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state city in south-eastern Latvia
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Daugavpils (see also other names) is a state city in southeastern Latvia, located on the banks of the Daugava River, from which the city derives its name. The parts of the city to the north of the river belong to the historical Latvian region of Latgale, and those to the south lie in Selonia. It is the second-largest city in the country after the capital Riga, which is located some 230 kilometres (143 miles) northwest and is the ninth most populous city in the Baltic states. In addition to being a state city with its own municipality, the administration of the surrounding Augšdaugava Municipality is located in Daugavpils as well.
Daugavpils is located relatively close to Belarus and Lithuania (distances of 33 km (21 mi) and 25 km (16 mi), respectively), and some 120 km (75 mi) from the Latvian border with Russia. Daugavpils is a major railway junction and industrial centre, and was an historically important garrison city lying approximately midway between Riga and Minsk, and between Warsaw and Saint Petersburg.
Daugavpils, then called Dyneburg, was the capital of Polish Livonia while in Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Following the first partition of Poland in 1772, the city became part of the Russian Empire. Since the Second World War, it has maintained an overwhelmingly Russian-speaking population, with Latvians and Poles being significant minorities. Historically, German and Yiddish were additional prominent native languages.
In the Latvian language, the current name Daugavpils (Latvian pronunciation: [ˈdauɡaupils] ⓘ) references Daugava and the Latvian word pils (meaning "castle" - cognate with Lithuanian pilis, with Greek polis and with Old Prussian pils).
Historically, several names in various languages have identified Daugavpils. Some are still in use today.
The town's history began in 1273 when the Livonian Order, led by Ernst von Ratzeburg, built the Dünaburg Castle on the site of a Lithuanian settlement of Naujinis (about 18 km from present-day Daugavpils). Between 1281 and 1313, Lithuania ruled Daugavpils, the lands up to Daugava and its surroundings. In 1561 it again became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and, subsequently, of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569 (see Duchy of Livonia). In 1621 Daugavpils became the capital of the newly formed Inflanty Voivodeship, which existed until the First Partition of Poland (1772). In 1577 the Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible captured and destroyed Dünaburg castle.
That same year, a new castle and a town were built 20 km (12 mi) downriver, by the Polish King and the Grand Duke of Lithuania Stephen Báthory. In 1582 Daugavpils was granted Magdeburg town rights. In 1654, Russia invaded Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, seizing much of the eastern lands. Russian troops besieged Daugavpils in April and May 1655, but did not capture the city; it was only taken by Swedish troops on July 11, 1655, who invaded Poland at that time. When the Russo-Swedish war started, the Russians captured Daugavpils on 10 August 1656, renamed the town Borisoglebov and controlled the region for 11 years, between 1656 and 1667. Russia returned the area of Latgale to Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth following the Treaty of Andrusovo (1667). Called Dyneburg, the city became the capital of the Inflanty Voivodeship, also known as the Duchy of Livonia, and the starostwo of Dyneburg. It was a place of local sejmik's gatherings. Roman Catholic Bishop of Inflanty, who was always residing outside of diocese, moved his seat to Dyneburg at the end of 17th century. At the end of the 18th century, 540 people lived in the city itself, but counting the population of the suburbs the number was 1,373.
It became part of the Russian Empire after the First Partition of Poland in 1772. It was the uyezd administrative center as part of the Pskov Governorate (1772–1776), Polotsk (1776–1796), Belarusian (1796–1802), and finally Vitebsk (1802–1917), first as Dinaburg, then Dvinsk later during Russian rule.
From 1784 onwards, the city had a large and active Jewish population, among them a number of prominent figures. According to the Russian census of 1897, out of a total population of 69,700, Jews numbered 32,400 (ca. 44% percent). The construction of the Daugavpils fortress began in 1810 and was completed in 1878. The new centre of the city was built southeast of the fortress in the 19th century according to the project endorsed in St. Petersburg in 1826. The city was located on the Saint Petersburg-Warsaw railway line, to which it was connected in 1860. As part of the Russian Empire, the city was called Dvinsk from 1893 to 1920.
During the Lithuanian Independence Wars, there were Lithuanian attempts to take Daugavpils (Dvinsk) due to a Lithuanian minority living there and the city's importance as a rail and road junction. However, Lithuania never made a full-scale military campaign to annex the city or directly control it. The newly independent Latvian state renamed it Daugavpils in 1920. Latvians, Poles and Soviet troops fought the Battle of Daugavpils in the area from 1919 to 1920.
Daugavpils and the whole of Latvia was under Soviet rule between 1940–41 and 1944–1991. Nazi Brandenburgers led the German attack against the town in 1941, speaking Russian and wearing Soviet uniforms, and Germany occupied it between 1941 and 1944. The Nazis established the Daugavpils Ghetto where the town's Jews were forced to live. Most were murdered. During the Cold War the Lociki air-base operated 12 km (7 mi) northeast of Daugavpils itself. In the late Soviet era, there was a proposal to build a hydroelectric power station on the Daugava river that was successfully opposed by the nascent environmental movement in Latvia.
