German troops occupied Riga on July 1 , 1941 . Immediately after the installment of German authority , a process of eliminating the Jewish and Roma population began , with many killings taking place in Rumbula . The killings were committed by the Einsatzgruppe A , the Wehrmacht and Marines ( in Liepaja ) , as well as by Latvian collaborators , including the 500-1,500 members of the infamous Arājs Commando , which alone killed around 26,000 Jews , and the 2,000 or more Latvian members of the SD . By the end of 1941 almost the entire Jewish population was killed or placed in the death camps . In addition , some 25,000 Jews were transported to Latvia from Germany , Austria and the present-day Czech Republic , of whom around 20,000 were killed . The Holocaust claimed approximately 85,000 lives in Latvia
The Holocaust
The Holocaust
Foreign relations of the Axis powers