Dagda – a town (since 1992) in the Krāslava District of the Republic of Latvia.
From 1772, it was part of the Russian Empire. In the 19th – early 20th centuries, Dagda was a small town in the Dvinsk district (from 1893, Dvinsk uyezd) of Vitebsk Governorate. Between 1918–1940 it belonged to the independent Republic of Latvia, and from 1940–1991 it was part of the Latvian SSR.
Jewish population:
1847: 77 Jews
1897: 1,026 (68%)
1920: 727 (63%)
1930: 668 (53%)
1935: 589 (53%)
The Jewish community in Dagda emerged in the 1820s following the resettlement of Jews from the nearby village of Dishuvka. The main occupations of the Jews were trade and crafts, including in neighboring villages. The material prosperity of the Jewish population fostered the development of communal life during the 1880s–1890s: there was a chevra kadisha, and the local Bikur Cholim organization funded medical services. In 1910, a Jewish charity society for the poor was established.
Among the rabbis were Yaakov Shmargon and Leizer Hendel. From 1910 to 1941, the rabbi was D. Shmargon (d. 1941). In 1904–1907, Dagda had a Bund cell (approx. 20 members), and during the same period, emigration of local Jews increased.
During WWI, many Jewish families evacuated to eastern Russia. In the early 1920s, with assistance from the Joint Distribution Committee, the synagogue was repaired and a mutual aid fund was created. Between 1922–24, hundreds of Jewish refugees from the USSR passed through Dagda, some of whom settled there.
From the mid-1920s, the main occupation of Jews became trading in agricultural goods. There were about 30 Jewish artisans, 2 Jewish pharmacists, a doctor, and a dentist. Jews owned 85 of 89 businesses and 121 of 209 houses.
In 1920, a 6-grade public school was founded, initially with Yiddish as the language of instruction, and later, from the early 1930s, Hebrew. Dagda had three synagogues, including two Hasidic ones. Zionist youth organizations like Tzeirei Zion, Tchiya, Betar, and Zionist-Revisionist Party operated in the town and were influential among local Jews.
In the 1930s, a cooperative for agricultural production and sales was formed, leading to a significant drop in income for Jewish merchants. In 1933, many Jewish homes were destroyed in a fire, and aid came from the Riga Jewish community and other Latvian towns.
In July 1941, Dagda was occupied by German forces. About 60 Jews managed to evacuate beforehand. Several dozen Jews were executed in Dagda, while the rest were deported to the Daugavpils ghetto and later executed in a nearby forest along with Jews from other small towns during the so-called “Action against provincial Jews.” A memorial now stands at the execution site.
After the liberation in 1944, a few Jewish families returned to Dagda.
Notable people born in Dagda:
Sh.M. Levin
Berl Chagi (1892–1954, Newark, USA) – cantor in synagogues in Detroit, Boston, and New York, emigrated to the USA in 1913.