On 16 April 2010 an assassin shot vice-mayor Grigorijs Ņemcovs in the center of the city. He died almost immediately and the crime remains unsolved.
Prior to 1941, Daugavpils, called Dvinsk by its Jewish inhabitants, was home to the most prominent Jewish community in eastern Latvia. The city was already a Jewish center as early as the 1780s and by the time of the 1897 census, they numbered 32,400 (44% of the overall population of the city). The Jews of the town were very prosperous and ran 32 factories and there were 4000 artisans among them. By 1911 they had increased to 50,000. However, tens of thousands of Jews migrated away from Daugavpils; in the last census taken prior to the Second World War, in 1935, the Jewish population of Daugavpils numbered only 11,106 (24.6% of the overall population of the city).
The city not only boasted a large Jewish population but a rich religious culture including 40 synagogues. The city was home to two of the most prominent rabbis of their time: Joseph Rosen (1858–1936), known as the Rogatchover Gaon (genius from Rahachow), was famed for his commentaries on the works of Maimonides and on the Talmud. Famed for his acidic wit and penetrating genius, he led the towns Hasidic Jews. His 'competitor', the leader of the local Misnagdim (non-Hasidic Jews) was the Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk (1843–1926). Rabbi Meir Simcha was also renowned for his work on Maimonides (Or Somayach) as well as Bible commentary Meshech Chochma. In one famous comment he predicted that since some Jews had assimilated and viewed Berlin as their 'Jerusalem' they would suffer persecution originating in Berlin.
Sarah Azariahu was born here in 1873. She was a leading figure in establishing equal rights for women in pre-state Israel. Another famous Jewish resident, moving in a very different direction, was the abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko. Born in Daugavpils in 1903 he immigrated at the age of 10 to the United States where he painted over 800 paintings in his unique style.
Rothko and many of his fellow Jews would have taken the train from Daugavpils to Liepāja, travelling westwards from Radviliškis on the Libau-Romny Railway, and would have crossed the seas by one of the steamships departing for New York via a regular service established in 1906 by the Russian American Line.
Jewish Daugavpils, a 16,000 strong community, already greatly diminished by emigration, came to an end following the Nazi German invasion on 26 June 1941. Falsely claiming that the Jews had conspired to set fire to the town and that they were assisting the Soviet army, the Germans and their Latvian collaborators carried out large executions on 28–29 June. During July the Jews were enslaved and forced to cut down timber. On 7–11 July Einsatzkommando 1b under Erich Ehrlinger executed many of the remaining Jews. Later in July the 14,000 remaining Jews were forced into a Ghetto along with those from nearby towns. By the end of August an additional 7000 Jews had died at the hands of the Nazis and the local Latvian collaborators. The largest execution took place in November 1941 and was followed by plagues that decimated the few survivors. Only about 1500 Jews remained in the city. These were murdered on 1 May 1942. When the town was liberated in 1944 only 100 survivors remained of a community of 16,000. For more on the Holocaust in Daugavpils see Daugavpils Ghetto.
Under the Köppen climate classification, Daugavpils features a humid continental climate (Dfb), with warm summers and cold winters.
As of 1 January 2023, the city had a population of 78,850.
Historically, Daugavpils has been known to be a multicultural city and according to the census carried out in 1935, the demographic image of the city was completely different: totaling 45 160 inhabitants, Latvians made 33.57%, followed by Jewish people making 24.59%, then Polish people equaling 18.15%, Russians 17.84%, and Belarusians 2.56%.
In Daugavpils 85% of the voters supported the proposal to make Russian the second state language in the 2012 referendum.
Back in 1930 Daugavpils was one of the most ethnically diverse cities in Europe, with no ethnic group making up more than 30% of the total:
Church Hill (Baznīcu kalns) is a city landmark. Very prominently, all of the main denominations practiced in Latvia: Lutheran, Catholic, Orthodox and Old Believer are represented.
Places of worship in the city:
Before the Second World War, there were more than 40 synagogues in the city.
Daugavpils is an important cultural centre in eastern Latvia. There are 22 primary and secondary schools, four vocational schools, and the Saules College of Art. More than 1,000 teachers and engineers graduate from the University of Daugavpils (formerly Daugavpils Pedagogical University) and the local branch of Riga Technical University annually. There is also a Polish gymnasium (academic secondary school) on Varšavas iela (Warsaw Street).
The historical centre of Daugavpils city is an architectural heritage of national importance (the construction work was carried out in the 19th century according to the project endorsed in St Petersburg in 1826). The historical centre is the most popular attraction in the city. Daugavpils has an ensemble of both classic and eclectic styles. The cultural heritage of architectural, artistic, industrial, and historical monuments combined with the picturesque surroundings create the essence of Daugavpils's image.
In 2020, the municipality allocated 70,000 euros for the restoration of eight historical buildings, including Art Nouveau and red brick buildings.
There are also several architectural, historical, and cultural monuments in Daugavpils. The most prominent are:
Text from the Wikipedia article “Daugavpils”, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.