1 Killing site(s)
Vidriži, also known as Rūpnieki during the Soviet period, is located approximately 20 km (12.4 mi) south of Limbaži. While no information is currently available regarding a Jewish presence in Vidriži itself, the nearby town of Limbaži was home to a small Jewish community prior to the Second World War.
Limbaži and its surrounding area, including Vidriži, were occupied by German troops around July 10, 1941. According to available historical documentation, the village of Vidriži became a killing site for a number of Jews from Limbaži who had initially been taken toward Valmiera, as well as for one Jewish boy from Cēsis.
In the summer of 1941, a Lutheran pastor, Edmund Mačs, under the pretext of providing sanctuary, took approximately 10 to 12 Jews from Limbaži to his father-in-law’s farm in Vidriži. On September 12, 1941, once the seasonal farm labor had been completed, the pastor returned to the property accompanied by local policemen. The group of Jews was then killed and buried in gravel pits along the banks of the Aģe River.
Another group of approximately 20 Jews, mostly women and children, was murdered in the summer of 1941 near the Ložkalni farm, some 20–30 meters from the road connecting Vidriži and Ledurga. It is believed that these victims were Jews from Limbaži who had been diverted during their deportation toward Valmiera. During post-war drainage and river-deepening works along the Aģe River, human remains identified as those of women were discovered at this site.
A third killing site, located near the Lazdas farm in Vidriži, marks the murder of a 15- or 16-year-old Jewish boy from Cēsis, remembered by the name Augustiņš. A traveling salesman in the region, he attempted to hide in gravel pits after the liquidation of the Jewish community in Cēsis but was eventually discovered and killed.
In 2006, the Council of Jewish Communities of Latvia inaugurated a memorial on the banks of the Aģe River to honor the victims. The inscription on the monument reads: “In July and September in Vidriži, Nazis and their collaborators murdered 43 Jews from Limbaži and one Jew from Cēsis.”
For additional information on the murder of Jews in Limbaži and Cēsis, please refer to the corresponding profiles.
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