Riga, city (founded 1201), capital of the Republic of Latvia. Known from 1198. From 1274 it was part of the Livonian Order; from 1561 of the Kingdom of Poland; from 1569 of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth; from 1621 of Sweden. From 1710 it became part of Russia; from 1714 it was the center of the Riga Governorate, and from 1796 of the Livland Governorate. Since 1919 it has been the capital of the Republic of Latvia; in 1940–91 it was the capital of the Latvian SSR.
In 1742 two Jews lived in Riga; in 1764 — 36; in 1811 — 736; in 1842 — 1,100; in 1858 — 2,641 (3.4%); in 1869 — 5,254; in 1880 — 14,000 (8%); in 1897 — 21,962 (7.9%); in 1913 — 33,651 (6.5%); in 1920 — 24,712 (19%); in 1925 — 39,459 (11.7%); in 1930 — 42,328 (11.2%); in 1935 — 43,672 (13.34%); in 1940 — about 48,000; in 1959 — 30,267 (5%); in 1970 — 30,581; in 1979 — 23,583; in 1989 — 18,814; in 2000 — 8,249 Jews.
The first mention of Jews in Riga dates from 1536. In 1561 Jews were forbidden to trade, and in 1593, by decree of King Sigismund III Vasa, they were forbidden to reside in Riga. However, Jews were allowed (after paying a tax) to come to the city and conduct retail trade during the annual fairs. They arrived in Riga on barges, from which they carried out their trading activities.
From 1638 Jews arriving in Riga were permitted to stay at the Jewish inn (Jewish courtyard). Its keeper was Heinrich Rosen, who also held the wine-farming lease. In 1666 regulations governing the stay and commercial activity of Jews in Riga were published. In 1690 Jews arriving by barges or rafts were permitted to remain overnight near their goods.
In 1700, after the troops of the Polish king Augustus II twice besieged Riga and the Jewish inn was burned down, Jews were allowed to live within the city limits, though not in the central districts.
In 1709 Jews were again forbidden to settle in Riga. In 1715 Peter I’s “factor” (agent) Hirsh Israel and his family were exceptionally permitted to reside in the city center. In 1724 the city council issued a new permit for maintaining the Jewish inn for 50 years to a certain Schroeder. Even Jews spending the night on their barges were required to pay a fee to the owner of the inn.
In 1725 Jews were permitted to establish a Jewish cemetery and to found a *hevra kadisha. In the same year the Hamburg jeweler Isaac Marcus Salomon received permission to reside outside the inn, in the suburbs of Riga, and to trade freely in jewelry.
After the decree of Empress Catherine I in 1727 expelling Jews from Russia, the Jews left Riga; only a few families were allowed to remain. Following a similar decree in 1742 by Empress Elizabeth Petrovna, the city council asked the governor-general to allow Jews temporary residence in Riga. The request was rejected, and in March 1743 the Jews left Riga (only four people remained with special permission from the governor-general).
In the spring of 1743 a petition by Riga citizens, supported by the Senate, requesting permission for Jewish merchants to come to Riga for trade was rejected by the empress, who wrote on the Senate’s resolution: “I do not wish to obtain profit from the enemies of Christ.” Jews were expelled from Riga.
In the 1760s, due to a decline in trade, the authorities of Riga again petitioned for the right of Jews to reside temporarily in the city. In 1764 Empress Catherine II decided to settle Jews in Novorossiya, and Riga became a center for implementing this plan. David Bamberger, Aron Moses, Benjamin Beer, and Levi Wolf were granted the status of “merchants of New Russia,” with the right to trade in Riga. They were also permitted to live outside the Jewish inn.
A Jewish community was established; the first synagogue was opened in a former Catholic chapel; a mikveh operated, and a cemetery existed.
In 1765, at the demand of merchants and craftsmen, Jews were settled in a special courtyard outside the city walls near St. John’s Gate. The right to maintain an inn (consisting of several houses) was granted for fifty years to Johann Benjamin Bencken.
In 1766, by an “imperial decree,” Jews were permitted to reside in the Jewish courtyard for no more than six weeks; they were forbidden to practice crafts, sell goods to non-Riga residents, and engage in several other activities. In the mid-18th century Abraham Kunze created the recipe for “Kunze’s Balsam,” which later became known as Riga Balsam.
During the plague epidemic of 1770, all Jews, except four privileged families, were expelled from Riga; they were allowed to return a year later. In 1771 Johann Benjamin Bencken established a synagogue in the courtyard. Gradually, the number of Jews with special privileges increased.
In 1783, at the demand of the authorities, the Jews elected a community elder (from among those permanently residing in Riga), who was responsible for settling disputes, overseeing religious affairs of the community, and supervising compliance with regulations by newly arrived Jews.
In 1785 Jews were granted the right to reside in the town of Schlock (now Sloka, part of Jūrmala). The community was allowed to employ one teacher. Jews arriving in Riga from other towns were forbidden to bring their families. In 1792 Jews were permitted to open a second synagogue in a private house in Riga.
