Official Name: | Riebiņi |
Settlement Type: | Village |
Pushpin Map: | Latvia |
Pushpin Map Caption: | Riebiņi's location in Latvia |
Subdivision Type: | Country |
Subdivision Type1: | Municipality |
Subdivision Name1: | Preiļi |
Subdivision Type2: | Parish |
Subdivision Name2: | Riebiņi |
Unit Pref: | Imperial |
Population As Of: | 2006 |
Population Total: | 951 |
Coordinates: | 56.3414°N 26.8011°W |
Riebiņi (Latvian: Riebiņi, Ribiniški, Polish: Rybiniszki, Yiddish: Ribinishok) is a village in Riebiņi Parish, Preiļi Municipality in the Latgale region of Latvia.
The village was a shtetl, and most of the inhabitants were Jewish. According to the census of 1897, there were 533 Jews living in the village (91% of the total population). In the beginning of the 20th century, many of the Jews left for Israel or the United States, and in 1935, Jews constituted 68% of the total population.
At the end of August 1941, Latvian civil defense police (reportedly - former members of the Aizsargi) arrested Jews and locked them into the synagogues. Then they were moved to Ribiniški Forest (4 km. northwest of the shtetl) and murdered there in a mass execution. There were some local inhabitants from Solutions district who took part in the massacre and several Germans who watched it.[1]