Jews in Latvia in the Early Years

Jews started to settle in the present territory of Latvia after 1561, when Latgale, in Eastern Latvia, fell under Polish rule, which continued for 200 years. Daugavpils (Dinaburg, Dvinsk), Rezekne (Rositten, Rezhitsa), Ludza (Lutsyn), and other townships (shtetl) in Latgale, such as Kraslava    (Kreslawka), Balvi, and Preili, became centers of settlement for Jewish artisans and traders. Settlement intensified after 1648, when many Jews settled here after fleeing the Cossack hordes of Borden Khmelnitsky, who conducted massacres in the southern regions of Volhynia and Podolia (the Ukraine).