Latvia commemorated victims of the Holocaust on Monday, the 75th anniversary of the destruction of the Riga Choral Synagogue on July 4, 1941, which burned down with dozens still inside.

Persecution of Latvia’s Jews began immediately after Nazi Germany invaded the country in June 1941. Historians estimate that 70,000 or 90% of Latvian Jews perished in the Holocaust.

Another 20,000 Jews brought from other Nazi-occupied territories were also killed in Latvia.

“The Holocaust – the catastrophe for the Jewish people is also a part of history of Latvia, our land and our nation. Today, here, at the former location of the Choral Synagogue, we commemorate all fellow human beings, who were persecuted and killed only because they were Jewish,” Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis said during the ceremony.

Originally published HERE