Emīlija Ābele lived in Riga with her husband Jan and their three children. In July 1941, German troops invaded the city. The occupiers took ruthless action against the local Jewish population. Riga’s Jews were robbed, attacked, and had to move into a ghetto. Ābele’s acquaintance Vili Friš was also interned in the ghetto. Ābele had known him before the war. Friš planned to escape and asked Ābele to find a place for him to hide.
In the fall of 1943, Ābele found a hiding place for Friš and his acquaintance Abram Davidson to hide in a Riga garden. They concealed themselves inside a concrete water container. However, Friš was sick and could not stay there due to the cold. Ābele therefore put him in touch with Jānis Lipke. With Lipke’s help, Friš found shelter on the Millers family farm near Dobele. He hid there along with other persecuted Jews until the end of the war. Ābele became one of the helpers grouped around Jānis Lipke. She worked in a hospital run by the German occupiers and so was able to provide medications and bandages to people in hiding.
After the war, Emīlija Ābele and Vili Friš married.
Vili Friš (1st from right) with Emīlija Friša (with small child on her lap) and presumably other relatives, Riga, 1950s. Source: Žaņa Lipkes memoriāls, Riga
Emīlija and Vili Friš, Riga, 1950s. Source: Žaņa Lipkes memoriāls, Riga
Emīlija Friša with her son Egons, Riga, 1940s. Source: Žaņa Lipkes memoriāls, Riga
