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TALSI JEWISH CEMETERY
ADDRESS: Talsi, Kurzeme (Courland) District, LATVIA
LO TISHKACH ID NO.: 5976
Alternative/Former City Names: Talse (German), Талсы/Talsi (Russian)
First Jewish Settlement: Unknown
Jewish Community Established: Mid 19th century
Present Usage of Cemetery: Unprotected Jewish cemetery
Location & Demarcation: Located inside a forest, the cemetery is not identified by a sign. Access to the site is open at all times. The cemetery area is partially demarcated by the foundation remnants of a stone wall.
Gravestones, Memorial Markers & Structures: About 100 gravestones remain at the site, half of which are still standing. In early October, the Jewish cemetery in the Latvian town of Talsi was vandalised. Unknown perpetrators toppled and broke numerous gravestones and destroyed the cemetery’s entrance gate. The acts of vandalism occurred barely three months after the cemetery had been restored by Latvian and German youth in the course of project led by German pastor Klaus-Peter Rex. The project participants had cleared vegetation overgrowth and fixed toppled gravestones at the site. The organisers are prepared to repair the damaged gravestones next summer, the cost of which would be 5,000 Euros. Building a 400m fence around the site would cost another 2,000 Euros. Contact us at info@lo-tishkach.org for further details on how to help save this site.
History of the Jewish Community: Both the cemetery and the Talsi Jewish community were established in the mid-19th century. In 1881, about 1,400 Jews lived in Talsi, 41 per cent of the total population. By 1920, the Jewish population had dropped to 637. A Heder opened in the town in 1905, followed by a Jewish school in 1920. The community’s last rabbi was Boruh Zelig Levenberg, who perished in the Holocaust.
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Source: Klaus-Peter Rex; Meyer Meller: Jewish Cemeteries in Latvia. Images © Janis Billers
