History of the Jews in Latvia

Latvian Jews

Latvijas ebreji יהדות לטביה
Regions with significant populations
Latvia	8,094 (2021, including Karaim and Krymchaks)[1]
Languages
Hebrew, Russian, Latvian, German (historically), and Yiddish
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, Belarusian Jews, Russian Jews, Lithuanian Jews, Estonian Jews, Polish Jews

Part of a series on the
History of Latvia
Ancient Latvia Kunda culture Narva culture Corded Ware culture Amber Road / Aesti Baltic Finns (Livonians, Vends) Balts Latgalians Curonians Selonians Semigallians
Middle Ages Principality of Jersika Principality of Koknese Tālava Livonian Crusade Livonian Brothers of the Sword Livonian Order Archbishopric of Riga Bishopric of Courland Terra Mariana Baltic Germans
Early modern period Livonian War Kingdom of Livonia Duchy of Livonia Inflanty Voivodeship Swedish Livonia Polish–Swedish Wars (1600–1629) Second Northern War Great Northern War Duchy of Courland and Semigallia Couronian colonization
National Awakening Governorate of Livonia Courland Governorate Vitebsk Governorate The First Latvian National Awakening New Current
Modern Latvia Latvian Riflemen German occupation United Baltic Duchy Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic War of Independence 1934 Latvian coup d'état 1940 Soviet occupation Nazi occupation The Holocaust in Latvia 1944 Soviet re-occupation Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic Popular Front of Latvia Singing Revolution Restoration of Independence 2008 Latvian financial crisis
Chronology
Latvia portal
v t e

The history of the Jews in Latvia dates back to the first Jewish colony established in Piltene in 1571.^[2] Jews contributed to Latvia's development until the Northern War (1700–1721), which decimated Latvia's population.^[3] The Jewish community reestablished itself in the 18th century, mainly through an influx from Prussia, and came to play a principal role in the economic life of Latvia.^[2]

Under an independent Latvia, Jews formed political parties and participated as members of parliament. The Jewish community flourished. Jewish parents had the right to send their children to schools using Hebrew as the language of instruction, as part of a significant network of minority schools.^[2]

World War II ended the prominence of the Jewish community. Under Stalin, Jews, who formed only 5% of the population, constituted 12% of the deportees.^[4] 80% of Latvia's Jewish population was murdered in the Holocaust.^[4]

Today's Jewish community traces its roots to survivors of the Holocaust, Jews who fled to the USSR's interior to escape the German invasion and later returned, and mostly to Jews newly immigrated to Latvia from the Soviet Union. The Latvian Jewish community today is small but active.