In 1797 two Jews were appointed to the Riga censorship office to review imported Jewish books. The rabbi of Schlock, and later the first rabbi of Riga, was Moshe-Yehezkel Matz (1760–1831), who also served as a censor of Hebrew books.
In 1810 the petition of the Jewish community of Riga requesting permission for Jews to practice crafts was rejected. In 1813 Jews were granted the right to reside in Riga but were allowed to live only in two courtyards (including one in the Moscow Forstadt, where most of the Jews from Schlock settled). The authorities required Riga’s Jews to wear European clothing.
In 1822 Jews were allowed to practice crafts (but without apprentices and without the right to display shop signs). In the same year the number of Jewish courtyards increased to five: one for merchants in the city itself, two in the Moscow Forstadt, and two across the Daugava River.
In 1829 the society “Bikur Ḥolim” was founded (chairman: Zvi Hamburger). By 1835 two private Jewish schools for boys operated in Riga. One, led by Yankel Shay, had 16 students; the other, led by Abram Friedman, had 27 students.
In January 1840 a state Jewish school was opened. Its first head was Max Lilienthal, later followed by Wunderbar; from 1843 the head was A. I. Neiman, and later Wulf Kaplan (d. 1887).
In 1843 a new stone synagogue, the Altneue Shul, was built in Riga, and in 1851 another synagogue was opened in the Moscow Forstadt. That same year Moses Salomon, a translator of Hebrew books, donated an embroidered golden curtain for the aron kodesh of his synagogue. He also donated an equally luxurious covering for the altar of St. Peter’s Church.
The rabbi of Riga from 1831 to 1851 was Aaron Alkan (d. 1851), and from 1851 his son-in-law Eliyahu Rivlin served as rabbi. The official (state) rabbi was A. I. Neiman in 1854–63, and Reichman in 1865–69.
In 1857 Jews obtained the right to reside in all districts of Riga, and in 1858 they gained the right to own real estate, to enroll in craft guilds and merchant guilds, and to engage in all forms of trade and industrial production.
In August 1871 the Great Choral Synagogue (“Di grosse chor shul,” also known as “Gogel shul”) was opened. From 1873 the Soldaten Shul, a synagogue built with funds from former “Nicholas soldiers,” was active. In central Riga a synagogue was opened in the apartment of Rabbi Yosef-Meir, known as “Yosef-Meir’s minyan.” From 1885 a synagogue of the Lubavitch Hasidim was also functioning.
In 1877 Avrom Ehrlich became the head of the Jewish state school in Riga. In 1878, domestic science circles were opened for girls from poor families. In 1880 Abram Stumpel founded a Jewish school in Riga where instruction was conducted in Russian.
By 1887 about 500 pupils studied at the state Jewish school; from that same year girls were also admitted. At the end of the 19th century several reformed ḥeders operated in the city.
Various charitable societies were organized: a mutual aid fund for Jewish students (1877), the societies “Gmilus Ḥesed” and “Leḥem Aniyim,” and in 1882 a poorhouse was opened. According to the law of 1893, Jews who had settled in Riga before 3 April 1880 and their descendants were permitted to reside in the city, except for those living on charity or under criminal investigation.
In 1884 a branch of “Ḥibbat Zion” was established in Riga, and circles of “Ḥovevei Zion” began operating. Riga residents Zalman Lunz and Leyba Shalit were delegates to the Ḥovevei Zion conference in Katowice, and L. Shalit represented Riga at the First Zionist Congress in Basel in 1897.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Riga had a number of Jewish political and social organizations: the Zionist society “Zion,” the youth organization “Shomrei Zion,” the Bund (from 1900), a branch of Poalei Zion, and associations of Zionist-socialists. In 1905 Jewish self-defense units were organized.
From 1873 to 1893 the official (state) rabbi of Riga was A.-E. Pumpyansky, under whose editorship the monthly Russian-language journal “Yevreyskiye zapiski” (Jewish Notes) was published in 1881–82.
From 1893 the state rabbi of Riga was Shloyme Foker; in the 1900s — I. M. Mikhelson, and in the 1910s — L. O. Kantor.
The rabbi of Riga from 1886 to 1911 was Moshe Shapiro, and from 1911 to 1935 his son-in-law Menachem-Mendl Abin (d. 1935). The rabbi of the Hasidic community of Riga in the early 20th century was Leib Schneerson.
Riga. The Great Choral Synagogue. Photograph from the 1930s.
From 1906, the choral synagogues “Peiter Shul” and “Zayln Shul” operated in the center of Riga.
By the late 19th and early 20th centuries a group of major Jewish entrepreneurs had emerged in Riga. In 1894, L. Gershelman owned a book publishing house. Moritz Feitelberg traded in haberdashery goods both wholesale and retail. David Garber owned a colored sugar factory (established in 1840). Yakov Gindin played a leading role in the production of alcoholic beverages. Shloyme Shalit founded the flax-processing factory “Emolips.”
