FEAR

There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free,

there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.

And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed,

and heirs according to the promise.

(GALATIANS 3:28–29, NKJV)

The profound truths that we are all one in Christ Jesus and that we are Abraham’s seed became very real to me as I got older. The promise that Paul was referring to here is this: If we belong to Christ Jesus (are in Him who is Abraham’s seed), then we are Abraham’s offspring and his spiritual heirs. This is what permits us to be members of God’s family, His adopted children.

The Nazi Occupation of Latvia

Nazi Germany completed its occupation of Latvia on July 10, 1941. Latvia became a part of Germany’s Reichskommissariat Ostland—the Province General of Latvia. Those who were not racially acceptable to the Nazis or those who opposed the German occupation, along with those who had cooperated with the Soviet Union, were killed or were sent to concentration camps.

The Germans of this time were particularly focused on eliminating Jews and Gypsies. Thirty thousand Latvian Jews were shot in the autumn of 1941. The remaining population of Jews were rounded up and put into ghettos. In November and December 1941, the Rīga Ghetto became very crowded and to make room for the imminent arrival of German Jews, 30,000 Jews in Rīga were taken from the ghetto to the nearby Rumbula Forest where they were shot to death.

During the years of Nazi occupation, 90,000 people in Latvia were killed. Approximately 70,000 of these were Jews and 2,000 were Gypsies. The remainder consisted of people from various backgrounds. Resistance in Latvia was very confusing during this time, because it included people who were resisting Soviets on the one hand and Germans on the other. In addition, Soviet supporters were resisting the German occupation. The nationalists resisted everyone who tried to occupy Latvia.

Many people within the resistance movements ended up joining the German or Russian armies. Very few were able to live as independent bands in the forests. Some Latvians resisted the German occupation with great bravery. One of these was Zanis Lipke, who risked his life to save more than fifty Jews.

During World War II more than 200,000 Latvians ended up in the rank and file of both occupation forces (German and Russian), and approximately half of them were killed on the battlefield. This was what life was like in my homeland of Latvia during the Holocaust.

So, as you can see, Eastern Europe and Germany were enshrouded by dark clouds of fear and uncertainty when Tolja and I were very little boys. One night, for example, we heard that many people, mostly Jews, were being rounded up and massacred by the soldiers we could see walking in the distance between wooded areas. (During this time Russians were deporting various leaders and others to Siberia, as well.) My mother took us to a barn, which became our hiding place that night, and several other people were there with us.

One day, not long afterward, my brother and I saw a procession of people following a horse-pulled hearse. Most of the people were wearing black as they marched toward a cemetery. We wondered what was happening, because we did not understand anything about death or dying. Not long thereafter, however, our mother took us to the funeral of a young girl.

We watched with rapt attention as the casket was lowered into a freshly dug grave by four men holding two long straps. After the casket was lowered, dirt was shoveled on top of it. The girl’s mother wailed and cried very loudly, and everyone, including us, was gripped by sadness and even some fear. At one point it seemed as if the girl’s mother would fall into the grave on top of the casket because she was leaning precariously over the open grave. I wondered if she wanted to join her daughter in the burial.

During