Riga Ghetto and Latvian Holocaust Museum

Why go

The museum provides a place to understand how the Riga Ghetto was created and what happened to its residents. It connects the city's streets to the wider history of deportation and mass murder, including the killings at Rumbula. Its subject calls for unhurried attention and is better approached as a dedicated history visit than a quick stop on a sightseeing circuit.

The full story

After occupying Riga in 1941, Nazi German authorities imposed increasingly severe restrictions on the city's Jews and forced them into a fenced area in Maskavas Forštate. Families were dispossessed as they moved. On 30 November and 8–9 December 1941, German SS and police forces, with local collaborators, murdered about 27,500 Latvian Jews from the ghetto at Rumbula. A smaller ghetto continued for survivors selected for forced labour, while deportees from Germany and other parts of Europe were sent to Riga. The museum's purpose is to keep these events and the people affected by them in view. The former ghetto was a district of coercion and confinement, not a single building; the museum is a distinct site for learning about it. That distinction matters when looking at a map or moving between sites connected with the history.

Useful to know

• Use the museum's visitor information to confirm access before setting out.
• Distinguish the museum site from the former ghetto district when planning a walk.

Your next visit

Estimated · Declared scenario and planning estimates; no live opening, weather, queue or booking service.