In 1909, S. Mintus, owner of the largest cinema in Riga, the “Coliseum,” founded a distribution company supplying films to the Northwestern region. Export trade through the port of Riga—especially timber, grain, and flax—was largely carried out by Jewish commercial firms.
At the beginning of the 20th century the Union of Jewish Timber Industrialists was organized in Riga. Jews owned ten banks, including the Emigration Bank, founded in 1910 by L. Shalit and Eliezer Ettingen, which assisted emigrants, mainly those leaving for the United States.
A network of Jewish credit institutions was also created in Riga: a mutual aid fund for Jewish craftsmen (from 1909) and loan and savings societies. Jews owned about ten sawmills and several enterprises in the tobacco and leather industries (six factories).
Among the main occupations of Riga’s Jews were various crafts, especially tailoring and shoemaking. Most shops selling ready-made clothing belonged to Jews. Among the Jewish population of Riga there were over 50 physicians (about 20%), more than 100 dentists (about 50%), and several lawyers.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the local branch of the Society for the Promotion of Enlightenment among the Jews of Russia (OPE) maintained the Riga Jewish vocational school (founded 1906), an afternoon school for boys, evening courses for craftsmen, a commission for collecting archival materials on the history of Jews in the Baltic region, a library and public reading room, and a summer camp.
Within the society “Ivriya” there were a historical-literary commission, the “Dovrei Ivrit” commission, and a library. The society “Heder Mesukan” maintained six model ḥeders, “Yagdil Torah” operated a ḥeder devoted to Talmud study, and “Heder Kloli” maintained three model ḥeders.
A Sabbath school, a Jewish boys’ gymnasium, two Jewish boys’ elementary schools, two Jewish girls’ elementary schools, the Jewish literary-dramatic society “Carmel” (with a library), and a literary-pedagogical circle of Riga Jewish women also operated in the city.
In 1912, about 200 Jews (11%) studied at the Riga Polytechnic Institute. Jews also provided financial support for the construction of the German gymnasium “Börsen-Kommerzschule.” In gratitude, its trustees decorated the façade of the building with two six-pointed stars.
Numerous charitable institutions functioned in Riga, including the Society for the Care of the Poor, the society “Friend of Children,” and the hospital “Linas ha-Tzedek” (from 1910).
In 1907 the first Yiddish newspaper in Riga, “National Zeitung,” was published by the German baron Alexander von Badenbach (11 issues appeared). In 1909 Eliyas Levin opened the first Jewish printing house in Riga, whose debut publication was the children’s weekly “Gekhaver.” In 1910 the newspaper “Di Yidishe Shtime” appeared under the editorship of Bal-Makhshoves.
During World War I, many Jews were deported to the interior provinces of the Russian Empire. In early July 1915, six Jews in Riga were taken hostage, and later another six were arrested. Dozens of Jews expelled from Courland by the Russian military command on accusations of espionage and treason arrived in the city. The local branch of EKOPO (the Jewish Committee for Aid to War Victims) helped refugees; its staff managed to obtain permission from the city authorities for many refugees to remain in Riga.
In 1918–1919, in the requisitioned printing house of Eliyas Levin, the Soviet Yiddish newspaper “Der Royter Emes” (“The Red Truth”) was published. It was headed by the commissioner for press affairs Bege, a non-Jew who had spent fifteen years in Tsarist exile among Bundists and had mastered Yiddish. At the same time the newspapers “Unser Wort” and the Bund newspaper “Unser Tsayt” were published.
In 1918 the newspaper “Rizhskoe slovo” (“Riga Word”) was issued, but it was closed in August 1919 after what authorities considered “inadequate” coverage of anti-Jewish incidents in Friedrichstadt (modern Jaunjelgava). In 1919 the newspaper “Novoe rizhskoe slovo” (“New Riga Word”) appeared. Both newspapers were published by Rafael Isaakovich Rosenfeld (d. 1920, Riga).
Jews of Riga participated in the struggle for Latvian independence. The highest Latvian military decorations were awarded to several Jews: Samuel-Joseph Gopp and Robert Malecki received the Order of Lāčplēsis, while Hirsh Berkovich, Ellis Richter, and Faivush Farbmon were awarded the Order of the Three Stars. At the Jewish cemetery in Šmerli, founded in 1928, a memorial monument was erected to Jews who had fallen in the fight for Latvian independence in 1918–1920.
In the early 1920s, the Jewish population of Riga grew rapidly due to internal migration from other regions of the republic—mainly from Latgale—as well as the return of refugees and the flight of Jews from Russia.
In 1920, the elected committee of the “Jewish Congress for Aid to Latvia” included representatives from Riga L. Fishman and Dr. I. Ioffe. On 27 June 1921, the Congress of Jewish Communities of Latvia was held. Representatives elected from Riga were M. Zak, M. Dubin, M. Veksler, Gurevich (Agudas Israel), L. Fishman, P. Mintz, Ya. Landau (National Jewish Democrats), Dr. I. Ioffe and Zh. Tron (Zionists), Z. Levitas (Folkspartei), and Dr. Gelman and Flyatsky (Tseirei Zion).
