Preiļi. Sinagogue built in 1870.

Preiļi (town since 1928), a district centre in the Republic of Latvia. Known since 1382. From 1772 it was part of the Russian Empire. In the 19th–early 20th century it was the township of Preli in Dvinsk district of Vitebsk province. In 1918–40 it belonged to the Republic of Latvia; in 1940–91, to the Latvian SSR.

In 1847, 284 Jews (65%) lived in Preiļi; in 1897, 1,375 (65%); in 1920, 995 (54%); in 1925, 1,005 (52%); in 1930, 892 (51%); in 1935, 847 Jews (51%).

Jews had lived in Preiļi since the mid-19th century. Their principal occupations were trade and crafts. A synagogue was built in 1865. In the 1870s–80s the rabbi of Preiļi was Yisroel-Avrom Maifis (?–1897); there were ḥeders. In 1889 a state Russian primary school was opened, attended by some Jewish children. In 1898 four synagogues were in operation. At the beginning of the 20th century a mutual credit society was established.

In 1902 the Jews of Preiļi were accused of ritual murder, and only the intervention of the authorities prevented a pogrom. Rabbis in Preiļi included: from 1897 Avrom-Faivish Weisbrod (1859–?); later Leyzer-Yankl Grodsky (b. 1875, Preli – ?); from 1912 Avrom-Yakov Kaleb.

During the First World War many Jews left Preiļi; however, the community accepted hundreds of Jewish refugees from other localities in Latvia and Lithuania.

In 1917 a branch of Tseirei Tsion was established in Preiļi, with a club, library and reading room, and an amateur theatre. Later a branch of He-Ḥaluts was organised. In 1922 the Jewish community collected 2,266 roubles in donations for the Jewish National Fund. Instruction in the primary school, formerly in Yiddish, was switched to Hebrew; in 1928 a new school building was constructed.

In the late 1920s branches of the Zionist youth movements Noar Borokhov, Ha-Shomer ha-Tsa’ir, and Gordonia opened in Preiļi Many young Jews of Preiļi emigrated to Eretz Israel during this period. Two synagogues operated in Preiļi, including a Hasidic one; there was a Jewish cemetery. In 1918–40 the rabbi of Preiļi was Sh.-P. Weisbrod, who perished during the Holocaust.

In 1940–41 Jews of Preiļi held a number of administrative posts; the chairman of the town council was Reuven Arsh, his deputy was Michael Kagan.

On 28 June 1941 Preiļi was occupied by Wehrmacht units. A ghetto was established. Within a month most of the Jews of Preiļi were murdered at the cemetery; the remainder were killed on 8 August 1941.

After 1945 the remains of the victims were reburied in a mass grave at the Jewish cemetery; a memorial was erected at the site of the executions.