Rumbula

Rumbula - darkometer rating : 6 - A memorial commemorating one of the worst massacres perpetrated in the Holocaust by the Nazi Einsatzgruppen against the Jews of Latvia , when on just two days some 25,000 Jews were systematically shot and buried in mass graves on the outskirts of Riga. > More background info > What there is to see > Location > Access and costs > Time required > Combinations with other dark destinations > Combinations with non-dark destinations > Photos More background info: The Rumbula massacres took place on two days in late 1941, namely on 30 November and on 8 December. The Jewish victims were mostly from the Riga ghetto but also from Liepaja and other towns in Latvia . One reason for the operation was to empty the ghetto of the Latvian Jews to make room for deported Jews from Germany . And indeed one initial transport of 1000 Jews arrived from Germany just before the killings started – but instead of moving these Jews into the ghetto their train was sent to Rumbula where all of them were shot. Rumbula was a meticulously planned operation. The Nazis brought in experienced “killing experts” from other operations carried out earlier, in particular top SS man Friedrich Jeckeln who had already been one of the key perpetrators of the Babi Yar massacre in Ukraine (he was later captured by the Soviets and publicly hanged in Riga ). There were also Latvian collaborators, in particular the infamous Viktors Arajs and his adjutant Herberts Cukurs. (The former, who had also been at the Liepaja massacres, survived the war and wasn't tried until 1979, when he was sentenced to life in solitary confinement, in which he died in 1988.