America, Australia and western Europe. In 1941 Liep?ja was among the first cities captured by the 291st Division of Army Group North after Nazi Germany began the war with the Soviet Union. The local Jewish population, which had numbered about 7,000 before the war, was virtually exterminated by German Nazis and Latvian collaborators. Most of these mass murders took place in the dunes of �??de north of the city. Fewer than 30 Jews remained alive in Liep?ja by the end of the war. Film footage of an Einsatzgruppen execution of local Jews was taken in Liep?ja.During the period 1944�1945 Liep?ja was within the "Courland Pocket" and was only recaptured by the Soviet army on 9 May 1945. World War II devastated the city, most of the buildings and industrial plant were destroyed.
Latvian SSR
On 25�29 March 1949, a second mass deportation to Siberia occurred from Liep?ja. In 1950 the monument to Stalin was erected on Station square (Latvian: Stacijas laukums) but was dismantled in 1958. During 1953�1957 the city center was reconstructed under the direction of architects A. Kruglov and M. �agare. In 1952�1955 the Liep?ja Academy of Pedagogy building was constructed under the direction of A. Aivars. In 1960 the Kurzeme shopping centre was opened. During the Soviet occupation, Liep?ja was a closed city and even nearby farmers and villagers needed a special permit to enter it. The Soviet military set up its Baltic naval base and nuclear weapon warehouses there; The Beberli?� sandpit was dug out to extract sand used for constructing underground warehouses. The port was completely closed to commercial traffic in 1967. One third of the city was taken up with a Soviet naval base with 26 thousand military staff. In Liep?ja the 14th Submarine Squadron of the USSR'sBaltic Fleet (Russian: 14 ?????????? ????? ????, call sign "????????") was stationed with 16 submarines (Types: 613, 629a, 651); as was the 6th group of Rear Supply of the Baltic Fleet, and the 81st
