Each child has a name

The idea of the project “Each child has a name” is to create a database of children perished in Holocaust in Latvia.  

About 18 000 Jewish children and about 2 000 Gipsy children were exterminated during the Holocaust in Latvia. More than 500 Russian and Byelorussian children were tortured to death in the concentration camp Salaspils during medical experiments of Nazis. 3 561 Latvian children were deported by the Communists to Siberia in 1941.   

The memorial for these children is to be a grove in Israel, dedicated to Latvian children, who suffered from discrimination and xenophobia. Association “Shamir” made an agreement with National fund of Israel  KKL for purchasing the grove close to Jerusalem. The cost of the grove is 18 000 euro.  

The methodology of children names research is being developed now. More than 2 000 names of Jewish children are already found. The names of deported children are also known. The research of Gipsy names is based on national census of population held in 1935. Due to the peculiarities of mentality of this group of population, the process is quite complicated and demands much effort.  

Names and fates of children will be placed on special site. Each person will be able to donate and devote a tree to the memory of definite child. Donations will be forwarded to further research and purchasing of additional trees.