Few could have predicted that Žanis and Johanna Lipke would become Latvia’s Schindlers. After the Nazi invasion of 1942, Žanis supported his family by working in Riga’s Luftwaffe factory, and supplemented his income by smuggling. The factory soon overflowed with Jews from the Ghetto, forced into labor, often as a precursor to an even grimmer fate.

Despite enormous personal risk, Žanis and Johanna decided they couldn’t stand idly by. Using his black-market connections, they devised daring ways to sneak over 40 Jews into hiding. A beautifully rendered testament to the heroism of blue-collar family turned righteous saviors.