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Bauska

Bauska () is a town in Bauska County, in the Zemgale region of southern Latvia. The town is situated at the confluence of the rivers M?sa and M?mele where they form the Lielupe River. Bauska is located 66 km from the Latvia capital Riga and 20 km from the Lithuanian border.

Bauska Castle

History
Jewish Community
References
See also
External links

History

During the autumn of 1701, King Charles XII of Sweden and the Swedish army captured Bauska on its push into Poland, in pursuit of the Saxon army in the Great Northern War.

Bauska will celebrate its 400th anniversary in 2009. Sights include castle ruins from the 13th-17th centuries. 12 km (7 miles) west of Bauska is the site of the 18th century Rund?le Palace.

Jewish Community

Bauska was home to a thriving Jewish community in the 19th Century, including scholars and citizens who earned a living through occupations such as baking and distilling. The town hosted several notable rabbis, including Abraham Isaac Kook, the future chief rabbi of Israel, and Mordechai Eliasberg.^[1]

By 1920, the Jewish population had dwindled to about a sixth of the size it had been 40 years earlier.^[2] In 1941, following the Nazi invasion, the remaining Jews of Bauska and environs were executed and/or tortured.^[3]

Following a conference on Jewish "cultural heritage" in Bauska in the 1990s or early 2000s, the town's Jewish history became the subject of an exhibit in Bauska.^[1]