My mother and I “slipped through cracks in the Holocaust”, though my father, brother, and 24 other relatives perished. Not having been in ghettos or camps, I evaded the horrendous suffering of most other survivors and was able to watch events from a unique vantage point. Living and working among ordinary people, I saw their responses to the war, the Nazi occupation, and the Holocaust. I saw shades of gray where some others—and the Moscow propaganda machine—see only pitch black. —— Part I of this book is my autobiography including the war years, up to my emigration to the US in 1949. Part II is my attempt as a scientist and historian to give a dispassionate, objective analysis of Latvian conduct during the German occupation. There I show that the ugly stereotypes about them are based on a badly distorted reading of the historical record. Though a few thousand Latvians participated in the German-led Holocaust murders, most other Latvians deplored and condemned these murders.