During the 1920s–1930s, branches of all Jewish political parties and movements operated in Riga: Mizrachi (led by M. Nurok), Tseirei Zion, the National Democrats (chairman L. Fishman), Agudas Israel, and the General Zionists. The first organizations in the world of the Revisionist Zionists, such as Betar, were founded in Riga after the visit of Ze’ev Jabotinsky in December 1923. Its founders included Yakov Hoffman, Rabbi Moshe Levin, and Max Gelshtein.
Jewish members of the Latvian parliament (Saeima) included M. Dubin, P. Mintz, M. Nurok, and M. Ya. Lazerson from Tseirei Zion, as well as N. Maisel (1891–1956) from the Bund. P. Mintz served as Minister of State Control of the Republic of Latvia, and Ya. Landau was director of the Jewish Department of Education.
Various Zionist youth organizations were active in Riga, including Gordonia, Netzah, He-Halutz, Hashmonai, Ha-Galil, He-Haver, and Ha-Shahar. Of the ten Jewish student corporations existing in Riga, six were Zionist.
In 1924, representatives of the Jewish community of Riga assisted members of Zionist organizations in the Soviet Union in illegally crossing the Soviet–Latvian border so they could later continue to Eretz Israel. Betar and Netzah established agricultural farms near Riga to prepare young people for physical labor in Eretz Israel. On the sailing vessel “Theodor Herzl,” Betar trained future sailors.
In 1922, the Jewish publishing house “Yavnis” and the Jewish printing house of Apta and Gurevich operated in Riga. In 1925, Yakov Iosifovich Brams (1898, Libava – 1981, USA) and Boris Yulyevich Polyak (1889, Białystok – ?) founded what became the best printing house in Latvia at that time.
In the 1920s–1930s, numerous Yiddish periodicals were published in Riga, including the newspapers “Dos Folk” (1920–1926) and “Frimorgn” (1926–1934), edited by Ya. Gelman and Ya.-Z.-V. E. Laetsky-Bertoldi; “Naye Tsayt” with the humorous supplement “Ashmoday” (from 1922); “Der Veg” (1922–1923); “Unser Veg” (1923–1924); “Riger Moment” (from 1925); “Riger Tog” (from 1930); “Ovent Post” (1932–1934); “Morgn Post” (from 1934); “Ba Tog” (1932–1934, edited by G. Movshovich); “Letste Nayes” (from 1935); “Gaynt” (1934–1940), and others.
I. Vinnik (1895–1942), a prominent Zionist leader and head of the Jewish Agency in Latvia, served at various times as editor of the newspapers “Yidishe Volkshtime,” “Dos Folk,” and “Der Ruf.”
Communists in the early 1930s published the journal “Nay Erd,” which promoted the idea of Jewish resettlement in the Jewish Autonomous Region in the Soviet Far East. Jewish topics also received significant attention in the Russian-language newspaper “Segodnya,” edited by M. Milrud (1883–1941), and in “Segodnya vecherom” (from 1925, editor B. I. Khariton).
In 1921, on the initiative of Dr. Herman Wassermann, the “Ivrit” Gymnasium was opened (director — Dr. Isaac Rauchwarger). In the same year the Jewish Society for the Promotion of Knowledge and Arts founded the Jewish People’s Conservatory in Riga (headed by Sh. Rozovsky).
During the 1920s, the People’s University in Yiddish (until 1928) and the Jewish Pedagogical Institute operated in the city. In 1925–26, 545 Jewish students studied at the University of Riga, and in 1930–31 their number reached 744.
From 1920 to 1934, a network of Jewish primary and secondary schools operated in Riga with financial support from the authorities:
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12 schools with instruction in Hebrew and Yiddish,
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4 gymnasiums with instruction in German and Russian,
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2 vocational schools with instruction in Yiddish.
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The Jewish Democratic Teachers’ Union and the association of Jewish teachers “Moriah” were also established.
In Riga there were several kindergartens, including the Froebel Kindergarten (director Sarah Lieberman), Froebel training courses for kindergarten teachers, and kindergartens run by Alice Levi and S. Dreyer. In 1923, the Society of Public Kindergartens opened a boarding house for poor children.
In the early 1920s, several Jewish theatrical troupes worked in Riga, including the “Jewish Operetta” and the “Jewish Dramatic Corner.” A Jewish theatre functioned in 1926–34 and again in 1936–38. The Bund and Tseirei Zion also maintained their own theatres. The Jewish Department of the Ministry of Public Education opened a Jewish dramatic studio.
A Jewish choir performed under the direction of Yakov Abramis. Almost every Jewish organization maintained its own libraries and clubs. In Riga there were four Jewish sports societies, as well as a tennis club and a yacht club.
During the 1920s, with support from the Joint, the hospital “Bikur Ḥolim” was founded in Riga. There was also a Union of Jewish Physicians and courses for nurses headed by Dr. Boris Herzfeld.
