History of the Jews in Latvia International Refugee Organization (IRO), and other relief organizations for Nazi victims, and some of them immigrated to the U.S. and other countries abroad. Nevertheless, there were also Latvians who risked their lives in order to save Jews. One such, Jānis Lipke, helped to save several dozen Jews of the Riga ghetto by providing them with hideouts. The Jewish population of Latvia declined from 28,300 in 1979 to 22,900 in 1989, when 18,800 of its Jews lived in the capital Riga. Part of this was due to a high rate of emigration to Israel; the Soviet Union allowed limited numbers of
Henry of Latvia Henry of Latvia Henry of Latvia (, , , ; before 1188, Magdeburg, Landgraviate of Thuringia – after 1259 in Papendorf, Livonia, currently Rubene, Kocēni parish, Kocēni Municipality, Latvia), also known in the English-speaking world as Henry of Livonia, was a priest, missionary and historian. He wrote the Livonian Chronicle of Henry which describes the evangelization of the regions which are now part of Estonia and Latvia during the Northern Crusades. The chronicles say that Henry was a Catholic priest who witnessed most of events described. Henry is thought to have been born between 1180 and 1188. Henry was probably