The ancient Latvian tribes had no connections with the Jews and their entrance was banned into Livonia. Only after the Livonian War in the second half of the 16th century, when the lands of Latvia became the subject … See more

During the World War I in 1914, there were about 190,000 Jews in the territories of Latvia (7.4% of the total population). During the war years, many of them were expelled to the interior of Russia, while others escaped from the war zone. In 1920 the Jews of Latvia … See more

On April 7, 1945, the Soviet press published the "Declaration of the Special Government Commission charged with the inquiry into the crimes committed by the German-Fascist … See more

On June 11–17, 1993, the First World Congress of Latvian Jews was held in Riga. It was attended by delegates from Israel, the US, Sweden, Switzerland, Germany, Britain, South Africa, and Australia.
Two See more

Soviet occupation, 1940–1941
After first extracting Latvian agreement under duress—Stalin personally threatened the Latvian foreign minister, in Moscow, during negotiations—to the stationing of Soviet troops on Latvian soil, the See more

The Jewish population of Latvia declined from 28,300 in 1979 to 22,900 in 1989, when 18,800 of its Jews lived in the capital Riga. Part of this was due to a high rate of emigration to Israel; … See more

Before World War II, Latvia had almost 100,000 Jews. Most Latvian Jews were murdered in the Holocaust. Latvia's Jewish population after World War II peaked at almost 37,000 in … See more