BACKGROUND HISTORY
In 1803 one of the first Jewish cemeteries in Liepaja was established in 1803 in the port area at 5-9 Kalpaka St.
The modern Jewish cemetery at 20 Cenkones St. was only registered by the government in 1867 although burials took place there much earlier. The burial site covered 11 acres and was mentioned as early as 1411 as the Bārenbuš property, inherited by the sons of Laurencius Grot. In 1741 this section of the cemetery was mentioned in the chronicles of St. Anne’s Church as a private cemetery which was also proposed for Jewish burials in the early 18th century. In 1940 the Cemetery was known as the “Līvas” Cemetery and today covers an area of 13.1/2 acres, including the Jewish section.
Records in the Cemetery registers go back as far as 22 September 1889. A significant number of those buried in the Jewish part of the Līvas cemetery before 1945 have no descendants since almost all Liepaja’s Jews were killed during the Holocaust.
MEMORIAL SITES
- Memorial wall with names of victims of totalitarian regimes – dedicated on 9 June 2004;
- Memorial to Liepāja Jews killed during WW II – dedicated in 1993;
- Memorial steles (pillars) x 2 dedicated to Jewish WW II soldiers;
- Monument to Jewish soldiers who fought for Latvian independence in 1918-1919.