In 1927, Riga had 87 Jewish physicians and 208 Jewish dentists. By 1934, the numbers had grown to 310 Jewish physicians (29%) and 260 Jewish dentists (65%).
The city also had Jewish credit institutions providing loans on preferential terms (including a mutual aid fund for Jewish students), branches of OZE, ORT, and Kinder Kolonien (headed by Yudel Braun).
Numerous charitable organizations operated in Riga, including a home for the elderly, the society “Malbish Arumim,” the Jewish Society of Cheap Dining Rooms, and a kosher canteen supervised by Rabbi Y. Yuger.
Riga had many Jewish craftsmen who formed several professional associations, including the Union of Jewish Craftsmen and the society “Ezra.” A Jewish People’s Cooperative also functioned (board members included A. S. Dubitsky, M. Ya. Lazerson, M. A. Etkin, and others).
In the 1920s, numerous enterprises producing kosher food operated in Riga:
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three wine factories,
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a liqueur factory,
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a molasses plant,
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several matzah bakeries,
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the Baltic Canning Factory.
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Jews owned many banks, commercial and industrial enterprises, including two coffee factories, several confectionery and tobacco factories, several wine and liqueur plants, the first factory producing artificial honey and fruit sugar, a cork factory, and a rubber products factory. Jewish entrepreneurs controlled almost the entire timber industry.
The Union of Jewish Merchants was established in Riga. The Hoff family owned a narrow-gauge railway, and a Jew owned the “Astra” cinema. Among the city’s lawyers, 40 (38%) were Jews.
In the 1920s–1930s, more than 30 synagogues operated in Riga, including four choral synagogues.
Rabbis of various synagogues in Riga during the 1920s–1930s included Eliyahu Althaus (1871, Nikolaev – ?), Yevel Baranchik (1874–1941), Ephraim Gabbai (1862–?), Yitzhak Horowitz (1882, Kherson – 1941, Riga), Refael Kagan (1866–1941, Riga), Barukh-Eliezer Lurie (1896–?), Mendel Magarik (1865, Drissa, Vitebsk Province – ?), Naftali-Herz Sosnovnik (1875–?), and Chaim-Wulf Harash (1854, Dinaburg – ?).
The chief rabbi of Riga from 1915 to 1941 was Menachem-Mendl Zak (1873, Friedrichstadt – 1941), who founded the first yeshiva in the city in 1921. From 1935, the yeshiva was headed by Zak’s son-in-law Israel-Moishe Kilov (1891, Preili – 1941, Riga).
In 1927, after the arrival from the Soviet Union of Yosef-Yitzhak Schneersohn, Riga became a center of the Lubavitch Hasidic movement. The Tomchei Tmimim yeshiva was established, headed by Yitzhak Twersky and Pogromyansky.
After the state coup of May 1934, Jewish cultural autonomy was sharply restricted. Jewish socialist parties and youth movements were banned. Antisemitic incidents increased, Jews were no longer accepted into state service, and an unofficial quota system was introduced at the University of Riga.
In 1940, after Latvia was incorporated into the USSR, all Jewish autonomous institutions, political parties, student corporations, and sports organizations were dissolved. In 1940–41, the Yiddish newspaper “Kampf” was published. From 1 October 1940, a State Jewish Theatre operated in Riga.
In late 1940 – early 1941, activists and leaders of Jewish religious and political parties were arrested, including M. Dubin and M. Nurok. On 13–14 June 1941, about 3,500 Jews were deported from Riga to remote regions of the USSR as “socially dangerous elements.”
On 1 July 1941, Riga was occupied by Wehrmacht forces. About 40,000 Jews were in the city at that time, including refugees from Lithuania. On 4 July 1941, Latvian nationalists, with German assistance, set fire to several synagogues, including the Great Choral Synagogue (“Gogel Shul”) with Jews who had taken refuge there and residents of neighboring streets (about 2,000 people perished).
Riga. Ceremony of consecrating the banner of the Jewish society “Liberators of Latvia.” 1931.
In the first days of the occupation, special SS units and the Latvian police shot several thousand Jews in the Bikernieki Forest. At the end of July 1941, German authorities issued orders requiring all remaining Jews to register and to wear a distinctive mark — the yellow star.
On 25 October 1941, a ghetto was established in the former Moscow Forstadt, where all Jews of Riga (about 32,000 people) were confined. A Judenrat was appointed to administer the ghetto.
On 29–30 October and 8–9 November 1941, during two “actions” carried out with the participation of the Latvian police, about 27,000 Jews were murdered in the forest near the Rumbula railway station; among the victims was the historian Simon Dubnow.
On 29 November 1941, a “small ghetto” was created within the territory of the “large ghetto,” where about 4,500 able-bodied men and women were confined.
Beginning in November 1941, Jews from Germany and the occupied countries of Western Europe were deported to Riga. Most were shot in the Bikernieki Forest, some were sent to the Salaspils concentration camp, where they were soon killed, and about 15,000 people were placed in the so-called German ghetto (within the area of the former large ghetto).
