Latvian Holocaust Historian Marģers Vestermanis Dies at 100

Marģers Vestermanis, a Latvian Holocaust survivor, historian and founder of the Museum “Jews in Latvia,” died on 30 July 2026 in his native city of Riga at the age of 100. He was the last living witness of the Riga ghetto, the Kaiserwald concentration camp and the subsequent forest‑partisan period.

Born in Riga in 1925, Vestermanis survived the mass murder of his family in the Rumbula massacre, endured forced labour in Kaiserwald and escaped to join Soviet partisans in 1944. After the war he returned to Riga, studied history at the University of Latvia and devoted his career to researching the history of Latvian Jews.

In 1989 he organized the first gathering of Holocaust survivors in Riga and a year later founded the Museum “Jews in Latvia,” the country’s first institution dedicated solely to Jewish history, serving as its director for many years. He authored numerous works documenting rescue efforts and the experiences of Latvian Jews, with a major book now being translated into German. Vestermanis is remembered for his lifelong commitment to preserving the memory of the Holocaust in Latvia.