The Holocaust in Latvia refers to the crimes against humanity committed by Nazi Germany and collaborators victimizing Jews during the occupation of Latvia. From 1941 to 1944, around 70,000 Jews were murdered, approximately three-quarters of the pre-war total of 93,000. Yitzhak Arad has similar data, showing 73,000 to 74,000 Latvian Jews murdered in the Holocaust. In addition, thousands of German and Austrian Jews were deported to the Riga Ghetto.

German occupation

The German army crossed the Soviet frontier in the early morning of Sunday 22 June 1941, on a broad front from the Baltic Sea to Hungary. The Germans advanced through Lithuania towards Daugavpils and other strategic points in Latvia. The Nazi police state included an organisation called the Security Service (German: Sicherheitsdienst), generally referred to as the SD, and its headquarters in Berlin was known as the Reich Security Main Office (RSHA).Ezergailis, The Holocaust in Latvia, p245.

The SD in Latvia Ahead of the invasion, the SD had organised four Einsatzgruppen, mobile killing squads. The name Einsatzgruppen ("special assignment units") was a euphemism; their real purpose was to murder people the Nazis saw as "undesirable". These included Communists, Romani people, the mentally ill, homosexuals and, especially Jews. The Einsatzgruppen followed closely behind the German invasion forces and established a presence in Latvia within days and sometimes hours of the occupation of a given area by the German Wehrmacht.

The SD in Latvia can be distinguished in photographs and descriptions by their uniforms. The full black of the Nazi SS was seldom worn; instead, the usual attire was a grey Wehrmacht uniform with black accents. They wore a SD patch on the left sleeve, a yellowish shirt, and the Death's Head (Totenkopf) symbol on their caps. The SD ranks were the same as in the SS. The SD did not wear the SS lightning rune symbol on their right collar tabs and replaced it with either the Totenkopf or the letters "SD".

The SD first established its power in Latvia through Einsatzgruppe A, which was subdivided into units called Einsatzkommandos 1a, 1b, 2 and 3. As the front line moved east, Einsatzgruppe A moved out of Latvia, remaining in the country only a few weeks, after which its functions were taken over by the "resident" SD under the authority of the Kommandeur der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, generally referred to by the German initials of KdS. The KdS took orders both from RSHA in Berlin and from another official called the Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, or BdS. Both the KdS and the BdS were subordinate to another official called the Ranking (or Higher) SS and Police Commander (Höherer SS- und Polizeiführer), or HPSSF. The lines of authority overlapped and were ambiguous.Ezergailis, The Holocaust in Latvia, at page 253 Eastern Latvia, including Daugavpils and the Latgale region, was assigned to Einsatzkommandos 1b (EK 1b) and 3 (EK 3). EK 1b had 50 to 60 men and was commanded by Erich Ehrlinger.

Killings begin: Nazi invasion

In Latvia, the Holocaust started on the night of 23 to 24 June 1941, when in the Grobiņa cemetery an SD detachment killed six local Jews, including the town pharmacist.Ezergailis, The Holocaust in Latvia, p.211 In the following days 35 Jews were exterminated in Durbe, Priekule and Asīte. On June 29 the Nazis started forming the first Latvian Auxiliary Police in Jelgava. Mārtiņš Vagulāns, member of the Pērkonkrusts organisation, was chosen to head it. In the summer of 1941, 300 men in the unit took part in the murder of about 2000 Jews in Jelgava and other places in Zemgale. The killing was supervised by German SD officers Rudolf Batz and Alfred Becu, who involved the Einsatzgruppe in the action. The most important Jelgava synagogue was burned down through their joint effort. After the invasion of Riga, Walter Stahlecker, assisted by the members of Pērkonkrusts and other local collaborationists, organised the pogrom of Jews in the capital of Latvia. Viktors Arājs, aged 31 at the time, a possible former member of Pērkonkrusts and a member of a student fraternity, was appointed direct executor of the action. He was an idle eternal student who was supported by his wife, a rich shop owner, who was ten years older than he was. Arājs had worked in the Latvian Police for a certain period of time. He stood out with his power-hungry and extreme thinking. The man was well fed, well dressed, and "with his student's hat proudly cocked on one ear".

Arajs Kommando formed

On 2 July Viktors Arājs started to form his armed unit of men who were responding to the appeal of Pērkonkrusts to take arms and to clear Latvia of Jews and communists. In the beginning, the unit mainly included members of different student fraternities. In 1941 altogether about 300 men had applied. The closest assistants of Viktors Arājs included Konstantīns Kaķis, Alfrēds Dikmanis, Boris Kinsler and Herberts Cukurs. On the night of July 3, Arājs Kommando started arresting, beating and robbing the Riga Jews. On 4 July, the choral synagogue at Gogoļa Street was burnt, and thereafter, the synagogues at Maskavas and Stabu Streets. Many Jews were murdered during those days, including the refugees from Lithuania. In carts and blue buses, the men of Arajs Kommando went to different places in Courland, Zemgale and Vidzeme, murdering thousands of Jews there.

