Entrance to Riga
Brief History
Jewish
Population over the years
Languages
Synagogues and
Rabbis
University of Latvia Center
for Jewish Studies in Riga
Jewish Museum of
Riga
Synagogues of Latvia 1918-1940
Riga Picture Gallery
Ancestors Photos
Religious Life in the Riga Ghetto -
Testimony of Karl Schneider
Riga in Encylopedia of Jewish
Life before and after Holocaust-copyright Yad Vashem.
Maccabi Riga 1918-1933 Text and pictures
from Malz Archive
Maccabi Riga
Names in Text translated from Yiddish to English
Maccabi Riga Text and Pictures from
Latvian side of book
Topographic Maps of Eastern Europe -
History of the Pale of Settlement and
links to other very interesting articles
Jewish
Holdings at the Latvian State Historical Archives
This
is a listing of the records held by the ArchMaccabiives and
is not a searchable database. Researchers will be able to
gain some knowledge of whether their ancestors records are
still available.
Riga was founded in 1201 by the Teutonic Order. In the 15th and
16th centuries Jews had economic ties with Riga. They were allowed
to come to Riga to work for limited periods of time but could not
live in the city permanently. In 1638 a hostel was opened for them
and in 1725 they received permission to establish a Jewish
cemetery. There were about 70 Jews in Riga at this time and they
left in 1743 when the Jews of Russia were banished. In 1764 some
rich Jewish families were classed as "Protected Jews" and were
considered as guardians of the "foreign Jews" who had come to the
hostel .In 1765 a Chevra Kadisha was officially founded. In 1785
Jews traded in Riga but had to register in a small town called
Sloka.(Schlock) not far from Riga. In 1813 they were granted
permission to live in Riga and there were 736 inhabitants
comprising Protected Jews,Foreign Jews and Schlock citizens. In
1858 they were allowed to own real estate.The area around Moscow
Road was known as "Moscow Vorstadt" and was a main area of Jewish
settlement. The Russians evacuated the population of Kurland in
1915 while retreating from the advancing Germans. They started
with the Jews in March or April of that year.At the end of the
19thC some Jews moved out and lived in the centre of the City In
1941 they were forced back into the Moscow area which became the
Riga Ghetto.There were Jewish intellectuals, professionals, and
tradesmen but between the 2 world wars about 10% of Latvian
Jews were paupers.
In 1940-1941 leading Jews were arrested and perished in Stalin's Gulag. The NKVD deported 14,000 inhabitants of Latvia on June 14th 1941 including about 5000 Jews, half from Riga. After the war some survivors returned and some Jews from the USSR settled in Riga. 23,000 Jews were registered in Riga in 1989.. There are at present about 9000 Jews in Riga.
1918-1934: Establishment of the Latvian Republic. Saima Period
15th May 1934 -1940: Karlis Ulmanis' presidency
1940-1941: Soviet occupation
22nd of June 1941 - 13th October 1944: German occupation
1944-1990: Soviet occupation
1990: Establishment of the Latvian Republic.
Jewish Population over the years
Kurland "mitnaggedim"spoke German and in 1881 half of Riga Jews considered their spoken language to be German. A strong German cultural influence dominated. Little by little others came from Belorussia( White Russia),Lithuania and Poland and spoke Yiddish. At the end of the 19thC Russian was added. During the 1920's and 1930's the youth learned the Latvian language.Hebrew was mastered as Zionism spread. According to the 1925 census,85% of the Jews in Latvia considered Yiddish to be their mother tongue. Yiddish was the language of Primary schools.
"Alt Neue Schul" was opened in1850.
The Great Choral Synagogue "Kar Schul" 25 Gogola Street was
consecrated in 1871. In 1941 300 Lithuanian Jewish refugees
sheltering in the synagogue,entire Jewish families from the
neighbourhood and passers-by in the street were burnt alive in the
synagogue. Ruins and a grey memorial stone carved with a Magen
David serve as a monument.
In 1873 a Soldiers Synagogue was founded.
By 1915 there were about 40 synagogues.
1873-1893 Rabbi Aharon Pompiansky
Followed by
Rabbi Shlomo Pucher
Rabbi Leib Kantor
References
Extracts from text by Marger Vestermanis Director of Jewish
Museum in Riga. Fragments of the Jewish History of Riga.
Extracts from text held at Kibbutz Shefayim by Association of
Latvian and Estonian Jews in Israel.
JewishGen
Latvia database
The Jewishgen Latvia
Database has information from a number of different sources.
Data has been drawn from Family Lists for Riga,Courland and
other shtetlach in Latvia, Recruits Enlistment registers, Duma
Voter's lists, Donations to Schools in Riga, Business and
Telephone Directories, Vedomosti (Russian Empire daily
newspapers) and many other sources. The latest additions
include a database of passport registration names from all
over the Russian Empire. Visitors to Riga for any length of
time had to register their passports with the police. It is
thus a great source of information as relatives visiting Riga
can be identified. It is not a passport application database.
We have also included the first databases from the 1897 All
Russian Census with census names from Rezekne and
Krustpils. The 1897 database will be added to at intervals.
HaMelitz index of Lithuanian and Latvian donors to charitable
causes
Yizkor Book Translations
Poor Jews Temporary Shelter-click on arrow
Please use back on your Browser to return to Riga
Compiled by Arlene Beare Nov 28,1998 Suggestions or Comments? Contact: Arlene Beare Copyright©1998-2015 Arlene Beare Updated February 2015 |
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