Jewish deportations memorial event to take place Monday in Rīga

Take note – story published 2 years ago

An online memorial event “Bridges of Remembrance. 80 years after the start of the deportations to Riga” will take place Monday, November 29 evening, according to the Jewish Community of Latvia.

The first train with 1,053 Jews deported from Berlin arrived at Šķirotava train station on November 29, 1941, exactly 80 years ago. All these people were shot the next day in Rumbula.

On November 29 at 18:00 at the Skirotava train station, the German Embassy, together with the Rīga Jewish Community and the Riga Committee of the German War Graves Commission, will hold an online event dedicated to almost 25 thousand Jews from Germany, Austria and Czechia who were deported to Riga in 1941-1942. Most of these people were killed.

The broadcast will be linked to many cities in Germany from which Jews were deported to Riga, thus creating virtual “Bridges of Remembrance”.

“It's been 80 years since the Šķirotava station was the last stop for the European Jewish community. They were not sent here in cattle carriages; they were lied about simply being moved elsewhere. The first people deported were from Berlin, and everyone – more than 1,000 people – were directed to Rumbula and shot. It is also important to understand that Rīga is associated with all these cities in this tragic way,” Lolita Tomsone, director of the Žanis Lipke memorial, told Latvian Radio.

The event will be available in Latvian, German and English.

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