City (since 1609), district centre (Latvian Republic).
Bauska was founded in the 15th c. as a fortress of the Livonian Order. The settlement formed in its vicinity was named Bausenburg.
From 1795 it was a part of the Russian Empire. In the 19th - beginning of the 20th c. - district town Bausk of Courland province. In 1918-40 - in Latvian Republic, in 1940-91 - Latvian SSR.
Jewish population
In 1835 there were 2669 Jews living in Bauska and vicinities, in in 1850 - 2266, in 1861 in Bauska alone - 1620 (38 % of the total population), in 1881 in Bauska and vicinities - 1620 (38 %), in 1881 in Bauska and vicinities - 2266 (38 %), in 1881 - 3631 (59%), in 1897 - 2745 (42%), in 1910 - about 2000 (about 40%), in 1920 - 604 (20 %), in 1925 - 919 (18 %), in 1930 - 768 (16 %), in 1935 - 778 Jews (16 %).
In the 18th century Jews were forbidden to live in Bauska, so they settled in a special Sloboda on the other side of the Lielupe River, where there was a synagogue with a rabbi, a Jewish cemetery, and a kadisha hevra. In 1795 after the cancellation of the prohibition the inhabitants of Sloboda resettled to Bauska (in the 19th c. its population grew mainly f due to the influx of Jews from other regions).
In 1820 a Jewish community was established, a synagogue was opened, a religious court operated, community books were kept. Since 1857 a Jewish alms-house was functioning.
The first rabbi of Bauska was Mordechai Rabiner (1802-30), then Aron ben Elhanan, in 1832-61- Yaakov Bendetman (Yankele Bausker), in 1862-90 - M. Eliasberg. In 1890-95 - spiritual and state rabbi was Johaanan Lifshitz (later one of the Jewish religeous leaders in Poland). Then, cadre rabbi was Kusiel Ephraimson, the spiritual rabbi in 1895- 1904 was A.-I. Cook ( founded a yeshiva in Bauska) and in 1907-23 - H.-I. Bloch.
In 1844 a new synagogue was built in Bauska. In 1856 the Lubavitch Hasidic community with a synagogue was founded.
In 1820 82 Jewish families (692 people) moved to Kherson province.
The main occupations of the Jews of Bauska were crafts and trade, mainly in linen, including with Germany through the port of Memel (today's Klaipeda).
In 1835 there were 96 Jews in the guild of merchants, in 1850 - 238 (about 10 % of all the Bauska Jews).
In 1864 there were 4 synagogues in Bauska.
In 1878 on the charge of making counterfeit assigments, 4 Jews were arrested, which triggered an anti-Semitic campaign in the local press. It accused all Jews in Bauska of enriching themselves with counterfeit money.
In the late 19-early 20th centuries Jews from Lithuania lived in Bauska without the permission of the authorities. Lithuanian Jews led an independent communal life. They were persecuted by the authorities, many of them were evicted from the city).
In 1897 there were 2 cheders and a talmud-Torahs, in 1901 - two Jewish schools of S. Kadyshevitch and M. Sviotgaley. In some families children were sent to secular schools (by 1914 there were about 50 Jews who attended them).
In 1884, a Palestinophile organisation emerged in Bauska, which was actively supported by M. Eliasberg and Lubavitch Hasidim (Hasid Zalman Levitas was Bauska's representative in the Odessa commettee).
Kook's son Tzvi Yehuda (1890-1982) founded a children's Zionist organisation ‘Pirchei Tzion’. In Bauska there was also a Jewish library, a literary-music association ‘Zamir’ (in 1910 - 107 members). In the late 19th - early 20th century many Jews of Bauska left for Eretz Israel.
In 1905 there were mass revolts in Bauska, in which the Jews of Bauska also took part (tinsmith Israel Friedman was accused of manufacturing weapons and sentenced to death). On the eve of the 1st World War, there were 6 synagogues in Bauska, 2 shochetas, and 2 shochetas operating in the city.
Also, there was a committee for the preservation of the old synagogue in Sloboda, mutual aid funds, a 20-bed shelter.
During the 1st World War, in 1915 all Jews of Bauska were evicted from the city (some returned in 1918).
In 1917-20 the number of Jewish population of Bauska decreased. In 1918-19 the Jews of Bauska suffered from pogroms perpetrated by soldiers of the Latvian army and were involved in forced labour.
In the early 1920s, several hundred Jews who had returned from Russia settled in Bauska. However, the total number of the Jewish population decreased due to the move of many Jews to Riga and other towns and cities as well as leaving for Eretz Israel and other countries.
In October 1920 the council of the community was elected. Rabbi Bloch represented it at the congress of the Jewish communities of Latvia in 1920.
In the 1920ies there were 3 synagogues, the society ‘Bikur Cholim’ (in 1920 - 102 members, in 1926 - 175).
The Jewish school in Bauska was the best in Courland, yet many children studied in a private Russian school (closed in 1926) some in Latvian and German gymnasiums.
At the same time a kindergarten with teaching in Hebrew was founded. In the mid-1920s a branch of Beitar was created in Bauska (by 1931 - 74 members), also operated cells of ‘Ha-Shomer ha-Tsair’, Bund, youth movement ‘Herzliya’, party ‘Herzliya, the Zionist Socialist Party, and an association of former Jewish soldiers.
From 1923 the rabbi of Bauska was Moishe Shoilom Shtol.
In the 1920s the community maintained close ties with the local German minority. In the municipal elections of 1921 Jews and Germans stood as a united block. In the same year, a pogrom took place in Bauska on the day of the Latvian Saeima elections.
In 1935 there were 363 shops and stalls in Bauska (half of them were owned by Jews); 2 out of 4 doctors and 3 out of 5 dentists were Jews.
In June 1940 ten of the wealthiest Jewish families were deported by the Soviets.
In June 1941 only a small number of Jews managed to evacuate. On 26 June 1941 Bauska was occupied by German troops. On 2 August 50 Jews were killed in the forest, 8 kilometres from Bauska, a week later another 153 people (most of them Jews). At the same time in a ‘special hospital’, set up in the premises of the city court, a sterilisation campaign for Jewish men was carried out by a Latvian paramedic. On 30 September 1941 all Jews of Bauska (about 800 people) were exterminated (two survived: one escaped from the ‘special hospital’ during sterilisation, the other pretended to be a Latvian and was conscripted into Latvian units).
A memorial sign with an inscription in Russian was erected on the site of mass shootings.
А.Y.Grigorn and N. Nisselovich were born in Bauska.