Obj. ID: 9482 Memorial Stone and Stand in the Old Jewish Cemetery in Riga, Latvia, 1994, 2011
Memorial Name
No official name
Who/What is Commemorated?
The Old Jewish Cemetery in Riga and the victims of the Holocaust buried there.
Description:
The memorial is situated in the Old Jewish Cemetery, at the corner of Ebreju and Līksnas Street. It consists of two parts: a huge boulder with the Star of David and the stand in the form of a Torah scroll.
The granite boulder with the Star of David was initially situated at the site of the Great Choral Synagogue (see here) and moved to the present location in 1994.
The marble stand was built in 2011. It is styled as a bimah on which an opened Torah scroll is lying. Latvian and English inscriptions on the scroll tell the history of the Old Cemetery.
Inscription:
Latvian:
VECIE EBREJU KAPI
Šī ir vecākā ebreju kapsēta Rīgā, izveidota 1725.gadā. Apbedījumi veikti šeit līdz
1930.gadu beigām. Pēc vācu karaspēka ienākšanas 1941.gadā tika nodedzināta kapliča
un bēru ceremoniju nams. Kapsēta kļuva par masu apbedījuma vietu vairāk nekā
1000 ebrejiem, kas tika nogalināti Rīgas geto teritorijā. Pēc Otrā pasaules kara beigām
daudzi kapakmeņi tika aizvesti un izmantoti kā celtniecības materiāls. Kapsētas mūris
sadrupa, palikuši kapakmeņi nodila, kapsēta pakāpeniski panīka. 1960.gados kapsēta
bija nolīdzināta līdz ar zemi, tās vietā bija izveidots Komunistisko brigāžu parks.
1992.gadā parku pārdēvēja par Vecajiem ebreju kapiem.
ASV Komisija Amerikas vēsturiskā mantojuma saglabāšanai ārzemēs
Komisijas locekle Lī R. Zēmane
sadarbībā ar Latvijas Ebreju draudžu un kopienu padomi
2011
English:
THE OLD JEWISH CEMETERY
This is Riga's first Jewish cemetery. It was opened in 1725 and burials continued here
until the late 1930s. After German forces occupied Riga in 1941, the prayer house and
the mortuary were burned down. The cemetery became a mass burial site for over
1,000 Jews killed in the streets and houses of the Riga Ghetto. Following World War Two,
many of the cemetery's tombstones were removed and used as building material. Others
deteriorated. The wall surrounding the cemetery collapsed, and the site left uncared
for fell into disrepair. In the 1960s, the site was razed and renamed "The Park of the
Communist Brigades." In 1992, the park was renamed "The Old Jewish Cemetery."
U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad
The Honorable Lee R. Seeman, Member
in cooperation with Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia
Commissioned by
The Jewish Community of Riga (boulder). U.S. Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad and member Lee R. Seeman, in cooperation with the Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia (stand)
Stand: height 86 cm (lower edge), 110 cm (upper edge)
The cemetery was opened in 1725 and burials continued here until the late 1930s. After German forces occupied Riga in 1941, the cemetery chapel and the mortuary were burned down. The cemetery was included in the ghetto and became a mass burial site for over 1,000 Jews killed in the streets and houses of the Riga Ghetto.
Following WWII, many of the cemetery's tombstones were removed and used as building material and the wall surrounding the cemetery collapsed. In the 1960s, the cemetery was razed and renamed "The Park of the Communist Brigades."
In 1992, the park was renamed "The Old Jewish Cemetery."
The boulder with the Star of David that in 1990 stood at the site of the Great Choral Synagogue (for a photograph see Lenskis, p. 93) was moved here in 1994 (Meler, p. 337). A memorial stone with an inscription "Here was situated the Old Jewish Cemetery" was unveiled on the side of Ebreju Street in 2007.
The stand with a Torah scroll in front of the boulder was built in 2011 (according to the inscription).
"Holocaust Memorial Places in Latvia," a website by the Center for Judaic Studies at the University of Latvia, http://memorialplaces.lu.lv/memorial-places/riga-and-riga-district/riga-the-old-jewish-cemetery/.
Lenskis, Ilja, Holokausta piemina Latvijā laika gaitā 1945–2015 = Holocaust Commemoration in Latvia in the Course of Time, 1945–2015 (Riga: Muzejs “Ebreju Latvija,” 2017), p. 93.
Meler, Meyer, Mesta nashei pamiati: Evreiskie obshchiny Latvii, unichtozhennye v Kholokoste (Riga: by the author, 2010), p. 337.