Alternate names: Rīga [Latv], Ryga [Pol, Lith], Rige and ריגע [Yid], Riga [Ger, Rus-Рига], Riia [Est], Rija. 56°57' N, 24°06' E , capitol of Latvia. 1900 Jewish population: 22,115.
- Journey into terror: story of the Riga ghetto
(New York, ca 1979) - Austrian, Czech, and German Jews in Riga
(, ) Al kav ha-ketz(Tel Aviv, 1975) - On the brink of nowhere
(Latham, NY, 1999) ShtetLink Encyclopedia of Jewish Life (2001), pp. 1077-1083: "Riga". - Pinkas HaKehilot, Latvia and Estonia (1988), p. 242: "Riga"
- Shtetl Finder (1980), p. 81: "Riga".
- JewishGen Latvia SIG
- VIDEO: Jewish Riga (218KB) - The capital of Latvia, the metropolis with... 800 000 inhabitants. Old Jewish cemetery, ghetto area of 1941-1943, Jewish quarter of 1870-1941, Jewish craftsmen school and gymnasium, monument of Big Choral synagogue. ... acting synagogue ...The teaching video which arise thinking about the past and today of Jewish history
- VIDEO: Riga-Ventspils/Windau-Ludza-Vilnius (265KB) -This recording includes a video chronicle of the July 1, 1941, Nazi entrance into Riga. 1999 views of a group of UK tourists visiting the Riga Holocaust site and Jewish school. Conversation with a rabbi. A visit to the seaport town of Ventspils and meeting with members of that community. Views of the synagogue and old cemetery. There is a visit to Ludza with Dr. Kovnat of New Mexico where he met with the Levin family. We searched for Dr. Kovnat's father's house. You will see the small picturesque synagogue and the cemetery.[March 2009]
The Teutonic Order founded Riga in 1201. 15th and 16th Jews had economic ties with Riga and were allowed to work for limited periods of time but not reside permanently. In 1638, a hostel was opened for them. In 1725, they were permitted to establish a Jewish cemetery at a time when about 70 Jews lived there. They left in 1743 when Jews of Russia were banished. In 1764, some rich Jewish families were classified "Protected Jews" and considered as guardians of the "foreign Jews" using the hostel .In 1765, a Chevra Kadisha was founded officially. Jews trading in Riga in 1785 had to register in a small town called Sloka (Schlock) near Riga. In 1813 they received Riga residency permission for the 736 pProtected Jews, foreign Jews and Schlock citizens. In 1858, finally could own real estate. The area around Moscow Road known as "Moscow Vorstadt" was a main area of Jewish settlement. At the end of the 19th century, some Jews moved to the center of Riga. 50% Kurland Jews spoke German but Yiddish speaking Jews arrived from White Russia, Lithuania, and Poland. At the end of the 19th century, Russians arrived. 85% of the Jews in Latvia in the 1925 census considered Yiddish their mother tongue partly because in 1915, the Russians evacuated the population of Kurland beginning with the Jews in March or April while retreating from the advancing Germans during WWI. In the 1920's and 1930's the Latvian language was the school lingua. Between the two world wars about 10% of Latvian Jewry were paupers. In 1941, these Jews were forced back to the Moscow area that became the Riga Ghetto for the Jewish intellectuals, professionals, and tradesmen. Leading Jews were arrested and perished in Stalin's Gulag. The NKVD deported 14,000 inhabitants of Latvia on June 14, 1941 including about 5000 Jews, half from Riga. After the war ,some survivors returned while some Jews from the USSR settled in Riga. 23,000 Jews were registered in Riga in 1989 down to about 9000 today. [March 2009]
The Riga Synagogue, Lachplesha str. 141, Riga, Latvia LV1003. Tel.: (371) 720-53-13
Old Cemetery: (Jaunie ebreju kapi) Riga 1003. Old Cemetery at Liksnas Street 2/4 is totally destroyed. The location is now a park.
Ebreju Kapseta (Jewish Cemetery) Mass Grave 1.
Veca Jewish Cemetery Mass Grave: 1941-1943.
New Cemetery: Lizuma iela 4, Rīga, LV-1006. Cemetery dates from 1920. Šmerlis, neighborhood in Riga, can be accessed by trolleybus on routes 4 and 16, as well as tram routes 1,3, and 6. Šmerlis is the site of the only remaining Jewish cemetery in Riga.)
The new cemetery founded in 1920 has thousands of tombstones. The guardian of Riga cemeteries has the list of all funerals since 1951. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., Kahovkas 2-12 LV-1021, Riga, Latvia
See burial list All Latvia Cemetery List [March 2009]
Shmerli Cemetery: Burial list [March 2009]
See burial list. [January 2011]
Holocaust Memorial [May 2010]
Ebreju Kapseta (Jewish Cemetery) Mass Grave. The mass grave is located in the New Jewish cemetery.
- OTHER RIGA MASS GRAVES:
Bikernieki Mass Grave
Dreilini Mass Grave: July 1941- October 1944. Dreiliņi is a neighborhood on the eastern edge of Riga within the borders of Augusta Deglava, Baltinavas, Dzilnas and Ēvalda Valtera streets.
Gogoal Street Mass Grave: Gogoal Street 25, July 4, 1941.
Rumbula Mass Grave: Maskavas Street 471. Nov 30 and Dec 8, 1941.
Strazdumuiza Mass Grave: near Brivibas Street 1942-43.
[UPDATE]
Riga New Jewish cemetery "Smerli" website initiative of the Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia preserves all available data about graves and provides assistance for anyone interested in finding info about their ancestors. https://www.smerli.lv//site/main/
For English, click on "en" at upper righthand corner of page.
[September 2018]