Konzentrationslager
I Erster Weltkrieg, I Die Unabhängigkeitskriege, Erste Unabhängigkeit, II Zweiter Weltkrieg, IV Sowjetische Okkupation

Das Rigaer Ghetto- und lettische Holocaust-Museum befindet sich in der Nähe des Rigaer Zentralmarktes und des Hauptbahnhofes. Das Museum wurde 2010 im einstigen Speicherviertel eröffnet. Es liegt unweit der Grenze zum ehemaligen jüdischen Ghetto in einem historischen Stadtteil. Das einstige Ghettoterritorium ist eine Ausnahmeerscheinung, da es sich seit dem Zweiten Weltkrieg architektonisch kaum verändert hat. Es ist wie ein Mahnmal für die Tragödie des jüdischen Volkes. Bis Ende 1939 drängten deutsche Diplomaten und Politiker die lettische Regierung zu Maßnahmen gegen Juden, um deren Freiheiten einzuschränken. Seit der Umsiedlung der Deutschbalten 1939 war die deutsche Gesandtschaft weniger über die Stimmung in der Bevölkerung und die Lage in Lettland in der sog. Judenfrage im Bilde. Mit dem Einrücken der Roten Armee in Lettland und der damit einhergehenden Manipulation der Öffentlichkeit unterstützte ein erheblicher Teil der jüdischen Einwohner die sowjetische Besatzungsmacht. Angesichts des harten Vorgehens des Regimes gegen die Gesellschaft als Ganzes ging die Unterstützung bald deutlich zurück. In der Bevölkerung hatte sich jedoch eine tiefe Kluft gebildet, die später vom deutschen Besatzungsregime ausgenutzt wurde. Die neue Besatzungsmacht hatte vergeblich auf ausbrechende Pogrome und Schikanen gegen jüdische Einwohner gesetzt. Die deutschen Pläne wurden dahingehend geändert, dass zunächst Ghettos für Juden gebildet, dann aber ihre Bewohner umgebracht wurden.

Das Hotel liegt in Rumbula, in der Nähe der Moskava-Straße.

Rumbula ist einer der größten Orte der Massenvernichtung von Juden in Europa. Während zwei Aktionen - 1941. Am 30. November und 8. Dezember, die aufgrund der Entscheidung der NS-Führung zur vollständigen Vernichtung der im Ghetto von Riga inhaftierten Juden verwirklicht wurden, wurden im Rumbula-Wald mehr als 25.000 Menschen erschossen, darunter etwa 1.000 aus Deutschland deportierte Juden. 1944 Auch mehrere hundert jüdische Männer aus dem Konzentrationslager Kaiserwald wurden in Rumbula getötet.

Die ersten Versuche, die Erinnerung an die in Rumbula getöteten Juden zu verewigen, gehen auf das Ende der 60er Jahre zurück. Trotz der Restriktionen der Sowjetregierung auf Initiative einiger Juden im Jahr 1963. An einer der Kiefern von Rumbula wurde eine hölzerne Gedenktafel mit einer jiddischen Inschrift angebracht, während in der Nähe der Rumbula-Eisenbahn (in der Nähe der Strecke Riga-Moskau) ein großes Plakat des Künstlers Josif Kuzkovskis „Der Jude“ angebracht wurde. Das Plakat zeigte das Bild eines Mannes, der mit geballter Faust aus dem Grab auferstand, als Symbol für einen Protest gegen das, was getan worden war. Sowohl die Gedenktafel als auch das Plakat bereits 1964. geerntet, aber die Juden erwirkten die Erlaubnis, in Rumbula einen Gedenkstein mit der Aufschrift „Opfer des Faschismus“ nicht nur auf Lettisch und Russisch, sondern auch auf Jiddisch zu errichten.

in 2002 Am 29. November wurde in Rumbula das Gedenkensemble nach dem Projekt des Architekten Sergejs Riž eröffnet. Seine Gründung wurde von Institutionen aus Lettland, Israel, den USA und Deutschland sowie von Privatpersonen finanziell unterstützt.

