Burning of the Riga synagogues

Burning of the Riga synagogues
Ruins of the Great Choral Synagogue, on Gogol Street, in Riga
Location	Riga, Latvia
Date	July 1941
Incident type	Intimidation, imprisonment, arson, mob killings, arbitrary executions, forced labor, mass murder
Perpetrators	Franz Walter Stahlecker, Viktors Arājs, Herberts Cukurs
Organizations	Nazi SS, Arajs Kommando
Memorials	At ruins of Great Choral Synagogue in Riga

The burning of the Riga synagogues occurred in 1941, during the first days of the World War II Nazi German occupation of the city of Riga, the capital and largest city in the country of Latvia. Many Jews confined in the synagogues died in the fires. Many other anti-Semitic measures were launched at the same time, ultimately followed by the murder of the vast majority of the Jews of Latvia.