Memorial in Rumbula

Rumbula is one of the biggest sites of mass killings of Jews in Europe.
In November, 1941 the Nazi Administration decided to destroy all the Jews imprisoned in the Riga Ghetto.
25,000 people, including about one thousand Jews deported from Germany, were shot in two waves on November 30 and December 8, 1941. Several hundred Jews from the „Kaizerwald” concentration camp, who were used for exhuming and burning bodies, were also killed here in 1944.
In 1964, local Jewish activists managed to overcome Soviet government barriers and erected the Rumbula memorial stone, with the inscription „To the victims of fascism” not only in Latvian and Russian, but also in Yiddish.
The memorial designed by Sergejs Rizhs was inaugurated on November 29, 2002. It was created with the support of various institutions and organizations as well as private donations by individuals from Latvia, Israel, USA, and Germany.
Near the road, at the entrance to the memorial complex, there is a metal construction that symbolizes the horror of the catastrophe. This is the path on which thousands of Jews were driven to their deaths.
The entrance to the memorial is marked by two slabs with inscriptions in Latvian, English, German, and Hebrew, narrating the tragic events that took place here. The path leads to the central part of the memorial, where a menorah (ritual candlestick) woven of metal wire and four metres in height, is located. The base of the candlestick has the shape of the Star of David, whose sides bear engravings of the ghetto street names. The names of those killed in Rumbula are carved into the granite stones.
On the grounds of the memorial there are six mass graves marked by rectangular raised concrete borders.
While creating this memorial, the memorial stone from Soviet times was preserved.