Dünamünde Action
| Dünamünde Action | |
|---|---|
Location of Dünamünde Action within Latvia | |
| Also known as | Aktion Dünamünde |
| Location | Biķernieki forest, Riga, Latvia 56°58′04″N 24°12′47″E / 56.96778°N 24.21306°E |
| Date | 15–26 March 1942 |
| Incident type | Mass shootings |
| Perpetrators | Kurt Krause, Eduard Roschmann, Gerhard Maywald |
| Organizations | SS Arajs Kommando |
| Victims | 3,740 |
| Memorials | Bikernieki Memorial |
The Dünamünde Action (German: Aktion Dünamünde) were two mass killings of Jews committed by the SS and the Arajs Kommando in Biķernieki forest near Riga, Latvia in March 1942. It is sometimes separated into the First Dünamünde Action on 15 March and the Second Dünamünde Action on 26 March.
The objective of the Dünamünde Action was to execute Jews from Central Europe who were deported to the overcrowded Riga Ghetto in German-occupied Latvia. Victims were lured by a false promise of better living conditions and easier work in the town of Dünamünde but were instead taken to Biķernieki forest, executed, and buried in mass graves. An estimated 3,740 people were killed in the Dünamünde action, most of whom were elderly, sick, or children and their mothers. About 1,900 people from Riga Ghetto were killed in the first action, and 1,840 from the Jungfernhof concentration camp in the second.