1 Killing site(s)
"During the three years of German occupation, the following groups were exterminated by shooting in the town of Smiltene:
1. approximately 80 Jewish families, totaling about 400 people, including Jews, their spouses, children, and elderly persons;
2. approximately 80 Soviet civilian citizens of Latvian nationality.
Thus, over the entire period of occupation by the German authorities, an estimated total of around 480 civilian residents were murdered in Smiltene.
The shootings were carried out in a particularly systematic manner on 8 August 1941, when approximately 300 Jews were shot in a single day. The commission established that this mass execution was carried out by a special unit that had arrived from Riga. Investigations determined that the shootings took place at several locations in and around the town.
According to eyewitness testimonies collected during the investigation, prior to the executions, Jewish and Latvian women and girls were subjected to sexual violence by prison guards.[…]." [Act drawn by State Extraordinary Soviet Commission (ChGK), on January 19, 1945, p. 69; GARF 7021-93-66/Copy USHMM RG.22-002M]
"On August 8, 1941, at around 8 a.m., I saw with my own eyes six German trucks loaded with Soviet prisoners of Jewish and Latvian nationality leaving the Smiltene prison and heading toward the municipal firing range, located 1.5–2 km from the town. At around 10 a.m., the same trucks […] returned. […]
The trucks were completely full on the way out, but I cannot say exactly how many prisoners were inside. I must note that when people tried to approach the window to count the prisoners, shots were fired from the trucks. […]
The next day, I went to the Smiltene municipal firing range and saw that all the Soviet Jewish and Latvian citizens who had been arrested and transported in the six trucks had been shot. At the firing range, I discovered a very large, freshly filled-in pit measuring 15–20 meters in length and 1.5–2 meters in width. The pit had been leveled. Nearby, I found bones and shattered skulls. […]
I cannot give the names of those who took part in the shooting, but I know that both Germans and local aizsargi were involved. On August 8, after the execution, at around two o’clock in the afternoon, all the participants gathered to drink at the ‘Strugulis’ tavern located on Smiltene’s central square. […]" [Deposition of Minna Davidovna Klavinioums, born in 1874, given to the State Extraordinary Soviet Commission (ChGK) on January 19, 1945; GARF 7021-93-66/Copy USHMM RG.22-002M; pp. 79-80]
"The investigation established that the executions of Soviet citizens were carried out at several locations in the vicinity of Smiltene, where pits containing the victims’ bodies were discovered:
1. At the municipal firing range, located 2 km from Smiltene, pits measuring 15–18 meters in length and 2 meters in width were discovered, including one pit where the ground had collapsed. According to witnesses, a few days after the shooting, bones and broken skulls could be seen around the pit.
2. At the municipal cemetery, located 2 km from Smiltene in the direction of Certene, one pit measuring 5 meters in length and 1.5 meters in width was discovered, as well as another pit measuring 2.5 by 1 meter.
3. On the grounds of the ‘Kaika’ property (Kaiki farm), located 3 km from Smiltene, a pit measuring 5 meters in length and 3 meters in width was discovered.
4. On Mount Kozu, located 3 km from the town near the Smiltene–Valka road, a pit measuring 5 meters in length and 3 meters in width was discovered, along with many small graves containing varying numbers of victims.
[Act drawn by State Extraordinary Soviet Commission (ChGK), on April 30, 1945, p. 8; GARF 7021-93-66/Copy USHMM RG.22-002M]
Smiltene is situated approximately 123 km (76.4 mi) northeast of Riga. A Jewish community began to take shape there in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. By 1920, the town had 278 Jewish residents, comprising around 12% of the population, and a Jewish cemetery was established around the same time. During the 1920s, Smiltene hosted the only five-year school in Vidzeme that offered both kindergarten education and instruction in Yiddish. A prayer house was built in 1939, and several Zionist organizations were active in the town. Hebrew was also taught within the community.
In 1925, Jews formed the largest ethnic minority in Smiltene, accounting for 7.8% of the population. According to the 1935 census, 221 Jews lived in the town, representing 5.8% of its inhabitants.
Most members of the Jewish community earned their livelihood through trade and crafts. They operated five grocery stores, a butcher and sausage shop, a textile goods shop, a hat shop, and several businesses selling shoes and leather products. There were also Jewish-owned flour and lumber mills. Among the notable figures in the community were dentist Ioel Vidgorchik and the town’s last rabbi, Boruch Donchin.
The Soviet annexation of Latvia in 1940 brought major changes. Private businesses were nationalized, communal institutions were closed, and new cooperatives—eventually running five stores in Smiltene—limited economic opportunities for Jewish residents. As a result, some Jews relocated to Riga.
The exact number of Jewish residents who remained in Smiltene on the eve of the German occupation remains unknown.
Smiltene was occupied by German troops at the beginning of July 1941. Shortly afterward, a new administration was established in the town, including a Latvian Self-Defense squad.
In the first days of July 1941, several members of the Jewish community disappeared, among them the dentist Vidgorchik and his wife, as well as the Tankelovich family, owners of a large store. Anti-Jewish measures soon followed, including public humiliation, the compulsory wearing of distinctive badges with Stars of David, and forced labor, such as road repair. The community’s prayer house was burned down.
Those Jews who were not assigned to forced labor, along with Jews brought in from surrounding areas, were imprisoned in the Smiltene jail before being murdered during a large-scale Aktion carried out in early August 1941. While some witness testimonies place the Aktion on August 10 or 11, Soviet archival sources indicate that the mass shooting took place on August 8. On that day, the prisoners were taken to the Aizsargi firing range, located on the outskirts of Smiltene near the Dranga River and not far from Lake Klievu, where they were shot. The killings were carried out by members of the local Self-Defense squad under the supervision of a German SD unit. According to most sources, around 200 Jews were murdered and buried at the Aizsargi firing range over the course of a single day. During its investigation trip to Smiltene in 2022, the Yahad – In Unum team identified the approximate location of the killing site at the former firing range.
In addition to the main Aktion, further killings of Jews took place in the vicinity of Smiltene during the German occupation, including on the shore of Lake Niedrajs, near the old cemetery in Certene, and in the area of the Kaiki farm.
According to Soviet archival sources, a total of 400 Jews, including men, women, children, and the elderly, were killed in Smiltene during the war.
In 1947, the remains of the Jews of Smiltene were reburied in the Smiltene Meža (Forest Brotherhood) Cemetery, where a monument was erected. Its Latvian inscription reads: "From the memory of the fallen we draw the strength for our labors in the name of the future."
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