Alternate names: Liepāja [Latv], Libau [Ger], Libava and Либава [Rus], Libave and ליבאַװע [Yid], Liepoja [Lith], Lipawa [Pol], Libawa, Liboi, Libova, Liboya, Liebau. 56°31' N, 21°01' E , third-largest city of Latvia and port on the Baltic Sea.
- ShtetLink [October 2000]A town named Libauia
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Jewish Community of Liepaya, 21 Kunga Street, Liepaya, LatviaPinkas ha-kehilot; entsiklopediya shel ha-yishuvim le-min hivasdam ve-ad le-aher shoat milhemet ha-olam ha-sheniya
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Jews in Liepaja, Latvia 1941-1945; A Memorial Book (Israel, 1985) (Burlingame, California, 2001) (Jerusalem, 1988).VIDEO: Jewish Libau (216KB) - Legendary sea-port, through which 500,000 Russian Jews started their way to USA, South Africa, Western Europe and Eretz Isroel. Lovely old buildings, the interview with the leader of local Jewish community in perfect English and with Holocaust survivor Mrs. Zivtson in Yiddish and German. The cemetery... the sea. [March 2009]
- VIDEO: Latvia and Estonia ery Liepaja (Libau)-Vilnius-Gargzdai (Gorzhd)-Klaipeda (Memel) (396KB) - From amber town, windy sea-port Libau .. to Lithuanian capital Vilnius, see Jewish sites of Gargzdai, from there came to Baltic sea town Klaipeda/Memel. [March 2009]
Liepaja Jewish Community: Kungu str. 21, Liepaja, LV-3401. Fax, phone.: (+371) 634 25336. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
Burial list [March 2009] Liepaja Jewish Cemetery Burials, 1909-1941
OLD JEWISH CEMETERY:7-9 Kalpaka St, was founded in 1803.
The old cemetery found in the beginning of the 19th century no longer exists. In June 1994, we were taken to the main (probably only) cemetery in the town, where an older lady was caretaker. Told that we wanted to see the Jewish section, she was quite gracious. We walked quite a distance until we came to an area that had been cleared and paved as a plaza, with a large stone engraved with a Jewish Star. This was erected after the Russian occupation ended and financed by contributions from Jews in Europe, Israel, and America. Behind this was a large area heavily overgrown with weeds, with most of the Tombstones either fallen over or at angles. We could see that the inscriptions were in Hebrew. She then led us to a newer section adjoining this area, where there were new stones erected, with attractive landscaping. The newest stones had no Hebrew inscriptions. There was nobody left knowledgeable in Hebrew. I have some pictures. Source: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. phone: 561-499-7766; Fax 561-498-8444. [date?]
NEW JEWISH CEMETERY: Cenkones St 18-20, founded later in the 19th century. 2004 Memorial Wall is a large, simple structure in a landscaped area by itself with the names of 6,423 Jews, all victims either of the Holocaust or of the Gulag, as well as 46 Latvian and German rescuers of 33 Jews. see www.liepajajews.org/wall_web1/info.htm
In relatively good condition, about 500 tombstones remain. Contact cemetery caretaker: Mr. Agris Furmanis, Dzerves Street, Liepaja, Latvija. His phone number is 35-268. Write to him in Latvian, Russian, or German. Between 25 and 36 books remain that record all the burials from 1909 until current time. Aleksandrs states he could copy the books for a minimum of $150 to $200. The cemetery is combined with a Christian cemetery and reasonably well maintained, although hardly any Jews are left in the city. There are several hundred stones. The cemetery was unharmed by the war. Burial records exist in the cemetery office. Jewish burials end in 1941. Sources: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
We asked to be taken to the grave of an uncle who was buried there in 1935. Mr. Furmanis was able to find the grave location through his records and sent an assistant to take us to the place. He charged $10 for this service. His records do not show burials by dates, just names, section, row and place numbers of the graves. Each grave is supposed to have a number engraved somewhere on the gravestone. Our grave did. He also gave us a list of all the Hirschhorns buried there. The correct telephone number is 34 35268, His business card shows the following minus the language marks which are not on my keyboard: "Sandris Furmanis / Livas kapsetas parzinis / Beru organizesana / Neseju pakalpojumi / Kapu labiekartosana / Kapakmenu izgatavosana un uzstadisana." A woman visiting the cemetery gave us the name of Elana Ivanova as chairwoman of the Leipaja Jewish community, who has an office in the Hotel Amrita. (the Jewish community or some other purpose?) We did not contact her as although we had stayed at the hotel. Information on the hotel stationery is as follows: Hotel Amrita, R/Nr: LV52103015131; Rigas iela 7 LV340l Liepaja, Latvija, (+371) 34-80888 (+371) 34-80444 PAREX BANKA / Ls #: 7002062147. Source. [May 2002]
UPDATE: "The Liepaja Jewish cemetery was neglected but not greatly vandalized during the German and Soviet occupations (1941-45 and 1945-1991). Several burial record books survived and ended up in custody of the 1991 cemetery warden, Mr. Agris Furmanis. The Liepaja Cemetery Administration reclaimed the most recent books, covering the period 1909-1941, and made copies available to the Jewish Community of Liepaja. ... Ilana Ivanova, former head of the Community, ... Only Book 1, listing 3564 names and death dates (including 5 between 1905 and 1908), has been transcribed thus far..." Updated in 1999 by This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.; Fax: 561-883-3253
Jewish cemetery in Liepaja was huge and overgrown.Most gravestones were so overgrown they couldn't be read. Moving about was difficult due to the vegetation. The memorial at Skede, where the largest killing took place nearby. The site is difficult to find, near the Baltic Sea in a grove of trees with a memorial stone. [March 2009]
MASS GRAVE: Skede mass grave: On dunes outside Liepaja on December 15-17, 1941 nearly 3,000 Jews were executed by Einsatzgruppen (mobile killing units) and their Latvian collaborators. Between October 1941 and Spring 1945 another approximately 7,000 people were killed and buried of whom 3,640 were Jewish. The dunes were part of a closed military area during the subsequent Soviet occupation, and, although there was a Soviet-era monument here (no mention of Jews), the mass graves here were not located until the early 1990s, when the area finally became open to the public. A memorial stone commemorating the victims, with text in three languages, was placed near the graves by Edward Anders and Vladimirs Bān in 2006. For more, see new Holocaust monument and www.liepajajews.org/mass_grave.htm