Latvia
Latvia is located on the coast of the Baltic Sea and is characterized by a history of foreign domination and struggles for independence. In the first centuries CE, Baltic tribes settled in the region. Starting in the 13th century, Latvia was conquered by the Livonian Order (a German crusader order) and was later ruled alternately by Denmark, Sweden, Poland, and Russia.
In the 18th century, it was annexed by the Russian Empire, but at the end of World War I, it declared its independence in 1918. During the 1920s and 1930s, Latvia was a democratic republic, but in 1940 it was forcibly annexed by the Soviet Union following the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact.
During World War II, it was occupied by Nazi Germany, and after the war, it came again under Soviet rule until its dissolution. In 1991, with the collapse of the USSR, Latvia renewed its independence. Since then, it has become a modern democracy and joined the European Union and NATO in 2004. Latvia combines Baltic, German, Russian, and Scandinavian heritage, and today it is an independent and prosperous country.
Riga
Riga, the capital of Latvia, was founded in 1201 by Bishop Albert of the Livonian Order and served as an important port on the Baltic Sea. The city joined the Hanseatic League in the 13th century, which brought economic and cultural prosperity.
Over the centuries, the city changed hands many times – ruled by the Swedes, the Poles, and finally the Russians, who controlled it throughout the 19th century until World War I. After Latvia’s independence in 1918, Riga became its capital.
During World War II, Riga was occupied by the Soviets, then by the Germans, and again by the Soviet Union. In the Soviet period, it became an industrial center but also suffered national and demographic oppression.
Since regaining independence in 1991, Riga has become a modern European city with advanced infrastructure and preservation of its unique historic center, which was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Today, Riga is the cultural, economic, and political center of Latvia.
The Jews in Latvia and Riga
The Jewish community in Latvia began to form in the 16th century but grew significantly in the 18th and 19th centuries due to Jewish immigration from Eastern Europe, especially after the region was annexed to Russia. In Riga, a thriving Jewish community was established with educational, cultural, and religious institutions.
In the first half of the 20th century, Jews comprised about 5% of Latvia’s population and about 10% of Riga’s population. They played an important role in commerce, medicine, journalism, and politics.
Under Soviet occupation in 1940, Jews experienced nationalization, deportations to Siberia, and repression. Later, during the Nazi occupation, about 70,000 Latvian Jews and thousands more brought from Central Europe were murdered.
After the Holocaust, only a few hundred remained. During the Soviet era, there were restrictions on religious and community life. Only after renewed independence did Jewish communal revival begin, with the reopening of synagogues, Jewish schools, and cultural activities.
The Jews in Latvia and Riga – Community, Life, and Culture
The Jewish community in Latvia included diverse streams – religious, secular, Zionist, and Bundist. In Riga, there were synagogues, yeshivas, a Yiddish theater, Jewish press, and Hebrew schools.
Jews played a central role in the development of Latvia’s economy and public life – as doctors, lawyers, merchants, and intellectuals. During the interwar period, Jews were represented in the parliament and enjoyed relatively free cultural life.
The community faced antisemitism from parts of Latvian society, but also cooperation and integration. The local Jewish culture combined Eastern European tradition with German and Russian influences and was vibrant and diverse until the Holocaust.
The Jews in Latvia and Riga During World War II
In 1940, with Latvia’s annexation by the Soviet Union, many Jewish institutions were closed and thousands were deported to Siberia. With Germany’s invasion in June 1941, the rapid annihilation of Latvian Jewry began.
Already in the first months after the German occupation, mass killings took place – including the murder of about 25,000 Jews in the Rumbula forest near Riga.
The extermination was carried out with the cooperation of German forces and local Latvian militias. Ghettos were established but were liquidated by 1943. Riga also became a death site for Jews brought from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia.
At the end of the war, only a few survived – some in hiding, others in the Red Army or due to early deportation to the Soviet Union.
The Holocaust in Latvia was among the fastest and deadliest in Europe. Its memory is preserved today through memorials and educational activities by the renewed Jewish community.
Liepāja
Liepāja, Latvia’s third-largest city, lies on the coast of the Baltic Sea and has been an important port since the 13th century. Throughout its history, it changed hands between the Duchy of Courland, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Sweden, and Russia. In the 19th century, it became a major industrial and naval center of the Russian Empire. The Jewish community in the city grew in the 18th century and flourished economically and culturally by the early 20th century. During World War II, after the German invasion in 1941, around 7,000 Jews from Liepāja were murdered on the nearby Šķēde beaches. Today, the city preserves the memory of its historic Jewish community through memorials and Holocaust sites.
Subate
Subate is a small town in southeastern Latvia, near the border with Lithuania, which began developing in the 16th century as a regional trade center. A thriving Jewish community existed there from the 17th century, earning livelihoods through trade and crafts and playing a central role in the town’s economic and cultural life. With the Soviet occupation in 1940, Jews faced nationalization and deportations, and in 1941, following the Nazi invasion, almost the entire Jewish population of Subate was murdered in a nearby forest. Today, the town is small and quiet, with a few memorial sites commemorating its once vibrant Jewish heritage lost in the Holocaust.