Jaunjelgava 1800-1941

History of the city and the Jewish community.

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This website is dedicated to the memory of the Jews of the Latvian city of Jaunjelgava.

Jaunjelgava was established under the name of Friedrichstadt almost 400 years ago. As a result of floods, epidemics and fire, it fell into complete decline by the beginning of the 19th century. And then the Jews began to settle here. They breathed life into this place on the border of Courland and Livonia. For about 100 years, they were the ethnic majority here, and they determined the appearance and pulse of the city.

Here they were born, worked, loved, and raised children. Here they died, each untimely and each singly. And then they all died together. At the end of July 1941, the perpetrators of the Holocaust shot the entire Jewish population of Jaunjelgava in the surrounding forests. There were over 500 people of all ages, from babies to very old people.

There are still old buildings that were part of the Jewish shtetl. But the last Jew here died long ago, and the shtetl is no more. The “old” Jewish cemetery has disappeared. The orphaned graves of the new cemetery had been overgrown by the forest by 1990. At that time, the cemetery conservation project started here. The trees and bushes were cut. The fallen tombstones were raised. The territory was marked.

The burial place of Holocaust victims was rebuilt. This project was financed by descendants of the deputy of the city Duma of Friedrichstadt, Urias Schatz (1848-1913). Some help was provided by the town authorities, the Shamir Foundation, and other sponsors. By now, this place had become a well kept complex, consisting of the city’s Jewish cemetery and a monument at the burial site of Holocaust victims.