Extermination campNazi Germany used six extermination camps (Vernichtungslager), also called death camps (Todeslager), or killing centers (Tötungszentren), in Central Europe during World War II to systematically murder over 2.7 million people - mostly Jews - in the Holocaust. The victims of death camps were primarily murdered by gassing, either in permanent installations constructed for this specific purpose, or by means of gas vans. The six extermination camps were Chełmno, Belzec, Sobibor, Treblinka, Majdanek and Auschwitz-Birkenau.
RigaRiga (ˈɹi:gə; Rīga ˈriːɡa, Rīgõ) is the capital and largest city of Latvia, as well as the largest city in the Baltic states, and is home to 605,802 inhabitants which is a third of Latvia's population. The population of Riga metropolitan area, which stretches beyond the city limits, is estimated at 860,142 (as of 2023). The city lies on the Gulf of Riga at the mouth of the Daugava river where it meets the Baltic Sea. Riga's territory covers and lies above sea level, on a flat and sandy plain.
SchutzstaffelThe Schutzstaffel (SS; also stylized as ᛋᛋ with Armanen runes; ˈʃʊtsˌʃtafl̩; Protection Squadron) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany, and later throughout German-occupied Europe during World War II. It began with a small guard unit known as the Saal-Schutz ("Hall Security") made up of party volunteers to provide security for party meetings in Munich. In 1925, Heinrich Himmler joined the unit, which had by then been reformed and given its final name.
Wannsee ConferenceThe Wannsee Conference (Wannseekonferenz, ˈvanzeːkɔnfeˌʁɛnt͡s) was a meeting of senior government officials of Nazi Germany and Schutzstaffel (SS) leaders, held in the Berlin suburb of Wannsee on 20 January 1942. The purpose of the conference, called by the director of the Reich Security Main Office SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, was to ensure the co-operation of administrative leaders of various government departments in the implementation of the Final Solution to the Jewish Question, whereby most of the Jews of German-occupied Europe would be deported to occupied Poland and murdered.
