and history in Latvia, city tour with historian

A Jewish history in Latvia starts from the 14th century and it was the largest Jewish community in the Baltic region. Today’s Jewish community traces its roots to survivors of the Holocaust, Jews who fled to the USSR’s interior to escape the German invasion and later returned, and mostly to Jews newly immigrated to Latvia from the Soviet Union. The Latvian Jewish community today is small but active. We would like to introduce you to its cultural heritage, personalities and tell impressive stories and memories.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, several buildings designed by the famous architect Mikhail Eisenstein were built in Riga. But apart from him, many prominent people of Jewish origin were born and lived in Riga – the filmmaker Sergey Eisenstein, the philosopher and politician Yeshayahu Leibovich, Isaiah Berlin, world chess champion Michael Tal, the photographer Philip Halsman.

A walking tour will acquaint you with important Jewish places, with the fate of Riga’s Jews and the tragic events of the war, learn about Riga’s Jewish community, and see the synagogue, Jewish school and ghetto. Itinerary includes:

  • Riga Peitav Shul Synagogue – the only synagogue to have survived the Second World War
  • Moskovské suburb of Riga – an area where many buildings from the Riga ghetto period have survived.
  • Memorials to the Great Choral Synagogue
  • The Žanis Lipke Memorial Museum. A unique piece of architecture – the memorial’s building is a “black barn”, a symbol of the firewood shed where people were hidden in a bunker. Inside, the visitor takes an emotional journey through the labyrinth in search of the hiding place.
  • If you wish, you can visit the Riga Ghetto Museum and learn about the history of Latvia’s Jewish diaspora and the catastrophic scale of the Holocaust during the Nazi occupation. The cobblestone approach to the museum is made from stones from Ludzas street, the main street of the Riga ghetto. These are the same stones on which tens of thousands of people walked when they were led into the Rumbula Forest.

 

INFO

  • Duration: 2-3 hours
  • Price per person: min 2 persons starting from 150 EUR per person.
  • Included: Company of a guide, transportation; admissions
  • Dates/season when the experience is available: Available all year round.
  • Necessary to take/keep in mind: comfortable shoes and clothes for walking tour
  • Language: ENG, RU, LV

 

Extras:

  • Small tea/coffee break