Day of Remembrance of Jewish Genocide in Latvia Date in the current year: July 4, 2024

Extermination of Jews in Latvia started during the first days of the Eastern Campaign of the Second World War. Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1944. German troops entered Riga, the capital of Latvia, on July 1. The occupation authorities incited Latvian nationalists to arrest and assault Jewish population of Riga.

On July 4, twenty Jews were forced into the Great Choral Synagogue and locked in the basement. The synagogue was set on fire and burnt. Other synagogues in Riga were burnt down as well, the Peitav Synagogue was the only one to survive.

On July 21, all remaining Jews were registered. The occupation authorities decided to create a ghetto. By October 1941, about 30,000 Jews were concentrated in the Riga ghetto. About a month later, 24,000 ghetto inhabitants were executed by shooting.

Mass killings of Jews took place in other Latvian cites and towns as well, such as Liepāja, Ventspils, Daugavpils, Rēzekne. During the Holocaust in Latvia, Nazis killed about 66,000 Latvian Jews.

Day of Remembrance of Jewish Genocide is marked with solemn ceremonies held throughout the country.