Alternate names: Preiļi [Latv], Prel' and Прель[Rus], Preil [Yid], Prely [Ger], Preiliai [Lith], Prial, Prieli, Preyli, Preli. 56°18' N, 26°43' E , 30 miles NNE of Daugavpils (Dvinsk).  1900 Jewish population: 1,375. Preiļi , one of the oldest settlements in Latvia was first mentioned in written sources in 1250. 1935 population: 1662 people of whom 50.97% were Jews. After WWII, less than 1000 people lived in Preiļi.

Pinkas HaKehilot, Latvia and Estonia (1988), p. 207: "Preili"

• JewishGen Latvia SIG

Also see Riebini. Within the week of German entry into Kraslova, Jews of Kraslova, Griva, Preili, Vishki, Livani, Dagda and smaller shtetls were ordered  to collect in three synagogues in Kraslava for deportation on July 28, 1941. Allowed to hire carts to bring processions with them, they were guarded overnight at the crowded synagogues by the Latvian auxiliary police and the following day were escorted by the police in carts and on foot 40 km to the newly established Ghetto in Daugavpils. Source with much more information. Excellent website with history, photos, photos, folklore and more for the settlements such as Rezekne, Daugavpils (Dvinsk), Livani, Preili, and Ludza within Latgale Region. [March 2009]

CEMETERY:

on Cesu Street and dates from the early 19th century.

JOWBR burial list

photos. All the gravestones are in the forest, buried. Most are broken and covered by moss. Almost nothing is visible. The city has a Holocaust memorial. [January 2011]

The 15-20 gravestones were only broken fragments buried in an overgrowth of trees and vegetation or covered with moss. Very few were either intact and/or legible. Only one stone stands upright and is legible. A memorial marker to the Jews who perished in the Holocaust also exists. I photographed each and every stone in September 1997. Source: Gary Fitleberg, P.O. Box 8373, Calabasas, CA 91302 [date?]

See burial list All Latvia Cemetery List [March 2009] See burial list. [January 2011] photos. [January 2011]

The  Jewish cemetery of Preili [May 2013]