Location of the monument:

Latitude: 56.937870
Longitude: 24.153544

The Old Jewish Cemetery at 2/4 Līksnas Street was included in the territory of the Rīga Ghetto, set up in 1941. While the ghetto existed, Jews, who had been executed, had committed suicide or had been murdered during Rumbula actions (on 30 November and  8 December 1941) were buried here, the total number reaching 2000.

After World War II the remaining tombstones were stolen, whereas the high brick walls were demolished by  the Office of Renovations and Construction of Riga City Moscow District  for its own needs.  To “solve” this problem, the local government transformed the Old Jewish Cemetery into the Park of Communist Brigades in 1960.

In 1994 a memorial stone with the Star of David, created by sculptor Uldis Streģis, was erected on the side of Maskavas Street. In 2007  a memorial stone was unveiled on the side of Ebreju Street, it bears an inscription on English and Hebrew: “Here was situated the Old Jewish Cemetery”.

Further reading:

• Meler M. Jewish Latvia: Sites to Remember. Tel-Aviv: Association of Latvian and Estonian Jews in Israel, 2013.
• Ezergailis A. The Holocaust in Latvia, 1941-1944: The Missing Center. Riga: The Historical Institute of Latvia; Washington, DC: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1996.

Search for the related names of Jews at http://names.lu.lv.