page_title: Rumbula massacre
section_title: Deciding on the site
hierarchical_section_title: Rumbula massacre / Entry of Friedrich Jeckeln / Deciding on the site
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. ADN-ZB/Donath II. Weltkrieg 1939 - 1945 Judenverfolgung durch die faschistischen deutschen Besatzungstruppen in der Sowjetunion. Lettische SSR: Das Judenghetto in Riga. Aufn. 1942
context_page_description: The Rumbula massacre is a collective term for incidents on November 30 and December 8, 1941, in which about 25,000 Jews were killed in or on the way to Rumbula forest near Riga, Latvia, during the Holocaust. Except for the Babi Yar massacre in Ukraine, this was the biggest two-day Holocaust atrocity until the operation of the death camps. About 24,000 of the victims were Latvian Jews from the Riga Ghetto and approximately 1,000 were German Jews transported to the forest by train. The Rumbula massacre was carried out by the Nazi Einsatzgruppe A with the help of local collaborators of the Arajs Kommando, with support from other such Latvian auxiliaries. In charge of the operation was Höherer SS und Polizeiführer Friedrich Jeckeln, who had previously overseen similar massacres in Ukraine. Rudolf Lange, who later participated in the Wannsee Conference, also took part in organizing the massacre. Some of the accusations against Latvian Herberts Cukurs are related to the clearing of the Riga Ghetto by the Arajs Kommando.
context_section_description: Jeckeln and his aide Paul Degenhart searched the Riga vicinity to find a site.  Riga was located in a swampy area where the water table was close to ground level.  This would interfere with the proper disposal of thousands of corpses.  Jeckeln needed elevated ground.  The site also had to be on the north side of the Daugava River within walking distance of the ghetto, also on the north side. On or about November 18 or 19 Jeckeln came upon Rumbula as he was driving south to the Salaspils concentration camp (then under construction), and it fit what he was looking for.  The site was close to Riga, it was on elevated ground, and it had sandy soil, with the only drawback being the proximity to the highway (about 100 meters).
caption: The Riga Ghetto in 1942, after the Rumbula massacre
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