Obj. ID: 50680 Old Holocaust Memorial in Šķēde, Liepāja, Latvia, 1955
Memorial Name
No official name
Who is Commemorated?
Liepāja Jews murdered at the site in September and December 1941 and in February 1942.
Description:
The monument is placed on a forested hill overlooking the sea beach where the murder took place. It is a concrete obelisk painted white standing on a black base which is placed on a pyramidal pedestal made of boulders. The territory around the obelisk is paved by bricks and fenced.
The obelisk is divided into six horizontal parts. A Latvian inscription appears on a stylized shield on the southern facet of the obelisk and occupies its three lower parts. An identical Russian inscription appears on the northern facet. Both are topped by a red five-pointed star. Larger five-pointed red stars of elongated form appear on the northern and southern facets of the upper part of the obelisk.
In 2005, the old monument was supplemented by a larger new Menorah Memorial:
Inscriptions:
Latvian:
Šeit 1941–1945 g.
hitleriskie iebrucēji
zvēriski nogalināja
vaipāk nekā 19000
Lielpājas pilsētas
iedzīvotājus
Mūžīga piemiņa
padomju
patriotiem!
Translation: Here, in 1941–1945, Hitler’s invaders brutally killed more than 19,000 inhabitants of the city of Lielpāja. Eternal memory for Soviet patriots!
Здесь в 1941–45 гг.
гитлеровские захватчики
зверски убили более 19000
жителей города Лиепая
Вечная память
советским
патриотам!
Translation: Here, in 1941–1945, Hitler’s occupiers brutally killed more than 19,000 inhabitants of the city of Lielpāja. Eternal memory for Soviet patriots!
Commissioned by
The authorities of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic
16 image(s)
Black base: height 25 cm, width 195 cm, thickness 195 cm
Boulder pedestal: height 60 cm, width 330 cm, thickness 330 cm
The Nazi German troops occupied Liepāja on 29 June 1941. After the initial murder of Jews in July, the largest action of shooting took place in December 1941 in the Šķēde Dunes, on the sea beach, near the stables of the Latvian army.
The first shooting of Jews in the Šķēde Dunes took place in September 1941, when about 200 people were murdered. The largest action in Šķēde occurred on December 14-16, 1941, when in the course of three days, the majority of Liepāja Jews, more than 2,700, were murdered. The mass killing in Šķēde was photographed, and those photographs were widely published after the Holocaust. In February 1942, about 150 more Jews were shot in the Šķēde Dunes.
According to the website of the Liepaja Jewish Heritage Foundation, the monument was erected in 1955, following "the decision of the LSSR NKVD Authorized Representative and the Extraordinary State Commission of Inquiry" (http://liepajajewishheritage.lv/en/the-alley-of-the-righteous-among-the-nations/).
In 2005, the old monument was supplemented by a larger new Menorah Memorial (see here).
"Holocaust Memorial Places in Latvia," a website by the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Latvia, http://memorialplaces.lu.lv/memorial-places/kurzeme/liepaja-municipality-the-skede-dunes/.
Liepaja Jewish Heritage Foundation, http://liepajajewishheritage.lv/en/the-alley-of-the-righteous-among-the-nations/., http://liepajajewishheritage.lv/en/ (accessed October 28, 2023)
Meler, Meyer, Jewish Latvia: Sites to Remember (Tel-Aviv: Association of Latvian and Estonian Jews in Israel, 2013), pp. 214-216.
Meler, Meyer, Mesta nashei pamiati: Evreiskie obshchiny Latvii, unichtozhennye v Kholokoste (Riga: by the author, 2010), pp. 253-254.