These killings were supposed to serve as an example to other anti-Semitic supporters of the Nazi invaders. Individual Latvian Selbstschutz units were also involved in the mass-murder of Jews. In the district of Ilūkste, for instance, Jews were killed by the 20-person Selbstschutz death unit of commander Oskars Baltmanis. All murders were supervised by the officers of the German SS and SD. In July 1941, approximately 4,000 Riga Jews were murdered in the Biķernieku Forest. The killings were headed by Sturmbannführers (majors) H. Barth, R. Batz, and the newly appointed chief of the Riga SD Rudolf Lange.

Massacres

As stated by the Latvian historian Andrievs Ezergailis, this was the beginning of "the greatest criminal act in the history of Latvia". From July 1941 the Jews of Latvia were also humiliated in different ways and deprived of the rights that were enjoyed by the other citizens of Latvia. Jews were strictly forbidden to leave their homes in the evening, at night and in the morning. They were allotted lower food rations, they could only shop in some special stores, and they had to wear the mark of recognition – the yellow Star of David on their clothes. It was forbidden for them to attend places where public events took place, including cinemas, athletic fields and parks. They were not allowed to use trains and trams, to go to bath-houses, use pavements, attend libraries and museums or to go to schools, and they had to hand over bicycles and radios. Jewish doctors were only allowed to advise and treat Jews, and they were forbidden to run pharmacies. Maximum norms for furniture, clothes and linen were also soon introduced for Jews. All articles above the norm were subject to confiscation for the needs of the Reich. All jewelry, securities, gold and silver coins had to be surrendered on demand. Anti-Semitism thus became the source of enrichment of Nazi officials and their local collaborators who confiscated Jewish property. The extermination of Jews suited them since nobody would remain alive to demand the return of stolen items. By October 1941, altogether about 35,000 Latvian Jews were killed.

Liepāja

In Liepāja the first mass killing of Jews took place on July 3 and 4, when about 400 people were shot dead, and on July 8 when 300 Jews were killed. The German group of SD and policemen did the shooting, while the members of Latvian Selbstschutz convoyed victims to the killing site. On July 13, the destroying of the sizeable choral synagogue of Liepāja began. The Scripture rolls were spread on the Ugunsdzēsēju Square, and the Jews were forced to march across their sacred things, with watchers merrily laughing at the amusing scene. The above operations took place under the direct leadership of Erhard Grauel, commander of the Einsatzgruppe's Sonderkommando.

Ventspils After that, Grauel went to Ventspils. The killings were jointly carried out by German Ordnungspolizei and the men of the local Selbstschutz. On July 16-July 18, 300 people were shot dead in the Kaziņu Forest. In July–August, the remaining 700 Jews from town were shot dead, while the Jews of the region were killed in the autumn. The shooting was carried out by German, Latvian and Estonian SD men who had arrived by ship. Soon a poster appeared on the Kuldīga-Ventspils highway, which said that Ventspils was Judenfrei (free of Jews).

Daugavpils

In Daugavpils the murder of Jews was initially commanded by Erich Ehrlinger, chief of Einsatzkommando 1b. By July 11 they had killed about 1,150 people. Ehrlinger's work was continued by Joachim Hamann, who was liable for the killing of 9012 Jews in the city and in southern Latgale. The chief of the local auxiliary police Roberts Blūzmanis had rendered active assistance by ensuring the moving of the Jews to the Grīva ghetto and transporting them to the killing places.

Rēzekne In Rēzekne killings were carried out by a German SD group, which was helped by Selbstschutz men and Arajs Kommando. Beginning in July 1941 and into the fall, about 2,500 Jewish men, women and children were murdered in Rēzekne., quoting Encyclopaedia Judaica (2008)

There are two known instances of residents rescuing individual Jews in Rēzekne. Acquiescing to a plea from his parents, Old Believer Ulita Varushkyna took in two-year-old Mordechai Tager, whom she later adopted. Likewise, the Polish Matusevich family hid Haim Israelit and his nephew Yakov for three years. For their actions, both Varushkyna and the Matusevich family were awarded the title Righteous Among the Nations by the Israeli Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem.

Varakļāni Varakļāni, a relatively small town, had about 540 remaining Jews when the Germans gained control. They were shot into graves they were forced to dig on August 4, 1941. The fate of this small town is similar to many other towns, documented by JewishGen and others.

Jungfernhof concentration camp

Confinement

Riga Ghetto