3 Killing site(s)
Vladimir P., born in 1935:
YIU: "When you moved to Ludza, were there still Jews living there?
Witness: “We moved to Ludza when the Germans were already in control. I don’t know much about the Jews, but I clearly remember one day when my mother, my sibling, and I set out to visit acquaintances outside the town. German gendarmes, wearing uniforms marked with a crescent symbol, stopped us and refused to let us pass. At the time, the gendarmes acted much like road police.
They blocked our way because gunshots could be heard coming from that direction. Today, a monument stands at that spot—it marks the place where people were executed. When you leave Ludza heading toward Rēzekne, there’s a road sign pointing to it. I remember that day vividly: the gendarmes turned us back, we heard the shooting, and my mother broke down in tears. She covered her face, and we returned home." (Testimony N°YIU140LV, interviewed in Ludza, on August 19, 2022)
"After the occupation of Ludza, the Germans began arresting so-called “unreliable” individuals and carrying out the systematic extermination of the Jewish, Roma, Russian, Latvian, and other local populations.
According to collected testimonies and investigation records, it has been established and confirmed that during the occupation of Ludza, the Germans murdered more than 1,200 Jews, 200 Roma, and at least 125 Communists, Soviet administrative employees of various nationalities, and hostages from the Rundēnu volost.
In July 1941, the Germans forced all Jews from their homes and apartments and confined them to what they called the “ghetto”—a designated district near Ludza Lake reserved exclusively for Jews. They were stripped of all rights and ordered to wear a yellow six-pointed star badge on their clothing, displayed on both the chest and the back. Jews were forbidden to walk on sidewalks and were forced to remain on the roadways. Their food rations were drastically reduced: while the general population received 500 grams of bread per day, Jews were allotted only 300 grams. All able-bodied Jews were subjected to unpaid “public works” in the town, performing the hardest and most degrading labor under police supervision. Meanwhile, the belongings left behind in Jewish homes were looted by the police and local German authorities.
Inside the “ghetto,” Jews were beaten and subjected to inhuman humiliation by the Germans and local police. Those who showed even the slightest resistance were executed on the spot. According to witness Semion Vladimirovich Souer, a survivor who had been detained in the “ghetto,” the Germans shot Kh. Livchine, an elderly Jewish woman, simply because she did not immediately hand over her necklace. The same witness recounted that police officers, sent specifically for this purpose, would enter the ghetto to take away young girls, who were then raped by the Germans during drunken orgies. Many of these girls never returned.
In the Ludza area, investigators identified three primary mass execution sites of Soviet citizens:
1. The mass shooting of Ludza’s Jewish population near Lake Cirma.
2. The mass shooting of Roma, hostages from the village of Barsouki (Rundēnu volost), Jewish specialists, and prisoners from Ludza prison in the Garbari Forest.
3. The mass shooting of political prisoners and Jews in the forest near the village of Kotāni."
[Act drawn by State Extraordinary Soviet Commission (ChGK), on December 20, 1944, p. 4; GARF 7021-93-114/Copy USHMM RG.22-002M]
Ludza (known as Lutsen until 1920) is located in eastern Latvia near the Russian border, approximately 107 km (66.5 mi) northeast of Daugavpils. It is one of the country’s oldest towns, with origins dating back to the 12th century. Historically part of the Latgale region, Ludza developed into an important administrative and trade center. Its population was ethnically diverse—comprising Latvians, Russians, Poles, and a substantial Jewish community that played a central role in the town’s economic and cultural life for over a century.
The first Jews are believed to have settled in Ludza as early as the 16th century. The town’s Jewish cemetery is among the oldest in Latvia. Significant growth of the Jewish population began in the late 18th century, especially after the region was incorporated into the Russian Empire and placed within the Pale of Settlement—territory where Jews were legally permitted to reside. By the end of the 19th century, Jews formed the majority in Ludza. In 1847, there were 2,299 Jewish residents; by 1897, the number had risen to 2,803, accounting for 54.53% of the total population.
The Jewish community was deeply engaged in commerce and skilled trades. Many worked as merchants, artisans, and small-scale manufacturers. Tailoring, shoemaking, blacksmithing, baking, and shopkeeping were common occupations. Jewish-owned enterprises—including a first-category inn and two hotels—were central to Ludza’s economy. Several Jewish professionals practiced in the town, including two physicians, two dentists, and a lawyer.
During Latvia’s independence (1918–1940), the Jewish population remained significant, though it declined slightly due to emigration and economic pressures. In 1935, there were 1,518 Jews in Ludza, representing 27% of the town’s inhabitants. Known as the “Latvian Jerusalem,” Ludza was home to the influential Tziuni and Don-Yihye rabbinical dynasties. Prior to 1940, the town supported two Jewish religious publishing houses—one owned by Rabbi Benzion Don-Yihye (who perished in the Holocaust) and another by Wulf Suyer.
