1 Sitio(s) de ejecución
"In Valmiera, the mass execution took place on the night of 25–26 July 1941 at the Aizsargi shooting range, located 5 km from Valmiera in the direction of Strenči. I learned of it because, on the morning of 26 July, I personally encountered the trucks returning from the shooting range, carrying the Schutzmänner who had participated in the execution. Among them, I saw the following individuals armed with rifles: S***, the E*** brothers, the F*** brothers, as well as the P***, D***, and Z*** brothers. I did not notice any other Schutzmänner apart from those I have mentioned.
Question: Whom did you know among the people who were shot, and do you know why they were shot?
Answer: The entire Jewish population of Valmiera was executed. There were about ten families originally from the town of Valmiera, such as the [illegible, Lipkiny?] (two families), the Mostovoi (two families), the Glikman (two families), Tankelovitch, Katz, and the rabbi’s family, whose name I do not know, as well as all the Jews from the Valmiera uyezd. All the Gypsies (Roma) of Valmiera and its uyezd were also exterminated. Only the Simanis family (three people) and one other family, whose name I do not know (four people), survived. Simanis worked as a coachman for the town hall; the father of the second family was employed in a basic position in the road department.
Question: How were the executions of the arrested citizens carried out?
Answer: After their arrest, they were held in the Valmiera prison and then transported by truck to pits that had been prepared in advance near the Aizsargi shooting range or near the Valmiera volost administration, where they were shot. I did not witness the shootings personally, but the sounds were clearly audible in the town—not only rifle shots, but also, judging by the noise, machine-gun fire." [Excerpt from the interrogation protocol of the prisoner of war Karl Petrovich Kurlis, born in 1912, given to the State Extraordinary Soviet Commission (ChGK) on June 24 1944; GARF 7021-93-102/Copy USHMM RG.22-002M; p.22]
"In addition, on two occasions I was present at the execution of civilians, during which I was required to dig graves and bury those who had been shot.
Question: Describe these executions in more detail.
Answer: The first took place in August 1941, when our two units formed a cordon around the execution site located 4 km from the center of Valmiera, at the shooting range near the Gauja River. We remained there from midnight until six or seven in the morning. The shooting lasted about an hour and took place before dawn. Long bursts were fired from a Lewis light machine gun. After the shooting ended, I went to the execution site and saw that the pit had already been filled in; I did not see the bodies. The pit measured between 10 and 15 meters in length and about 2 meters in width.
Question: How many people were shot that night?
Answer: I do not know, but I heard that about 120 people were shot. […] The firing squad consisted of approximately ten people who arrived in two vehicles. […]
Question: How were the arrested people brought to the execution site?
Answer: They were transported in two 2-ton trucks, each making three or four trips. I did not witness this personally, but I heard about it. In addition, since I was part of the cordon, I heard the sound of the engines as the trucks passed along the road.
Question: Describe the second shooting in which you took part.
Answer: The second shooting took place at the same location, the shooting range near the Gauja River, 3–4 km from the town of Valmiera. It also occurred in August 1941. At that time, our unit was attached to the headquarters of the Latvian Auxiliary Police. One day we were ordered to prepare for departure, but we were not told our destination. About forty of us were loaded into a large truck, which also carried shovels. The group was led by G***, a Russian lieutenant from Dvinsk who spoke Latvian. We were transported to the shooting range, where G*** instructed us to dig a pit. Some men expressed dissatisfaction, but G*** stated that he had no right to force the arrested persons to dig the pit themselves.
The pit we dug measured approximately 10 meters in length, 2 meters in width, and 2 meters in depth. When it was ready, G*** lined us up and asked, "Who wants to take part in the execution?" He phrased it as, "Who wants to kill Red bandits?" The following individuals volunteered […] We left them behind. The rest of us were sent to form a cordon. I was positioned in the woods near the road, and I saw a large truck bring people to the shooting site four times. It was the same truck that had been used to transport us. […] It was already morning, and the sun had risen, when we were brought in to fill the pit. The bodies filled the pit up to ground level. The remaining depth was about 0.5 meters, and the pit was almost completely full of bodies. All the victims were local Latvians. I could not identify anyone." [Interrogation of the accused Ianis Ianovitch Loussinch, given to the State Extraordinary Soviet Commission (ChGK) on November 17 1944; GARF 7021-93-102/Copy USHMM RG.22-002M; pp.53-58]
"Upon the arrival of the German fascist invaders in our uyezd, the German fascist executioners, with the participation of German-Latvian nationalists and their collaborators, carried out the mass arrest, mistreatment, torture, and subsequent shooting of 3,374 civilian residents of our uyezd in the town of Valmiera during the entire period of occupation, from July 1941 to August 1944. Among the victims were 231 children.
