Why go
The small ghetto explains why the history of Riga's Jews did not end with the destruction of the large ghetto. Survivors selected for work were kept under armed control, while the property of those murdered at Rumbula was removed. This account helps distinguish two phases of the ghetto when reading about the district or visiting the museum.
The full story
After the mass killings at Rumbula in late 1941, Nazi authorities confined surviving Jews in a smaller section of the Riga Ghetto. Many had been selected for forced labour. Guards still controlled the perimeter, and permission was needed for movement beyond it. The occupation regime encouraged residents of the wider city to report Jews in hiding, adding another danger for anyone trying to escape. A work detail from the small ghetto was sent into the emptied large ghetto to gather the belongings of people murdered at Rumbula. Some survivors tried to recover possessions they had hidden there; being found without authorisation could mean execution. The occupation authorities also distributed or removed property from the abandoned homes. These details show how forced labour, surveillance and theft continued after the principal mass killings. The term “small ghetto” identifies a later phase of confinement, not a less severe version of the earlier one.