Old Jewish Cemetery in Riga, Latvia

For the first two centuries of its existence, the story of Riga’s Old Jewish Cemetery was like the story of any other Jewish cemetery in Europe. The cemetery was established in 1725 at what was then the outskirts of Riga, and it was desperately needed by the local Jewish community, who previously needed to transport people 40 km to the nearest Jewish cemetery in Jelgava.

The cemetery saw a lot of use over the centuries, and it was even expanded twice in the 19th century. Then, with the advent of World War II, the history of the cemetery became complicated. Following the invasion by German forces in 1941, the cemetery was incorporated into the Jewish ghetto used by the Nazis to control the movement and activities of Riga’s Jewish population.

At this point, the location ceased to function as a normal cemetery. The occupying forces burnt down a prayer house and mortuary within the cemetery and proceeded to use it for mass burials. After the war, when Latvia had been incorporated into the Soviet Union, the cemetery’s grave markers were either taken away to be used as construction material or were otherwise allowed to crumble.

Eventually, the cemetery was converted into a park with the name “Park of the Communist Brigades”. In 1992, after the Soviet Union had collapsed and Latvia had regained its independence, the park was renamed as the “Old Jewish Cemetery” (or “Vecie ebreju kapi” in Latvian), and a few small commemorative monuments have been placed in the park.

Otherwise, no sign of the old cemetery remains in this small patch of trees in Riga’s southeastern suburbs.