German and Latvian Forces Murder Jews at Rumbula

Historical context

On 8–9 December 1941, German SS and police and Latvian auxiliaries carried out the second mass shooting of Riga Jews at Rumbula.

Archive record

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Date
December 8, 1941–December 9, 1941
Verified sources
1
Archive threads
5

On 8–9 December 1941, German SS and police units and Latvian auxiliaries shot Jews from the Riga ghetto in the Rumbula forest. USHMM records an earlier shooting there on 30 November. Together those actions killed at least 25,000 Jews from the ghetto.

The ghetto had been sealed in October 1941 and held about 30,000 Jews. In late November the Germans told the remaining inhabitants they would be moved farther east. The two Rumbula actions were a week apart. They were not the work of Lithuanian units.

Research trail

Sources and further reading

  1. Riga · United States Holocaust Memorial Museum · Holocaust Encyclopedia View source

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