Varakļāni, Vidzeme Region, Latvia

🇱🇻 Varakļāni is a town in the Latgale historical region of Latvia.

History The town of Varakļāni was founded and established in the Russian Empire in the 18th century.

Varakļāni Palace is located in Varakļāni.

Jews in Varaklani Varaklani had a sizeable population of Jews throughout much of its history, ending with the Holocaust. Towards the end of the 19th century, Jews comprised about 75% of the population. Various pogroms, expulsions, WWI and the Russian Revolutions brought the Jewish population down considerably. Several hundred Jews left with the Russians in preparation of the Nazi advance. The Nazis forced 540 remaining Jews to dig their own graves, and then shot them to death in a mass shooting on 4 August 1941. Jewish historical records, including online resources, contain much information about community leadership, organizations, and general town information.

Municipality Varakļāni Municipality (Varakļānu novads) is a municipality in Latgale, Latvia. The municipality was formed in 2009 by merging Varakļāni town, Murmastiene parish and Varakļāni parish; the administrative centre being Varakļāni.

Parts of Teiči Nature Reserve are located in Varakļāni Municipality. Within the 2021 Latvian administrative reform it was initially planned to merge Varakļāni Municipality into Rēzekne Municipality. After protests from locals, parts of which wanted to preserve the status quo or preferred joining Madona Municipality, the municipal council submitted a case to the Constitutional Court of Latvia in June 2020. On 28 May 2021 the court declared the planned merge is unconstitutional. However, on May 31 the Saeima voted to proceed with the merge, which prompted the involvement of the President of Latvia Egils Levits to avoid triggering a constitutional crisis. Ultimately, a decision was made to postpone the decision on the future of the Varakļāni and Rēzekne municipalities until 2025. Due to this, the 2021 Latvian local elections for the new municipalities were also held in Varakļāni.