About Riga Ghetto and Latvian Holocaust Museum
The Riga Ghetto Museum, is located close to the former Jewish Ghetto's border in Maskavas Forštate (a Moscow suburb), opened its doors in 2010. The museum's grounds are lined with stones from the streets of the Ghetto.
There is also a memorial wall which contains over 70,000 names of Latvian Jews who perished in the Holocaust. In addition 25,000 Jews from other European countries who were brought to Riga and murdered.
The small wooden houses in the quarter, with their aged but still elegant wooden carvings, paved winding streets and unique aura, were once inhabited by Jews.
The Shamir religious community in Latvia worked with the Riga City Council to create the Museum of the Riga Ghetto and Holocaust. This museum is both a memorial to the horrific events of the Holocaust, and a place of culture and education, where people can learn about tolerance and respect for one another.
The House of Riga ghetto and Latvian holocaust museum
This wooden 2-story house was built in the middle of the 19th century in Moscow Suburb. In 2011 this house from Maza Kalna Street 21 was moved to the courtyard of Riga Ghetto and Latvian Holocaust Museum, where reconstruction was started. The total area of this house is 120 sq.m.
During the Riga ghetto period, about 30 people lived there. Prewar and wartime materials, objects, furniture and household items were used for the interior design and furnishing of the house. The exhibition place is located on the ground floor of the building, but the first floor represents the recreated interior of ghetto inhabitants' living room.
The interior has been reconstructed to look like it did during the war, with personal belongings on display. This gives visitors a chance to see what life was really like during the war.
Jews in Latvia after Second World War
World War II had tragic consequences for Latvia. Tens of thousands of people either perished in the war and repressions or emigrated to the West. When German nazi troops entered Latvia in June 1941, only about 19,000 Jews managed to flee to the Soviet rear. Most (approximately 70,000 ) remained in Latvia and became holocaust victims here.
Approximately 5,000 Latvian Jews fought in the Red Army, and about 2,000 of them fell in battle. When the Red Army entered Riga on October 13, 1944, there were only 185 Jews left in the city. Approximately 14,000 Jews returned to Latvia after the war.
By 1970, about 13,000 Jews left for Israel, the United States, and other western countries — more than a third of the remaining Latvian Jewish community. After the restoration of Latvian independence in 1991, the Jewish community of Latvia renewed several public and cultural organizations.
Nowadays the number of Jews in Latvia today is made up of approximately 6.5 thousand people.
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