German War Graves Commission
The project was revived in 1993–4 by the initiative of Eric Herzl, an expert from Austrian Society of Memorials, who obtained the permission from Riga City Council to continue the construction work. Austria brought the project to the attention of the German War Graves Commission and more than a dozen German cities in 1999. On May 23, 2000, 13 German city representatives and the president of German War Graves Commission met in Berlin to form German Riga Committee. The chapter was formed to plan and build a war memorial in Biķernieki forest to commemorate the Jews deported and killed at the start of the 1940s. The project was funded by German War Graves Commission, the National Fund of the Republic of Austria, the German government including Central Council of Jews in Germany, and donations from several German town municipalities. The work was carried out by The German Commission, Latvian Fraternal Cemeteries Commission, and the Riga City Council. The projected cost was DEM 900,000 and the actual project cost DEM 1M (or LVL 285,000).