Memorial Sites

Riga Brethren Cemetery is Latvia's largest memorial ensemble dedicated to about 2,000 Latvian soldiers (among them also about 200 unknown) who were killed between 1915 and 1920 in World War I and the Latvian War of Independence.

The memorial is a symbolic confirmation of the connection between today and the tragedy in the history of Latvia, when the Soviet regime deported several tens of thousands of Latvian citizens. The memorial is equipped with special audio-visual equipment that creates emotional sound and vibration effects daily, fitting into the environment of the city of Riga.

June 14, 1941 was fateful day for more than 15,000 Latvian residents. According to a decision by the Soviet authorities, without any court hearing, these were herded into cattle wagons and taken from the Torņakalns Station to the farthest corners of the Soviet Union, where they were condemned to hunger, frost and death in harsh conditions, or in concentration camps and places of imprisonment.

Žanis Lipke Memorial is dedicated to a brave man who saved more than 50 Jews from Nazis during the Second World War by hiding them in a bunker under a shed. The memorial building shows the living conditions of the saved ones as close as possible; here you will find an exciting exhibition and a very interesting architecture.

Founded in 1871, the Riga Choral Synagogue was burned to the ground in 1941. A memorial is located in the ruins today in memory of those who perished in the blaze, and another one was unveiled in 2007, dedicated to those who provided safe haven for Jews during the war.

Biķernieki Forest is a graveyard for thousands of Jews slaughtered there during World War II. The memorial ensemble's center is a black granite cube, a symbolic altar, with an inscription from the Book of Job: "Earth, do not shield my blood or hide my cry!" The surrounding thousands of stones remind one of traditional Jewish burial grounds.

The Riga Ghetto Museum opened its doors in 2010. It is located close to the border of the former Jewish Ghetto, in Maskavas Forštate (Moscow suburb), a historical city quarter. Once inhabited by Russian merchants and Jews, the quarter has small wooden houses with aged but still elegant wooden carvings, paved winding streets and a unique aura. Many people come here nowadays to look for the places where their ancestors had once lived. The territory of the Riga Ghetto is unique, having barely changed in the last sixty years.

Rumbula is one of the largest holocaust sites in Europe.