The camp was established in August 1942 on a former artillery range of the Estonian Army near the village of Jägala, Estonia.

[1][2] Officially Jägala was a "labour education camp" or "Arbeitserziehungslager" for forced forestry and field workers.

[3] The camp housed Jews deported to Estonia from other countries,[4] including Lithuania, Czechoslovakia, Germany and Poland.

Soviet investigators concluded that 2,000-3,000 were killed in Jägala and Kalevi-Liiva taken together, but the number 5,000 (as determined by the Extraordinary State Commission in 1944) was written into the verdict.

[2][8][9] However, Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity and estimates of scholars place the number of total Jewish victims in Estonia during 1941-1944 around 8,500.