An der Seite der Autobahn, an der Straße, die zum Mahnmal führt, wurde als Zeichen eine Metallkonstruktion angebracht, die die Kräfte des Nationalsozialismus symbolisiert. In der Nähe befindet sich ein Stein mit der Erklärung, dass Tausende von Juden entlang dieser Straße zu Tode gejagt wurden. Am Eingang der Gedenkstätte selbst stellen mehrere Steintafeln mit Inschriften in lettischer, englischer, deutscher und hebräischer Sprache die Ereignisse der Rumbula-Tragödie und die Geschichte der Errichtung der Gedenkstätte vor. Im zentralen Teil des Denkmals, über dem Quadrat, das in Form des Davidsterns gestaltet ist, erhebt sich ein siebenarmiger Leuchter - eine Menora, umgeben von Steinen mit eingravierten Namen der in Rumbula getöteten Juden. Die Straßennamen des ehemaligen Rigaer Ghettos sind in einzelne Steine eingraviert, mit denen der Platz gepflastert ist. Auf dem Territorium der Gedenkstätte befinden sich mehrere Massengräber, deren Stellen mit rechteckigen Betongrenzen markiert sind.

Salaspils Memorial and historical exhibit is located in Salaspils municipality, 1.2 km from the Riga-Daugavpils A6 highway. The Salaspils Memorial was unveiled in 1967 on the site where during World War II the Salaspils Camp was once located. It is a place that was used for Soviet propaganda and is shrouded in myths and half-truths. It is a good representation of the Nazi crimes and Communist ideology that was carried out during each of the occupations. This repressive camp was a part of the German penitentiary system. It had similarities with concentration camps, but it was not the same thing. It was created so that there would not be a disproportionate number of prisoners in Riga prisons. This camp was an “extension of the police prison”. And a variety of people were imprisoned here – Jews, the Red Army prisoners of war, absentees, political prisoners, criminals, prostitutes, members of the Latvian resistance movement, Baltic soldiers in the German Army or police, and others. The camp could hold up to 2,200 prisoners. The main cause of death (~2000) was malnutrition, working conditions, corporal punishment and illness.

The Žanis Lipke memorial is located in Ķīpsala, Riga. The Žanis Lipke Museum is probably one of the most hidden museums in Riga. The obscure location of the memorial is not a coincidence and it has a symbolic meaning. It has been set up in the location of a former underground hideout that was created to save people during the German occupation of World War II. Here Žanis Lipke and his family rescued 55 Jews. Nowadays a memorial has been built next to the Žanis Lipke family house. The memorial ‘Black Shed’ is a symbolic building where shelter was provided and received. The design of the building has been taken from the historical tarred huts of Ķīpsala fishermen and sailors. These huts were built using materials from barges; hence they had a very distinct colour and tar smell. But not only the story of this historic place is unique. The way the museum communicates its message is also quite notable. The overall design has similarities with the Noah’s Ark described in the Bible, and it also resembles a boat that has been pulled ashore and overturned – a boat that has fulfilled its task. The concept of this memorial draws from the historic accuracy of this place and story and the testimonies associated with it. It is a story of a desire for freedom, unbelievable escape and trust. On your way to the museum, you’ll also be able to see the historic buildings of Pārdaugava.

Grieze is located at the Latvian-Lithuanian border, where the Vadakste River flows into the Venta River. The Grieze church was built in 1580, but the parish existed before 1567. The church was rebuilt several times - in 1769, in 1845 and in 1773 the first organ was installed. Both the altarpiece and the two bells have been lost for various reasons.

In the church garden there is a cemetery where people belonging to the church and noblemen are buried. One of them is Grieze organist Friedrich Baris and his wife Charlotte, who have a monument erected in front of the church sacristy. On the south side of the church, 32 Swedish soldiers who died in the Great Northern War are buried. The cemetery also contains the graves of 110 German soldiers who died in the First World War, for whom a monument was erected in 1930.

During the Second World War, the church suffered when the front line was stretched along the Venta River in late October 1944 and the German 225th Infantry Division was stationed in the vicinity of Grieze Church. When the Soviet 4th Shock Army launched attacks across the Venta River on 19 November 1944, several artillery shells hit the south wall of the church and the church tower was badly damaged.

After the surrender of Army Group Kurzeme, the Red Army's Leningrad Front accounted for 284 171 people taken prisoner. 7493 were Red Army soldiers released from German captivity. 48 German generals surrendered to captivity. According to the documents submitted at the time of the surrender of Army Group Kurzeme, the number of soldiers was about 185 000. The rest of the nearly 100 000 people subjected to filtration were Kurzeme civilians and Soviet refugees, as the Soviet Leningrad Front ordered on 10 May 1945 that all men between the ages of 16 and 60 be subjected to filtration.