In 1942, several labor camps were established around Riga, to which part of the Jews from the Riga ghetto were transferred.
Within the territory of the small ghetto, an underground organization operated (led by Ovsey Okun, Mendel Vulfovich, and Max Lieberman), in which Jewish policemen also played an active role. The organization was divided into groups of five to seven members. These groups smuggled weapons into the ghetto and distributed anti-fascist leaflets.
The underground managed to establish contact with Soviet prisoners of war, and on 26 October 1942 attempted to escape together with them to join the partisans (10 underground members and several POWs). During the ensuing firefight, eight Jews were killed. In retaliation for the killing of three SS men, more than 150 ghetto prisoners were executed, including 42 Jewish policemen.
After this, all weapons were hidden in the basement of the house where O. Okun lived. In June 1943, the cache was discovered and 300 Jews were killed. Soon afterward the small ghetto was liquidated.
In August 1943, the surviving prisoners of the small ghetto were transferred to the Kaiserwald concentration camp. On 2 November 1943, about 2,000 children, sick people, and elderly prisoners in the German ghetto were executed; the rest were transferred to Kaiserwald.
In August and September 1944, part of the Kaiserwald prisoners were transported to the Stutthof concentration camp, about 400 people were sent to the Auschwitz extermination camp, and the remaining prisoners were shot on 2 October 1944 during the liquidation of the camp.
During the liberation of Riga in October 1944, Soviet forces included a rifle division commanded by Major General P. M. Shafarenko, an aviation regiment commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Anatoly Markovich Tseygin, and a separate motorized pontoon-bridge battalion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel David Isaakovich Genkin.
After the Nazi army left Riga, more than 150 Jews who had been hidden by non-Jews emerged from their hiding places. One third of them had been saved by the family of Jānis Lipke.
In 1944, Jewish organizations in New York proposed raising funds to establish a Jewish orphanage in Riga (according to some reports, the city then had about 900 Jewish orphans). By 1946, 315 orphans were being raised in Jewish families under a system of patronage.
After the liberation, the Jewish community of Riga was headed by B. Kaplan, a former prisoner of the ghetto, who was arrested in 1946. In 1945–46, Riga served as a center for the “Brikha” organization, which enabled hundreds of Jews from Riga to illegally cross the Soviet–Polish border and make their way to Eretz Israel. Some activists of Brikha were arrested. The longest sentences (25 years) were given to Sh. Ioffe (1918–1955, died in prison) and Ya. Yankelovich (Yanai) (1919–1988, Israel).
From 1946, the rabbi of Riga was Mozus Samoylovich Maslyansky (1871–?). On ordinary days about 50 people attended synagogue services; on holidays the number reached about 1,500.
During the antisemitic campaign of 1948–1953, many Jews in Riga were arrested. In 1960, the tombstones of the Old Jewish Cemetery were demolished. In 1963, the baking of matzah in Riga was banned. In 1964, non-Jews began to be buried in the Jewish cemetery of Šmerli.
Riga was one of the first cities in the USSR where attempts were made after 1956 to revive Jewish cultural life. In 1957, a Jewish choir was established under Latpotrebsoyuz, performing mainly in Yiddish. Its chief conductors were I. Abramis (1908–?), son of Abram Abramis, the cantor of the Choral Synagogue who was murdered in the ghetto, and brother of Ya. Abramis, as well as the former ghetto prisoner and composer Mendel Bash.
In 1962, an amateur Jewish theatre existed in Riga for several months.
In 1961, the head of the Jewish community was removed from his position on accusations of espionage. In the early 1960s, Jews began restoring the sites of mass executions, and from 1962 memorial gatherings were held in the Rumbula forest. On 25 December 1964, a memorial stone with inscriptions in Yiddish, Russian, and Latvian was erected there.
In 1966, after disturbances following a concert by the Israeli singer Geula Gill, M. Lapid, Abigail Roth, and Noemi Garber were arrested on charges of organizing unrest.
In the 1960s, unofficial Shabbat minyanim were held in private apartments, notably at the homes of Zalman Levin and Natan Zusmanovich Barkman (1923–2003).
Nokhum Beser and Gradus served as private teachers of the fundamentals of Judaism. From the mid-1960s, underground groups for the study of Hebrew began to function in Riga. In 1970, the first Jewish samizdat journal in the USSR, “Iton,” was published.
During the 1970s and early 1980s, the samizdat journal “Haim” (from 1977) circulated. Summer ulpans, excursions to the former Riga Ghetto, celebrations of Jewish holidays, and theatrical performances were organized. From 1975, the underground seminar “Riga Readings on Judaica” was held.
In 1968, in protest against the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia, Ilya Rips attempted an act of self-immolation near the Freedom Monument in central Riga. From the late 1960s, Jews of Riga actively participated in the struggle for the right to emigrate to Israel. Many were prosecuted in 1970 in the so-called “airplane case,” including I. M. Mendelevich. In 1971, four Jewish activists were sentenced in the so-called Riga trial. In the first hunger strike protest held on 10–11 March 1971 near the building of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, 56 Jews from Riga participated.
