The memories of Jānis Miesnieks from Ezere about the end of World War 2 in Ezere
In einem historisch bedeutsamen Gebäude wurde das Depot für kulturgeschichtliche und regionale Forschungsmaterialien des Sees „Muitas nams“ eingerichtet. Am 8. Mai 1945 wurde hier die Kapitulationsurkunde der an der Kurischen Front eingeschlossenen Einheiten der nationalsozialistischen deutschen Armee unterzeichnet.
Jānis Miesnieks (geb. 1930), ein ehemaliger Einwohner von Ezer, teilt seine Erinnerungen an die Ereignisse dieses Tages.
Der Frühling 1945 kam und die Frontlinie war bereits in der Nähe von Saldus. Auch alle Nachbarn sind von der Zwangsevakuierung in Litauen zurückgekehrt. Durch den Zufall des Schicksals wurde ich Zeuge eines wichtigen historischen Ereignisses. Eines Tages im Mai kam ein Typ aus Mažeikikai, um die Bezahlung für die im Sommer geleistete Arbeit entgegenzunehmen. Die entsprechenden Getreidesäcke schleppten wir in den Pferdewagen, der von der alten, sehr erfahrenen Stute Irma gezogen wurde. Die Bewegung konnte nur entlang der sehr schmalen Seite der Autobahn stattfinden, weil in der Mitte eine tiefe, hohle Furche war, die von schweren Maschinen ausgetrieben wurde. Es war bereits Nachmittag, als wir „Zakai“ nach Ezeri verließen. Das Tempo, mit dem wir uns fortbewegten, mag etwa 3 km/h betragen haben. Die Straßenpatrouille der Armee ließ uns jedoch nicht über die Vadakste-Brücke nach Mazeikikai in Ezere. Die nächste Brücke über den Vadakste war in der Nähe von Laižuva, und statt 13 km wurde die Straße zum Ziel 33 km lang. Nachdem wir einige Kilometer gefahren waren, fuhren mehrere exzellente schwarze Limousinen wie Phantome aus einer anderen Dimension langsam entlang dieser zerstörten Straße auf uns zu. Man konnte deutlich die Leute in der Kajüte sehen – hochrangige Kommandeure der Roten Armee und ganz hinten einen deutschen Offizier mit charakteristischen hohen Uniformhüten. Unterwegs hörten wir auch recht laute Geräusche von vorne. Aber als die Nacht hereinbrach, brannte der gesamte Rand der Front mit einem Feuer, einer Salve von Raketen, die Spuren leuchtender Kugeln zierten den Rand des Himmels wie Perlenschnüre. Schön, wenn auch nur ohne Blutpreis. Es war offensichtlich, dass das Inferno in meiner Kurzemīte zu kochen begonnen hatte... Je dunkler es wurde, desto intensiver erleuchtete das Feuer von vorne die Außenbezirke.
Wir erreichten Mazeikis bei Sonnenaufgang. Es stellt sich heraus, dass ein bescheidenes Landhaus der Endpunkt unseres langen, ausgetretenen Weges war, der mit beträchtlicher Anstrengung zurückgelegt und mit spannenden Ereignissen gefüllt war. Hier wurde die Fracht entladen und erhielt, wie es schien, eine verblüffende Nachricht: Der Krieg ist vorbei!!! Gestern, am 8. Mai, unterzeichneten die Deutschen in Ezere die Kapitulation.
Mit dem leeren Karren ging es sofort durch den See nach Hause, vor Erschöpfung dösend. In weniger als einem Tag hatte sich die Lage in der Welt radikal verändert: Als ich gestern von zu Hause wegging, herrschte noch Kriegszustand, aber bereits am Morgen des 9. Mai herrschte Frieden. Im See hinter der Vadakste-Brücke kam ich an einem ehemaligen Zollhaus vorbei, wo gestern die bevollmächtigten Vertreter der Wehrmacht den Akt der bedingungslosen Kapitulation der Armeen der kurländischen Einkreisungsfront unterzeichnet hatten. Aus diesem Grund wurde gestern die Straße über die Brücke gesperrt und das Schicksal gab mir die Gelegenheit, die an der Veranstaltung beteiligten Teilnehmer und die Woge der Emotionen in der ersten Friedensnacht an der Front zu sehen. Damit hatte der höllische Kessel im Kessel von Kurzeme aufgehört zu kochen. Als ich am Morgen des 9. Mai nach "Zaķi" zurückkehrte, waren die Verbindungsoffiziere der Armee, die in unserem Haus wohnten, in völliger Raserei ...
Susijusi laiko juosta
Susijusios vietos
Ezere local history repository “Muitas Nams” (Customs House)
The Ezere Customs House is located in Ezere near the Saldus-Mažeikiai highway at the Latvian-Lithuanian border. The act of surrender of the German Army units ‘Kurzeme’ (Kurland) surrounded in the so-called ‘Courland Pocket’ was signed in this building on 8 May 1945. It is believed that World War II actually ended in Ezere. The customs house has an exhibit covering the events of the end of World War II and exhibits detailing the history of Ezere parish from ancient to modern days. In the morning of 7 May 1945, the commander of the Leningrad Front, Marshal L. Govorov, sent an ultimatum to the command of the army group ‘Kurzeme’ to lay down arms. The act of surrender was signed by the involved parties on May 8 and it detailed the procedure of surrender, weapons collection points, documents and information to be submitted and other practical measures.
