The secret and dangerous activity of Valdemar Günter
Der Name Valdemārs Ęinter war für viele lettische Flüchtlinge die letzte Hoffnung auf eine Flucht nach Schweden. Zu viel Aufmerksamkeit seitens der Flüchtlinge war gefährlich, und deshalb wahrte Günther Stillschweigen
Die verborgene und verheimlichte Tatsache, dass die „schwedische Sache“ von V. Ginter, genannt Doktor, angeführt wurde, war der breiten Öffentlichkeit bekannt geworden. Es sei darauf hingewiesen, dass es damals schwierig war, einen Flüchtling zu finden, da sich Flüchtlinge nicht wie in Lettland üblich bei der Polizei meldeten. Es war auch möglich, sich als jemand anderes auszugeben. Im Allgemeinen erfolgte die Vorstellung in dieser Phase entweder auf die übliche Art und Weise, indem der eigene Name gesagt wurde, oder der Name wurde unhörbar und vage gegrunzt. Für V. Günter war es nicht leicht, die Belagerer loszuwerden. Sie hatten ihn in seiner Wohnung in der Karlīnes-Straße 4 gefunden und als ihnen der Zutritt verwehrt wurde, gingen sie die Karlīnes-Straße entlang und warteten darauf, dass er herauskam. Günter musste durch den Hof laufen mit einem weiteren Ausgang auf die Straße.
Übers Meer 1944/45. Die Erinnerungen von 130 Zeugen wurden von V. Lasmane zusammengestellt. Stockholm: Memento, 1990, 80-81. P.
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The building in Ventspils, where in 1944-1945 In 2010, LCP representative and refugee boat traffic organizer Dr. lived in Kurzeme. Valdemars Ginters
House at 4 Katrīnes Street, Ventspils, where archaeologist Valdemārs Ęinters worked.
From October 1944 to May 8, 1945, the representative of the LCP in Kurzeme was archaeologist Valdemārs Ęinters (nicknames "Doctor", "Gardener") (1899–1979). Participant of the Latvian War of Independence, director of the State Historical Museum and docent of the University of Latvia. Awarded the Order of the Lāčplēš War and the Order of the Three Stars. One of the signatories of the LCP memorandum of March 17, 1944. Lived in Sweden after World War II. From 1949 to 1979, chairman of the board of the Latvian National Fund.
The building in Ventspils, where LCP liaison Valentine Jaunzeme (Lasmane) lived in 1944
House at Lauku Street 4, Ventspils, where the teacher teacher Valentīne Lasmane (b. Jaunzeme) (1916–2018) lived and worked, who in 1944-1945 worked as LCP liaison and member of Ventspils communication group. Lived in Sweden after World War II. She compiled the testimonies of 130 boat refugees in the publication "Across the Sea 1944/1945." (Stockholm, 1990), but V. Lasmane's own life story can be read in the book "The night is not just for sleeping" (Riga, 2020). In 2000, she was awarded the Order of Three Stars. Died at the age of 102 in 2018 in the Stockholm suburb of Tebia.
"Bambaļi" houses - one of the main places of accommodation for boat refugees
The restored "Bambaļi" houses in Ošvalki, Jūrkalne parish, were one of the main places of settlement for boat refugees on the coast of Kurzeme.
The coast of Mazirbe, from where the refugee boat traffic to Sweden took place in 1944
The coast of Mazirbe was an important place in the Second World War, from where the traffic of refugee boats to Sweden took place in 1944.
Prison in the castle of the Livonian Order during World War II
1944-1945 in the prison set up in Livonia Oden Castle. In 2010, several members of the LCP Ventspils communication group and the movers of refugee boats were detained.
The road to "Grīnieku" houses in Vārve parish
The road to the "Grīnieku" house in Vārve parish, where in 1944 there was one of the main settlements of boat refugees on the coast of Kurzeme.
Refugee temporary accommodation "Vārve huts"
Vārves "huts", a place in Ventspils county, which served as a temporary accommodation for Latvian refugees who were waiting for boats from Gotland to arrive in 1944.
Memorial sign for refugees "Sail of Hope" in Jūrkalne
The "Sail of Hope" commemorative sign for the World War II refugees who crossed the Baltic Sea by boat to the island of Gotland in Sweden in 1944 and 1945. The memorial is located in Osvalki on the dunes between the sea and Ventspils-Liepaja highway, near the public transport stop "Kaijas". It was created by sculptor Ģirts Burvis, who realised it as a sail of hope symbolising the memory of Latvian refugees.
Between autumn 1944 and spring 1945, fearing the renewed Soviet occupation but unwilling to evacuate to a devastated and threatened Germany, some Latvian citizens tried to reach the nearest neutral country, Sweden, by sea. Some of the boats were organised by the Latvian Central Council with the help of the Western Allied countries, which resulted in one of the largest refugee concentration points in Jūrkalnes parish. Besides the boats organised by the Latvian Central Council, other boats were also taken across the sea. It is estimated that about 5000 persons managed to cross the sea. The number of deaths is unknown, as no records were kept of refugees leaving the Kurzeme coast.
The voyages were dangerous because the refugees were threatened by German patrols on the coast and at sea, sea mines, Soviet aircraft and warships, as well as storms, as the crossings often took place in unsuitable and overloaded cutters and boats without sufficient fuel and food supplies, sea charts and navigational instruments. Departures from Latvia were carried out in secret. The destination of the boats was the island of Gotland, and the journeys most often started on the west coast of Courland (from Jūrkalne to Gotland is 90 nautical miles or about 170 kilometres as the crow flies).
"Laukgaļi" house, writer Kārlis Skalbe's place of residence
"Laukgaļi" in Jūrkalne parish, the writer Kārlis Skalbe's place of residence in October-November 1944, while waiting for the refugee boat to Sweden.
Staldzene steep bank, from which refugee boats to Sweden were transported in 1944
In 1944, there was an active traffic of refugee boats to the shores of Sweden from Staldzene.
