Editing Riga (section)

=== World War II and Soviet era ===
{{Unreferenced section|date=September 2024}}
[[File:Damaged buildings of the Riga Old Town and St. Peter's Church during the World War II, 1939-1945.jpg|thumb|Damaged [[House of the Blackheads (Riga)|House of the Blackheads]] and [[St. Peter's Church, Riga|St. Peter's Church]] during World War II]]
During [[World War II]], Latvia was occupied by the [[Soviet Union]] in June 1940 and then was occupied by [[German occupation of Latvia during World War II|Nazi Germany in 1941–1944]]. On 17 June 1940, the Soviet forces invaded Latvia occupying bridges, post/telephone, telegraph, and broadcasting offices. Three days later, Latvian president [[Kārlis Ulmanis]] was forced to approve a pro-Soviet government which had taken office. On 14–15 July, rigged elections were held in Latvia and the other Baltic states, The ballots held the following instructions: "Only the list of the [[Latvian Working People's Bloc]] must be deposited in the ballot box. The ballot must be deposited without any changes." The alleged voter activity index was 97.6%. Most notably, the complete election results were published in Moscow 12 hours before the election closed. Soviet electoral documents found later substantiated that the results were completely fabricated. The Soviet authorities, having regained control over Riga and Latvia imposed a regime of terror, opening the headquarters of the [[KGB]], massive deportations started. Hundreds of men were arrested, including leaders of the former Latvian government. The most notorious deportation, the [[June deportation]] took place on 13 and 14 June 1941, estimated at 15,600 men, women, and children, and including 20% of Latvia's last legal government. Similar deportations were repeated after the end of World War II. The building of the KGB located at 61 [[Brīvības iela]], known as 'the corner house', is now a museum. Stalin's deportations also included thousands of Latvian Jews. The mass deportation totalled 131,500 across the Baltics.

During the Nazi occupation, the [[History of the Jews in Latvia|Jewish community]] was forced into the [[Riga Ghetto]] and a [[Nazi concentration camp]] was constructed in [[Kaiserwald concentration camp|Kaiserwald]]. On 25 October 1941, the Nazis relocated all Jews from Riga and the vicinity to the ghetto. Most of Latvia's Jews (about 24,000) were killed on 30 November and 8 December 1941 in the [[Rumbula massacre]].<ref>Ezergailis, ''The Holocaust in Latvia'', p. 348</ref> By the end of the war, the remaining [[Baltic Germans]] were [[Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950)#Soviet Union|expelled to Germany]].

[[File:Red Army soldiers in Riga. October 1944.jpg|thumb|Soldiers of the [[Soviet re-occupation of the Baltic states (1944)|Soviet]] [[Red Army]] in front of the [[Freedom Monument]] in Riga in 1944]]
The Soviet Red Army reconquered Riga on 13 October 1944. In the following years the massive influx of labourers, administrators, military personnel, and their dependents from Russia and other Soviet republics started. [[Microdistrict]]s of the large multi-storied housing blocks were built to house immigrant workers.

By the end of World War II, [[Vecrīga|Riga's historical centre]] was heavily damaged from constant bombing. After the war, huge efforts were made to reconstruct and renovate most of the famous buildings that had been part of the skyline of the city before the war. Such buildings were, amongst others, [[St. Peter's Church, Riga|St. Peter's Church]] which lost its wooden tower after a fire caused by the [[Wehrmacht]] (renovated in 1954). Another example is the [[House of the Blackheads (Riga)|House of the Blackheads]], completely destroyed, its ruins subsequently demolished; a [[facsimile]] was constructed in 1995.

In 1989, the percentage of Latvians in Riga had fallen to 36.5%.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.csb.gov.lv/en/statistikas-temas/population-database-30625.html|title=Population – Database|work=csb.gov.lv|access-date=10 February 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120221072849/http://www.csb.gov.lv/en/statistikas-temas/population-database-30625.html|archive-date=21 February 2012}}</ref>