In the Red Army, unlike the armed forces of other countries, the screening, guarding, maintenance and protection of prisoners of war was carried out not by army units, but by the internal affairs bodies - the People's Commissariat for State Security. The main task of the filtration was to detect citizens of the USSR and Soviet-occupied countries who had taken part in the hostilities on the German side. Captured German soldiers were examined in order to detect possible perpetrators of war crimes.

A prisoner-of-war filtration camp was located in the vicinity of the Grieze Church from 10 May to 17 June 1945. The camp was probably located here because the Grieze Church was close to the main roads. The pits in the ground where the prisoners hid from the cold on cold nights by covering themselves with whatever was available are still clearly visible in the surrounding area. During this period, the Red Army caused considerable damage to the interior of the church (all the pews were removed - "for the war effort", the pulpit was damaged, the organ was destroyed, etc.). A laundry was set up in the church building itself.

The last service in the church was in 1950 and the congregation ceased to exist. After the dissolution of the congregation, also later under the supervision of the Latvian Society for the Protection of Nature and Monuments, the church was not repaired. However, the building stood under roof until the 1960s-1970s. The church was damaged during the storm of 1961 and in 1968 the remaining interior elements were rescued by the Rundāle Palace staff.

Since 2003, a group of like-minded people from Riga parishes have been involved in the clean-up and restoration of the church. To date, the church walls have been conserved and the tower has been restored.
 

This memorial to the victims of the Holocaust is situated not far from the small borough of Klooga.

The first monument was erected here in 1951, but it essentially praised the Soviet ideology and did little to commemorate the victims of the Holocaust. In 1994, the plaques on the monument were replaced with new ones at the request of the Jewish community in Estonia so as to do justice to the victims' ethnic roots. On the 50th anniversary of the mass murder perpetrated in Klooga, a monument to the Jews killed in Estonia from 1941-1944 was unveiled 100 metres from the first monument. In 2005, a third monument was unveiled commemorating the Jews who died or were killed in the concentration camp in Klooga.

The memorial was renovated in 2013 to tie the three monuments together, with the Estonian History Museum opening an outdoor exhibition here entitled ‘Klooga camp and the Holocaust’.

Klooga concentration camp was established by the German regime in September 1943. It was a forced-labour sub-camp of the Vaivara concentration camp complex in Estonia. On 19 September 1944, one of the largest mass murders in German-occupied Estonia was committed: all of the Jews at the camp (around 2000 in total) were killed as the Red Army approached.

This monument is situated in the village of Kaberneeme.

Unveiled in 1960, it remembers the Jews killed in the concentration camp at Jägala in 1942 and 1943. It was designed by P. Madalik.

Jägala concentration camp was established by the German regime in August 1942. Approximately 2200 prisoners were taken there by train from across Europe in September that year. Most of them were shot on arrival at the nearby Kalevi-Liiva training area; the rest were put to work. Around 2000 people were killed in total. The camp was closed in September 1943 and the remaining prisoners were relocated to Tallinn Central Prison in the Patarei Sea Fortress.

At the end of 1943, the Nazi German occupation authorities, planning to expand the SS motorised weapons units, started to build a training ground called "Seelager" (Sea Camp) in the vicinity of Dundaga. The inhabitants of the parishes of Dundaga and Arlava were evacuated to set up the training ground. 

In order to build the infrastructure for the camp, several branches of the concentration camp "Kaiserwald" were located in the vicinity of Dundaga, where around 6000 Jews from various European countries (including Latvia) and around 1000 prisoners of war and partisans were imprisoned. Many prisoners died as a result of executions and poor living conditions. Some of the dead were buried in the "Čiekuri" branch camp, which according to some accounts was also the murder site of a group of Jews who were building a narrow-gauge railway towards Mazirbe.

At the beginning of August 1944, after the Soviet invasion of Zemgale, the training ground was liquidated, several thousand untrained SS recruits were sent back to Germany, and the SS motorised brigade Gross was formed from the command, instructors and trained soldiers, named after the commander of the training ground, SS Standard-Sergeant Martin Gross. The Brigade took part in the Battle of Tukums in August 1944, and in the Battles of Iecava and Baldone in September 1944.

After the departure of the SS units, the infrastructure of the training ground was used to accommodate Jews evacuated from Riga and other regions of Latvia, who continued to be used as slave labour.