German forces occupied Riga, Latvia in July 1941. Soon after, they established a ghetto in the city. German SS and police units and Latvian auxiliaries murdered thousands of Riga's Jews in shootings. Over three days in November and December 1941 alone, at least 25,000 Jews from the Riga ghetto were shot in the Rumbula Forest. By the city's liberation in 1944, almost all of the Jews in Riga had been killed.
![Baltic Countries, 1933 [LCID: bal19010]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/fe2444ed-86fd-4388-98e2-468706217151.gif "Baltic Countries, 1933 [LCID: bal19010]")
![Major ghettos in occupied Europe [LCID: eur74910]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/94820267-20ca-4726-a90b-6abe63ac3419.gif "Major ghettos in occupied Europe [LCID: eur74910]")
During World War II, the Germans established ghettos mainly in eastern Europe (between 1939 and 1942) and also in Hungary (in 1944). These ghettos were enclosed districts of a city in which the Germans forced the Jewish population to live under miserable conditions. The Germans regarded the establishment of Jewish ghettos as a provisional measure to control, isolate, and segregate Jews. Beginning in 1942, after the decision had been made to kill the Jews, the Germans systematically destroyed the ghettos, deporting the Jews to extermination camps where they were killed.
Item View![Baltic Countries 1933, Riga indicated [LCID: rig79060]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/62ffdef5-9341-40b4-982e-f2c12a6cab72.gif "Baltic Countries 1933, Riga indicated [LCID: rig79060]")
![German administration of eastern Europe, 1942 [LCID: eeu76030]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/95e2d264-c406-4333-95ec-1bf68f584863.gif "German administration of eastern Europe, 1942 [LCID: eeu76030]")
![Einsatzgruppen activity in the Baltic area [LCID: ost73030]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/973d1ceb-dd17-4132-a73a-f8044ddbc16a.gif "Einsatzgruppen activity in the Baltic area [LCID: ost73030]")
![Ghettos in the Baltic Countries, 1941-1943 [LCID: bal19020]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/1d8e9c0d-0a49-441b-a0f5-da7751449218.gif "Ghettos in the Baltic Countries, 1941-1943 [LCID: bal19020]")
![Major ghettos in the Baltic states, Riga indicated [LCID: rig74030]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/59d29774-1803-47fc-9bbb-fbd622ce5eb6.gif "Major ghettos in the Baltic states, Riga indicated [LCID: rig74030]")
![Riga environs, 1941-1942 [LCID: rig44040]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/fad46d21-5d27-487a-8977-6744735c2827.gif "Riga environs, 1941-1942 [LCID: rig44040]")
![Riga ghetto, 1942 [LCID: rig54010]](https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/images/large/80f36418-e4c0-45a4-a0fb-410769bc31f1.gif "Riga ghetto, 1942 [LCID: rig54010]")
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