Riga in the Holocaust Tour

On this walking tour through Latvia's capital, we will visit the significant Holocaust memorials in the city while learning about the tragic history Riga endured during the Holocaust.

Riga in the Holocaust

Meet us in front of the House of the Blackheads Museum to start our historical Holocaust tour of Riga. This tour focuses on the events during World War II.

The tour will take us to the Great Choral Synagogue commemorative monument, which memorializes the Jewish temple burned by the Nazis on July 4th, 1941. This event marked the beginning of the Holocaust in Latvia.

Next, we will visit the old Jewish Quarter, an area designated by the Nazis as a concentration zone for Jewish families. This part of the city was surrounded by barbed wire and guarded by the Latvian army under German orders, with orders to shoot anyone attempting to escape.

We will also discuss the old Jewish cemetery next to this area, which was turned into a recreational park after the war; the only remaining symbol of its history is the great stone wall with the Star of David.

The tour concludes in front of Peitav Shul, the only still-active synagogue in Latvia, which serves the current Jewish community of over 7,000 individuals.