Religious and cultural life was vibrant. The community maintained the Great Synagogue, several smaller prayer houses, ritual baths (mikvaot), a cemetery, and religious schools (cheders). The kehillah (community council) oversaw education, welfare, and religious affairs. Jewish schools offered both religious and secular instruction in Hebrew and Yiddish. Zionist youth movements—including Hashomer Hatzair and Betar—were active, as were libraries, theater groups, and a variety of political organizations spanning the spectrum from socialist to Zionist.
In 1938, a devastating fire destroyed most Jewish-owned shops and many homes. After the Soviet occupation in 1940, Jewish communal life was dismantled: religious and Zionist groups were banned, and some community leaders were arrested or deported. The exact number of Jewish residents remaining in Ludza on the eve of the German invasion in 1941 is unknown, as the town had also received an influx of Jewish refugees from Latvia and Lithuania.
Ludza was occupied by German Army Group North on July 3, 1941. A new administrative structure was quickly established, including the formation of a Latvian Self-Defense unit (auxiliary police) composed of local men.
Anti-Jewish persecution began almost immediately. Among the first to be targeted were Jewish refugees from Lithuania and other parts of Latvia, as well as several individuals labeled as Soviet activists. These people were arrested and imprisoned in the town jail. On the night of July 15, 1941, between 100 and 150 of these prisoners (25 according to other sources) were taken to a site near the brick factory on the outskirts of Ludza, where they were executed.
That same month, the German military administration ordered the establishment of a ghetto in Ludza. By July 20, the town’s Jewish population had been forced into a section bounded by Latgales, Kostel’naia, Krišjāņa Barona, and Ventspils Streets. They were permitted to bring only a few personal belongings. Roughly 1,000 people were crammed into this area, with multiple families often sharing a single apartment. Although the ghetto had no physical enclosure, warning signs marked its perimeter, prohibiting entry. A Jewish Council operated a rationed grocery store inside the ghetto, but food remained scarce, and many residents relied on barter to survive.
The Latvian auxiliary police frequently beat, robbed, and terrorized the ghetto’s inhabitants. Some young women were abducted and never returned. All detainees were required to wear yellow stars and were forbidden to walk on sidewalks; temporary wooden footbridges were built to allow them to reach their workplaces. Forced labor included street cleaning, hospital maintenance, and other menial tasks.
In late July 1941, approximately 35 Jews—mostly the elderly or those deemed unfit for work—were executed by a Latvian unit from Riga near the former rope factory at the end of Rēzekne Street. Shortly afterward, another ten Jews were killed at the Lauderi farm. After the war, the remains of those murdered on Rēzekne Street were reburied in Ludza’s Jewish cemetery.
In August 1941, control of the Ludza region shifted from German military to civilian administration, and the ghetto was liquidated. On August 17 (or 18), between 600 and 830 Jews—men, women, and children—were taken from the ghetto in groups under the pretense of being sent to work. Under German and Latvian police guard, they were marched about 6–7 km toward Pogulyanka, near Lake Cirma. There, they were ordered to undress and surrender valuables before being shot into a pit that had been dug in advance. Witnesses reported that children made up roughly one-third of the victims. Some sources attribute the killings to Latvian auxiliary police and Aizsargi units; others cite
the participation of the Arājs Kommando from Riga, assisted by local collaborators. Three German officers were seen photographing the Aktion.
A second killing took place on August 27–28, when 30 young Jewish women—after being beaten and raped—and 15 Jewish men, were murdered at the same site. In May 1944, during Operation 1005, the victims’ remains were exhumed and burned to destroy evidence of the massacre.
Following the August 1941 executions, about 200 Jews remained in Ludza. Most were later deported in groups to Daugavpils and Rēzekne. On November 13, 1941, another group was reportedly executed near the village of Kotāni. The final mass killing occurred on April 2 (or May 3), 1942, when 26 Jewish specialists—initially spared for their skills—were shot in the Garbari Forest, about 2 km from Ludza. According to a witness interviewed by Yahad, the Romov brothers, also Jewish specialists, were killed elsewhere while attempting to flee. In August 1942, a Jewish woman named Maria and her young son were also murdered at the same site. In total, more than 200 people, including Roma, POWs, and civilians, were killed in the Garbari Forest, where a memorial now stands.
The exact number of Jews murdered in Ludza remains uncertain. According to estimates by the Soviet Extraordinary State Commission (ChGK), approximately 1,726 Jews were killed in Ludza and the surrounding area, of whom about 1,200 were believed to have been local residents.
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