Since 1988, the Latvian Society of Jewish Culture has existed. In 1989, the first Jewish secondary school in the USSR was opened in Riga (director Hona Bergman, 1923–1993). The Jewish folklore ensemble “Kinnor” and the Society of Ghetto Prisoners were also founded.
From 1989, the journal “Vestnik evreiskoi kultury” (Bulletin of Jewish Culture, “VEK”) was published in Riga. Branches of Betar and Maccabi operate; members of Maccabi participated in the Maccabiah Games of 1989 and 1993.
In 1990, the Jewish community regained the building of the former Jewish Theatre. In 1991, Riga hosted the Baltic Festival of Jewish Culture. In 1992, the Jewish community of Riga was officially established; since 2002 its chairman has been Arkady Sukharenco, and since 2004 the executive director has been Gita Umanovska.
In the late 1980s, the rabbi of Riga was Menachem-Mendl Nidel (1947–1989). From 1990 to 2003, the chief rabbi of Riga and Latvia was N. Z. Barkan (Barkman), a representative of Menachem-Mendel Schneerson. Since 2003, the rabbi of Riga has been Mordechai Glazman (b. 1965, Tel Aviv), also a representative of Schneerson and active in Riga since 1992.
In July 1993, Riga hosted the First World Congress of Jews from Latvia.
During the World Congress of Jews from Latvia held in Riga in July 1993, the Bikur Ḥolim hospital was opened in the city.
In 1994, a memorial marker was installed on the site of the Old Jewish Cemetery. Since 1995, under the leadership of G. G. Branover and R. S. Ferber, the international scholarly conference “Jews in a Changing World” has been held in Riga every two years.
In 1998, the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Latvia was established (chairman of the board — R. S. Ferber).
In 1995, the Jewish school “Ohel Menachem” was opened in a restored building, under the direction of Mordechai Glazman. The Jewish community also operates the “Ohel Menachem” kindergarten, a Sunday school, and various clubs and charitable institutions.
In 2001, a memorial to the Jewish victims of the Holocaust was inaugurated in the Bikernieki Forest.
By 2005, approximately 9,000 Jews were living in Riga.
Among those born in Riga were:
B. Aktsin, N. Argov, L. N. Belsky, I. Berlin, L. B. Bernshtam, G. G. Branover, E. M. Braudo, P. L. Vail, I. P. Veynberg, Ya. S. Vilenchik, A. G. Vovsi, Sh.-Ya. Geverts, A. A. Genis, M. Ger, S. A. Giller, M. Gilkvim, N. Ginzburg, O. L. Gordon, I. Kh. Grubert, A. I. Gurvich, I. I. Gurevich, L. Gutman, A. Disenchik, N. Ya. Zolotonos, B.-Ts. Keshet, M.-M. Kitay, A. N. Koblents, E. Kogen-Mints, G. M. Kremer, M. Lavri, I. Leibovich, N. Leibovich, M. Lesman, M. Ya. Libman, A. Lipshyuts, T. Lifshits, V. Maysky, M. Maysky, M. G. Maryanovsky, I. M. Mendelevich, A.-M. Miletsky, L. M. Mikhelson, E. M. Mitsis, L.-S. Moiseyev, A. I. Nimtsovich, R. M. Olkhovsky, A. A. Praudin, S. E. Rabinovich, A. I. Raikin, M. Yu. Rapoport, Ya. D. Rapoport, S. A. Reynberg, L. S. Rogachevskaya, Sh. Rozovsky, A. Sverdlov, Z. Suzayev, P.-M. Tayts, M. N. Tal, R. D. Timenchik, I. P. Traynin, E. Zh. Tron, R. S. Ferber, B. Fogelyavichus, A.-Sh. Freydus, D. M. Khazan, F. Halsman, A. Ya. Heifetz, G. M. Heifetz, A. Ya. Tsigelnik, A. Chuzhoy, Y. Schwartz, B. A. Shimeliovich, Yu. A. Shimeliovich, B. Shtern, S. M. Eisenstein, B. Eliav, G. Yadlovker.
Among notable individuals born in Riga were also:
Albert Abramovich (1879–1963, USA), painter and graphic artist; from 1905 lived in France and from 1913 in the United States; participant in personal exhibitions (from 1934); published urban landscapes and street scenes; his works are held in museums in New York, Washington, London, and Moscow.
Lazar Adirim (b. 1952), fencing coach; from 1983 in Israel; coach of the Israeli national foil fencing team.
Yuli Vulfovich Anshelevich (b. 1932), cardiologist, Doctor of Medical Sciences (1966), professor (1968), full member of the Latvian Academy of Sciences; chairman of the Latvian Scientific Cardiology Society (from 1972); State Prize of the Latvian SSR (1977); chairman of the council of the society “Bikur Holim” (from 1994).
Barukh Bag (1901–1993), sports organizer; from 1929 in Eretz Israel; organizational secretary of the Department of Physical Education of the Vaad Leumi (1939–48); organizational secretary of the Ministry of Education’s physical education department (1948–53); director of the Wingate Institute for Physical Education and Sport (1957–69).
