Ludza

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Ludza ( German : Ludsen)
Ludza coat of arms
Ludza (Latvia)
Red pog.svg
Basic data
State : LatviaLatvia Latvia
Landscape: Latgale ( Latvian : Latgale )
Administrative district : Ludzas Novads
Coordinates : 56 ° 33 '  N , 27 ° 44'  E Coordinates: 56 ° 32 '47 "  N , 27 ° 43' 37"  E
Residents : 8,718 (Jan 1, 2016)
Area : 10.5 km²
Population density : 830 inhabitants per km²
Height :
City law: since 1777
Website: www.ludzaspils.lv
Post Code: 5701, 5702
ISO code:
Ludzas pilsdrupas 2014.JPG
Castle ruins in Ludza

Ludza ( German  Ludsen , Russian Лудза , Yiddish : לוצין , Estn .: Lutsi ) is a city in Latgale (Latvian: Latgale ), Latvia , 269 km east of Riga . In 2016 Ludza had 8,718 inhabitants.

location

The city is not far from the Russian border on the railway line from Rēzekne to Velikiye Luki . There are several lakes near the city, in particular the large Ludza lake (846 hectares), the Zvirgzdene lake (134 hectares), the Dunakļi lake (83 hectares) and the small Ludza lake.

history

Archaeological evidence of Stone Age settlement from the 5th to 8th millennium BC was found on the large Ludza Lake . Found. After several excavation campaigns and investigations in 1890 and 1959, the opinion is expressed that the settlement was extensive and continuous. In 1939 a silver neck ring was found, which is exhibited in the Latvian Historical Museum (Latvijas Vēstures muzejs) in Riga.

A Latgallian fortification near Ludza was first mentioned in Russian chronicles from 1173 or 1177 . The Teutonic Order built a stone castle between the two lakes in 1399 as an eastern outpost in Livonia . This was a neighboring castle of the Rossiten Bailiwick . Ludza Castle bordered the Pleskaus area . That is why the Pleskauer protected themselves with the fortress "Krasnij Gorodok" directly opposite Ludza. The first invasion by Russian armies took place as early as 1481. After further years of war, Ludza came under the rule of Poland-Lithuania in 1583 . In 1654, after a siege by the troops of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich , the castle was conquered and finally destroyed.

Church in Ludza

The settlement around the castle, however, received market rights in 1765. With the partition of Poland in 1772, Ludza became Russian and in 1777 received city ​​rights from Catherine the Great . In the 19th century the city experienced a strong boom through trade and commerce. After the independence of Latvia, this continued from 1920. However, half of the city burned down in a major fire in 1938. Between the world wars there were about 1,500 Jews in the city, more than a quarter of the population. There were seven synagogues and other Jewish institutions.

The preserved synagogue, now a museum on the Jewish history of the place

In 1940 the city was occupied by the Red Army . During this time, the Jewish public institutions in the city were closed. In 1941 it was occupied by the Wehrmacht . The remaining Jewish population (around 1,000 affected) was subsequently forcibly ghettoized under the control of Latvian (auxiliary) police forces. Shortly after the occupation, Jews who had fled from other areas of Latvia and Lithuania before the advance of the Wehrmacht were shot for the first time. In the period that followed, there were repeated violent attacks (including rape) on the population of the established ghetto, killing dozens of people. On August 17, 1941, around 800 Jews were murdered by Latvian (auxiliary) police forces on the shores of Lake Tsirma, about seven kilometers from the city. Such large-scale killing operations usually took place under the supervision and / or on direct orders of German forces. Another 120 Jews were deported to Dünaburg on October 27, 1941 . About 25 Jewish skilled workers remaining in the city were killed on April 2, 1942 in a nearby forest. Five people from the Ludza Jewish community survived the Holocaust. After the restoration of Soviet power, mass deportations and imprisonments took place in 1945 and 1949, which also affected the population of Ludza.

In the years up to 1990, more industry was settled. The largest operations were a large steel processing factory, a linen factory, a chicken factory, the local dairy, a lemonade factory, and agricultural and forestry operations.

Attractions

Personalities

Born in Ludza

Associated with Ludza

Town twinning

Ludza lists the following eleven twin cities :

city country since
Bad Bodenteich GermanyGermany Lower Saxony, Germany 2005
Hlybokaje BelarusBelarus Vitebsk, Belarus 2011
Maków PolandPoland Łódź, Poland 2012
Molėtai LithuaniaLithuania Lithuania 2012
Navapolatsk BelarusBelarus Vitebsk, Belarus 2011
Newel RussiaRussia Pskov, Russia 2006
Polatsk BelarusBelarus Vitebsk, Belarus 2016
Rokiškis LithuaniaLithuania Panevėžys, Lithuania 2010
Saslauje BelarusBelarus Minsk, Belarus 2013
Sebesch RussiaRussia Pskov, Russia 2011
Swishtov BulgariaBulgaria Veliko Tarnovo, Bulgaria 2011

Others

  • The area was partially populated by the Ludza-Estonians as an ethnic minority.
  • There is a high school, three middle schools, an art school, a sports school and several preschool and kindergarten facilities.

Ludzas Novads

Ludza was the capital of the district of the same name . After a territorial reform in Latvia, Ludza has been the main town of Ludzas novads, which consists of the city and nine rural communities, since 2009. In 2010 there were 15,667 registered residents. Since Latvia gained independence in 1992, the population has been falling as a result of the poor economic situation and the decline in the birth rate. At the 2000 census, there were still 18,269 inhabitants in today's district, of which 51% stated Latvian, 41% Russian and 4.7% Belarusian, Ukrainian or Polish as their nationality.

literature

  • Astrīda Iltnere (ed.): Latvijas Pagasti, Enciklopēdija. Preses Nams, Riga 2002, ISBN 9984-00-436-8 .

Web links

Commons : Ludza  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ https://sztetl.org.pl/de/stadte/l/138796-ludsen-ludza
  2. ↑ Latvijas iedzīvotāju skaits pašvaldībās pagastu dalījumā
  3. ↑ N. Sizow and J. Romanow (1890-1891), and R. Snore (1959).
  4. ^ Yad Vashem : A Brief History of the Jewish Community in Ludza , accessed November 20, 2014.
  5. ↑ Starptautiska sadarbiba. Retrieved January 26, 2017 .