1 Killing site(s)
Ilona P., born in 1934: "I know that the Jews of Bauska had been killed. One summer day, around midday, I saw numerous trucks passing near our house, which was about 500 meters from the forest in Vēšava (Vēscaule County). As I remember, the trucks were open, but I couldn’t see who was inside. My parents quickly shut all the doors and windows. No one said a word. My father and grandfather just stood there in silence, their faces filled with sorrow, tears in their eyes." (Testimony N°YIU111LV, interviewed in Bauska, on September 15, 2021)
"The German invaders marked their arrival in the town of Bauska with a public execution of 20 Soviet activists at the end of June 1941. The shooting took place on the opposite bank of the Memele River, which flows near the town, in full view of Bauska’s residents. According to witness testimonies, the execution was carried out by German soldiers with the assistance of Latvian Schutzmänner, who had been forced to dig the graves beforehand. Among those executed were five Latvians, five Jews, and ten Red Army soldiers.
Before the execution, the victims’ hands were tied together with rope. The shooting was conducted under the supervision of the German commandant of Bauska, Nepel—a native of Vienna—and the town’s chief of police, Vanags.
Following this public execution, the Nazi authorities launched mass arrests of Soviet citizens of Jewish origin, including women, children, and the elderly. The detainees were confined in a makeshift ghetto established within the town.
By mid-July 1941, approximately 2,000 Jews had been arrested by the German occupation authorities. Within five to six days, they were taken to the forest in Vēšava (Vetsaule parish), about 8 km from Bauska, and executed at a site known as the "Aizsarg shooting range." The victims were buried in four mass graves: three measuring 6 meters wide and 29 meters long, and one measuring 10 meters wide and 29 meters long." [Act on the atrocities committed by German fascist invaders in the town of Bauska, Latvian SSR; drawn by State Extraordinary Soviet Commission (ChGK), on March 15, 1945, pp. 4-6; GARF 7021-93-58/Copy USHMM RG.22-002M]
Bauska is located approximately 66 km (41 miles) south of Riga, the capital of Latvia, and about 20 km (12.4 miles) from the Lithuanian border.
Jewish settlement in the Bauska area began in the 17th century, primarily by Jews from Poland and Lithuania. At that time, Jews were forbidden from residing within city limits, so they established a community on the outskirts of Bauska, on the right bank of the Mēmele River. There, they built a synagogue and a cemetery, forming the foundation of a growing Jewish presence.
In 1795, Bauska was incorporated into the Russian Empire. This administrative change allowed Jews to settle within the town itself. From 1820 onward, Jewish families began moving into Bauska, where they constructed two additional synagogues and established a new cemetery. Over the following decades, the Jewish population increased significantly. According to the 1897 Russian census, the town had 6,641 inhabitants, consisting mostly of Latvians, followed by Jews and Germans. Zionist organizations began playing an increasingly important role in Jewish communal life.
At the beginning of the 20th century, Bauska’s Jewish population began to decline—by about 40%—as a wave of Jewish nationalism and Zionist sentiment encouraged emigration to Palestine. By 1935, 778 Jews remained in the town, making up approximately 45.9% of Bauska’s total population.
The local Jewish community was composed primarily of merchants, craftsmen, and skilled laborers. They operated a wide range of businesses, including cobbler workshops, barbershops, bakeries, and numerous retail stores—15 grocery shops, 9 butcher shops, and 19 stores selling shoes, clothing, and household goods. Many Jews worked as traveling salesmen, selling goods door to door in Bauska and neighboring villages. The community also included professionals such as Dr. Boris Nisselovich, a physician, and several dentists.
Bauska’s Jews were active in communal life through a variety of religious, charitable, and economic societies. The town supported a Jewish primary school, a burial society, a public bathhouse, and other communal institutions that reflected a vibrant and organized community.
A major turning point came in 1940 with the annexation of Latvia by the Soviet Union. The new regime nationalized private businesses and closed many community organizations and institutions. Dozens of people, including several Jewish residents, were deported to Siberia.
On the eve of the German occupation in 1941, Jews made up about 15% of Bauska’s total population.
Following the launch of Operation Barbarossa in June 1941, a small number of Jews from Bauska managed to evacuate eastward. However, approximately 700 Jews—including refugees from neighboring Lithuania—remained in the town when German forces occupied it on June 28, 1941. Shortly after the occupation, a new administration was established: Bauska came under the authority of a German governor, and a Latvian Self-Defense squad was formed.
Anti-Jewish measures began almost immediately. As early as July 1, 1941, a curfew was imposed on the Jewish population, restricting movement from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m. The next day, on July 2, ten Red Army soldiers, five Latvian Soviet activists, and five Jewish civilians were publicly executed by German soldiers near the Old Jewish Cemetery on the right bank of the Mēmele River. These killings, based on fabricated accusations, were intended to terrorize the local population.
In early July, a pogrom erupted. Jewish shops were looted, Jews were beaten, and the town’s wooden prayer house was set on fire—with Rabbi M. Schtul and others trapped inside. The attack marked a brutal escalation in the persecution of Bauska’s Jews.
On July 4, 1941, all Jews were ordered to register. By July 9, they were forced to move to a designated area on the outskirts of town, which became an open ghetto. It was guarded on the side facing the town center. The ghetto population consisted mostly of women, children, and the elderly, as many Jewish men were forced into labor in the town and surrounding farms. Jews were required to wear yellow stars and, from July 24 onward, were forbidden from leaving the ghetto to buy food. Some Latvian children secretly helped by taking money from Jewish residents and purchasing food on their behalf.
In mid-July, 56 Jewish males—including nine boys aged 8 to 15—were forcibly sterilized without anesthesia at the Bauska clinic. All of them, except Izrail Toik, who managed to escape, were later executed in the Likverteni Forest in Vecsaule parish, about 8 km from Bauska.
Their execution likely occurred during one of several mass killing operations (Aktions) carried out at that site: either in mid-July, during the execution of 60 Jews and Soviet activists; on July 29, during the killing of 70 Jews; or during the night of August 9–10, 1941, when 500–600 Jews from Bauska were massacred by the Latvian SD unit known as the Arājs Kommando, which had arrived from Riga, assisted by the local Self-Defense squad. The next day, between 153 and 200 Jews from Skaistkalne and other surrounding parishes were executed in the same forest. Later in August, another group of 50 to 70 Jews from Jaunjelgava was brought to the Likverteni Forest and shot by local Self-Defenders.
Following the destruction of Bauska’s Jewish community, the victims’ belongings were seized by the perpetrators. Some of the property—such as clothing, kitchenware, and personal items—was later sold at public auctions held in the town.
A memorial was erected in 1971 at the Likverteni Forest killing site to commemorate the victims.
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