page_title: Riga Ghetto
section_title: 1942 in the German Ghetto
hierarchical_section_title: Riga Ghetto / 1942 in the German Ghetto
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Gedenktafel, Lilli Henoch, Askanischer Platz 6, Berlin-Kreuzberg, Deutschland English: Memorial plaque, Lilli Henoch, Askanischer Platz 6, Berlin-Kreuzberg, Germany
context_page_description: The Riga Ghetto was a small area in Maskavas Forštate, a neighbourhood of Riga, Latvia, designated by the Nazis where Jews from Latvia, and later from Germany, were forced to live during World War II. On October 25, 1941, the Nazis relocated all Jews from Riga and the vicinity to the ghetto while the non-Jewish inhabitants were evicted. Most of the Latvian Jews were killed on November 30 and December 8, 1941 in the Rumbula massacre. The Nazis transported a large number of German Jews to the ghetto; most of them were later killed in massacres.
  While the Riga Ghetto is commonly referred to as a single entity, in fact there were several "ghettos". The first was the large Latvian ghetto. After the Rumbula massacre, the surviving Latvian Jews were concentrated in a smaller area within the original ghetto, which became known as the "small ghetto". The small ghetto was divided into men's and women's sections. The area of the ghetto not allocated to the small ghetto was then reallocated to the Jews being deported from Germany, and became known as the German ghetto.
context_section_description: On April 2 and May 4, 1942 two transports of Jewish men were taken from the ghetto to Salaspils concentration camp.  Krause had wanted the men retained in the ghetto, while Lange wanted them transferred to Salaspils for work duties.  Conditions at Salaspils were harsh.  In August, 1942 about one third of the transportees to Salapils were returned to the ghetto.  Many of those returned were in poor health and died shortly after their return.
  The German Jews in the ghetto began to rumor among themselves that the Germans had brought them to Riga to be exterminated.  Outside of the ghetto there were housed a few Jews whose work duties gave them confirmation of the overall Nazi plan.  Some Jews worked at the headquarters of Einsatzkommando 2c were given the task of sorting the clothing and jewelry that had come from the victims of the massacres in Latvia.  Many of these came in suitcases, and from the names and addresses on the luggage, the Jews charged with sorting the items could tell where they'd come from.  Other personal effects from the victims came into Riga from all over Latvia where murders were occurring.  The local SS picked over the effects before they were sent back to Germany, and Jewish women who cleaned the apartments of officers found many valuable things, such drawers full of watches, closets full of furs (with the labels of their original owners still on them).
  The Nazi gave the task of digging graves to a work detail called "Kommando Krause 2."  This group of 38 Jewish men, was housed at the Central Prison.  They were instructed not to tell anyone about the mass killings.  16 of these men survived long enough to be returned to the German ghetto, violated their instructions, and told the people there about the mass killings that had been perpetrated in the forests around Riga.
  Lilli Henoch, a German world record holder in the discus, shot put, and 4 × 100 meters relay events, and the holder of 10 German national championships, was deported to the ghetto on September 5, 1942, and killed by machine gun and buried in a mass grave shortly thereafter.
caption: Lilli Henoch memorial, Askanischer Platz 6, in Berlin-Kreuzberg.
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