Riebiņi Explained

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.

History

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]

Notes and References

  1. Web site: jewishgen.org. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20160428215841/http://www.jewishgen.org/latvia/Riebini.htm. 2016-04-28.