Executions were carried out in Irsu Park, the Daliņi Woods, Valmiermuiža, the Aizsargi shooting range, and the yard of the Valmiera prison. Executions also took place in the hamlet of Sprosti in the Kocēni volost. […]
The arrested civilians were held in appalling conditions […]. In Valmiera prison, more than 2,000 people were detained, although its maximum capacity was only 250 […]. In a specially established camp, "Valmiermuiža," which was under the administration of Valmiera prison, more than 500 people were held, despite the fact that its maximum capacity was 100 […].
The victims were transported from Valmiera prison to the execution sites by truck. Prior to transport, they were tied together in pairs. Inside the vehicles, the detainees were forced to kneel and bend their heads down. They were then covered with a tarp, on which the executioners would sit […]. The detainees were shot with automatic weapons, including Lewis light machine guns. The victims were subjected to torture, beatings, and looting […]." [Act drawn by State Extraordinary Soviet Commission (ChGK), on April 26 1945, pp. 345-346; GARF 7021-93-2400/Copy USHMM RG.22-002M]
Valmiera, the second-largest city of the historical Vidzeme region in Latvia, is located approximately 108 km (67 miles) northeast of Riga.
For centuries, Jews were prohibited from settling in Valmiera and throughout Livonia. This restriction remained in force until the First World War, when the Pale of Settlement effectively lost its significance. Jewish cantonists, however, were permitted to reside in areas otherwise closed to Jewish settlement. In 1886, the Jewish community established a synagogue and a ritual bath, and later in the 19th century a Jewish cemetery was founded.
According to the 1897 census, Valmiera had 166 Jewish residents, representing about 3% of the town’s population. By 1920, as a result of World War I and its aftermath, this number had declined to 102 (1.4%). In 1925, only 98 Jews remained in the town, though the population increased slightly to 127 (1.52%) by 1930. During the 1920s, a Jewish primary school and kindergarten operated in Valmiera, but both were closed due to the small number of children. The prayer house, built around 1885, continued to function until 1942, when it was converted into a residential building. Valmiera’s last rabbi was Yakow Grubin, who also served the Jewish communities of Limbaži and Rūjiena.
Economically, the Jewish community of Valmiera was primarily engaged in retail trade, as well as in the fur and timber industries. Jewish-owned businesses included shops selling meat, tinware, knitted goods, ready-made clothing, leather products, sawn lumber, and firewood. From 1923 onward, a Jewish credit fund operated in the town. The Lipkin family owned a local pharmacy, and Revecca Busch-Schklar practiced as a dentist.
According to the 1935 census, 93 Jews lived in Valmiera, accounting for approximately 1% of the town’s population, while 292 Jews resided in the wider Valmiera district.
In 1940, Latvia’s annexation by the Soviet Union marked a major turning point for Valmiera and its inhabitants. Private businesses were nationalized, and Jewish communal institutions were closed.
Valmiera was occupied by German troops on 5 July 1941. By that time, a local Self-Defence squad had already been formed in the town, and a number of individuals considered loyal to the Soviet regime—possibly including some Jews—were shot as alleged Soviet activists.
In the first half of July 1941, arrests of local Jews began. By mid-July, Jews from surrounding areas were also arrested and brought to Valmiera. The detainees were held in several locations throughout the town, including Valmiermuiža Prison, where they were subjected to severe mistreatment, torture, and abuse. In addition to Jews, numerous non-Jewish residents were also imprisoned there.
Despite the availability of archival material, the precise sequence of events relating to the Holocaust in Valmiera remains unclear. It is nevertheless established that local Jews, along with those brought from nearby localities, were murdered in a series of Aktions carried out in July and August 1941 by a German SD unit known as the Arājs Commando, assisted by local police forces. The shootings took place at several sites, including the former shooting range in Ķelderleja, located approximately 4 km from Valmiera, near Valmiermuiža Prison, and in the Iršu Park forest, about 1 km from the town. In the spring of 1942, approximately 30 Jews from Ukraine were also killed behind the building of the Valmiera Parish Council.
Professor A. Ezergailis estimates that approximately 150 Jews were murdered in Valmiera during the German occupation. Other sources provide differing figures, ranging from slightly over 100 Jewish victims in the town to more than 200 in the surrounding district, while German documents cite a total of 209 Jewish victims.
In addition to Jewish victims, non-Jewish residents were also killed and buried in Valmiera. According to Soviet archival records, a total of 3,374 civilians, including 231 children, perished in Valmiera during the period of German occupation.
In 1948, a monument was erected at the killing site at the former shooting range in Ķelderleja. It commemorates all victims murdered there, numbering approximately 3,000 residents of Valmiera.
In 1985, remains recovered from wartime mass graves were reinterred at the Communal Cemetery in Valmiera. The cemetery is divided into two sections: one designated for Soviet soldiers, and another for Jews and Soviet activists whose remains were transferred from Iršu Park and from the killing site near the former Valmiera Parish Council building.
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