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Over 200 people honor memory of Holocaust victims at Riga memorial

Xinhua, July 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

More than 200 people gathered at a memorial built on the ruins of the Great Choral Synagogue here to honor the memory of the Jews killed during World War II to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on Monday.

Latvian President Raimonds Vejonis and parliamentary speaker Inara Murniece addressed people at the opening of the commemorative event, and speeches were also made by representatives of the Jewish community.

"Today, here, at the place where the Choral Synagogue was located in Riga, we commemorate all fellow human beings who were persecuted and killed only because they were Jews," the Latvian president said.

Vejonis noted in his speech that the mass killings of Jews during World War II did not take place without the participation of local Nazi collaborators and executioners and there was no justification for these crimes.

Latvia remembers Holocaust victims on July 4 because on this date in 1941 the Choral Synagogue was burned to the ground with people locked inside. Altogether, about 70,000 Jews were killed in Latvia under Nazi occupation from 1941 to 1945. Endit