Lipman Bers (1914–1993, New York), mathematician; professor at Columbia University (1964); member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences (1964); major works in mathematical analysis and partial differential equations.
Avraham Blaushtayn (1836–1914), cantor; chief cantor in Bromberg (Germany).
Avraham (Sergei) Braun (1881–1940), one of the leaders of the Bund; from 1938 in the USA.
Joachim Braun (b. 1929), musicologist and cellist; from 1972 in Israel; professor at Bar-Ilan University (1981); author of several hundred publications.
Vladimir Yakovlevich Vigman (b. 1952), draughts (checkers) player, international grandmaster (1985), USSR champion in Russian draughts (1976, 1977, 1978), editor-in-chief of the journal Shashki (1990–91), author of books and methodological works.
George Gulak (1905–1987), gymnast and sports organizer; Latvian champion in gymnastics all-around (1921); from 1922 in the USA; Olympic champion (1932); vice-president of the International Gymnastics Federation; chairman of the U.S. National Olympic Committee.
Moses Grigoryevich Gurevich (1891–1937, Moscow), statesman; People’s Commissar of Health of the Ukrainian SSR (1920); deputy People’s Commissar of Health of the RSFSR (1934); repressed.
Morris Deitch (1899–?), public figure; from 1944 in the USA; one of the leaders of the Jewish community of California.
Bernhard Lvovich Dannenhirsh (1894–1972), graphic artist; poster designer, illustrator for the Latvian State Publishing House; designer for productions at the Jewish Theatre of the Latvian SSR (1940); chief artist of Riga (1961–64); Honored Artist of the Latvian SSR (1945).
Robert Fedorovich Ilyash (1834–1909, St. Petersburg), journalist; published in St. Petersburg newspapers and Jewish periodicals of Russia and Austria-Hungary; author of An Essay on the History of the Jews of Riga.
Dorothea Kruk (Gilead) (1920–1989), philologist, professor of English literature (1971) at Tel Aviv University.
David Magarshak (1899–1977), English literary scholar and translator into English of works by Pushkin, Gogol, Dostoevsky, Leskov, and Ostrovsky; author of several monographs on Anton Chekhov.
Dov Milman (b. 1919), political figure; from 1937 in Eretz Israel; member of the 7th Knesset from the Herut party; representative of Israel in the European Parliament (1979–80); ambassador to Portugal (1981–83).
Ilya Aronovich Rips (b. 1948), mathematician and professor; from 1972 in Israel; specialist in classical problems of group theory; author of works on Torah numerology.
Rafael Leonovich Rosenthal (b. 1937), surgeon, Doctor of Medical Sciences (1972), professor (1980), author of numerous scientific works; State Prize of the Latvian SSR (1980).
Bryna-Olga Lvovna-Pavlovna Rudina-Nenadovna-Fossa (1902–1973), physician; head of the hospital of the International Brigades in Spain (1938–39); head of the medical service of the Central Committee of MOPR (1939–41).
Miryam Lvovna-Lipkovna Rudina-Vitalina (1898–1990), physician; head of a hospital of the International Brigades in Spain (1937–39); physician at Jewish hospitals in Riga in 1933–36 and 1939–41.
Lyubov Savvishna Rudneva (Feigelman) (1914–2003, Moscow), writer and essayist; the only female marine painter in Russia; some of her works address Jewish themes.
Dvoyra Taran (1898–1957, New York), educator; from 1923 in the USA; author of several Yiddish textbooks.
Avrom Trubochist (1870–1941), publicist writing in Yiddish; author of travel essays about Asia and Africa.
Eliezer Halfin (1948–1972, Munich), athlete; from 1969 in Israel; member of the Israeli Olympic wrestling team; murdered by terrorists during the Olympic Games in Germany.
Vladlen Vladimirovich Shulman (b. 1962), singer, cantor, and vocal pedagogue; Riga chess champion (1983, 1986, 1987, 1988).
Aron Yudelson (1907–1937), poet and journalist writing in Yiddish; author of several poetry and essay collections; repressed.
Aharon Yariv (Rabinovich) (1920–1994), political figure; member of the 8th Knesset from the Labor Party; Minister of Communications (1974); Minister of Information (1975).
Among those who lived and worked in Riga were:
M. D. Alexandrovich, D. L. Bamberger, M. L. Belenky, M. M. Borodin, M. I. Ganfman, E. Goldin, S. M. Dimanstein, M. Yo, L. O. Kantor, L. I. Koval, Z. Meerovits, A. I. Neiman, B. M. Orshansky, A.-E. Pumpyansky, S. Pukher, M. A. Rakuzin, O. D. Strok, I.-Kh. Tavyev, Yu. F. Fayer, D.-B. Khagi, M. G. Tsentnershver, M. U. Shats-Anin, M. L. Shenfeld, M. O. Eisenstein.
Yu. N. Grigoryeva, R. I. Moldaver
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