Red Army prisoner filtration camp in Grieze and Grieze Church
Grieze is located at the Latvian-Lithuanian border, where the Vadakste River flows into the Venta River. The Grieze church was built in 1580, but the parish existed before 1567. The church was rebuilt several times - in 1769, in 1845 and in 1773 the first organ was installed. Both the altarpiece and the two bells have been lost for various reasons.
In the church garden there is a cemetery where people belonging to the church and noblemen are buried. One of them is Grieze organist Friedrich Baris and his wife Charlotte, who have a monument erected in front of the church sacristy. On the south side of the church, 32 Swedish soldiers who died in the Great Northern War are buried. The cemetery also contains the graves of 110 German soldiers who died in the First World War, for whom a monument was erected in 1930.
During the Second World War, the church suffered when the front line was stretched along the Venta River in late October 1944 and the German 225th Infantry Division was stationed in the vicinity of Grieze Church. When the Soviet 4th Shock Army launched attacks across the Venta River on 19 November 1944, several artillery shells hit the south wall of the church and the church tower was badly damaged.
After the surrender of Army Group Kurzeme, the Red Army's Leningrad Front accounted for 284 171 people taken prisoner. 7493 were Red Army soldiers released from German captivity. 48 German generals surrendered to captivity. According to the documents submitted at the time of the surrender of Army Group Kurzeme, the number of soldiers was about 185 000. The rest of the nearly 100 000 people subjected to filtration were Kurzeme civilians and Soviet refugees, as the Soviet Leningrad Front ordered on 10 May 1945 that all men between the ages of 16 and 60 be subjected to filtration.
In the Red Army, unlike the armed forces of other countries, the screening, guarding, maintenance and protection of prisoners of war was carried out not by army units, but by the internal affairs bodies - the People's Commissariat for State Security. The main task of the filtration was to detect citizens of the USSR and Soviet-occupied countries who had taken part in the hostilities on the German side. Captured German soldiers were examined in order to detect possible perpetrators of war crimes.
A prisoner-of-war filtration camp was located in the vicinity of the Grieze Church from 10 May to 17 June 1945. The camp was probably located here because the Grieze Church was close to the main roads. The pits in the ground where the prisoners hid from the cold on cold nights by covering themselves with whatever was available are still clearly visible in the surrounding area. During this period, the Red Army caused considerable damage to the interior of the church (all the pews were removed - "for the war effort", the pulpit was damaged, the organ was destroyed, etc.). A laundry was set up in the church building itself.
The last service in the church was in 1950 and the congregation ceased to exist. After the dissolution of the congregation, also later under the supervision of the Latvian Society for the Protection of Nature and Monuments, the church was not repaired. However, the building stood under roof until the 1960s-1970s. The church was damaged during the storm of 1961 and in 1968 the remaining interior elements were rescued by the Rundāle Palace staff.
Since 2003, a group of like-minded people from Riga parishes have been involved in the clean-up and restoration of the church. To date, the church walls have been conserved and the tower has been restored.
Saldus German Soldiers' Cemetery
Saldus German soldier's cemetery is located on the Saldus-Ezere highway. Around 25,000 German soldiers, as well as some Latvian legionnaires, were reburied in the 8-hectare cemetery. Reburial has been taking place since 1997.
From May 1 to October 1, an exposition on the Battle of Kurzeme can be seen in the memorial room. During this period, the memorial room is open on weekdays from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., on Saturdays and Sundays the cemetery also has a tour guide. The registers of soldiers buried in Saldus German soldiers' graves and fallen soldiers throughout Latvia are also available.
Pampali church and the walls of the destroyed house
Pampāļi is a settlement in Pampāļu parish of Saldus county, the center of the parish is on the banks of Zaņas and its tributary Abrupe, 27 km from the county center Saldus and 147 km from Riga. The settlement was formed around the center of Pampāli manor after the agrarian reform. In 1933, Pampālis was granted the status of a densely populated place.
The hostilities on the outskirts of the Pampali began on November 21, 1944, when the Soviet 4th shock army, forcing Venta, began an attack in the direction of Saldus. By November 24, the situation stabilized and the front line remained unchanged until December 21.
On December 21, 1944, the so-called 3rd Battle of Kurzeme began, during which the 4th shock army of the 1st Baltic Front with 4 rifle corps (12 rifle divisions) and the 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps attacked in the direction of Saldus to connect there with the 2nd Baltic Front units. The German 132nd Infantry Division, whose 1st Battalion of the 436th Grenadier Regiment had fortified itself in the vicinity of the manor and the church, was defending itself in the Pampali district.
The attack on Pampāliai was carried out under the support of massive artillery fire by the 357th and 145th Rifle Divisions of the 1st Rifle Corps, supported by the 39th Guards Tank Brigade. During the first 24 hours of the battle, the Pampali garrison, commanded by the commander of the 14th (Anti-Tank) Company of the 436th Grenadier Regiment, Captain Eberard Coll, was encircled and virtually destroyed in fierce fighting.
Since Pampali was located right on the front line, all the buildings were hit by artillery fire and practically have not been preserved today.
