Monument to the First World War Refugees of Kurzeme and Zemgale
Memorial site
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Located in the Bērzaine cemetery
Monument to the First World War refugees of Kurzeme and Zemgale.
On February 17, 1933, a refugee committee met in Riga and decided to “operate as a unit under the Cēsis City Parish with the aim of collecting and beautifying refugee grave sites, as well as erecting memorials in the cemeteries of Cēsis and the surrounding area.”
By May 1935, 6,883.20 lats had been donated.
On February 11, 1936, an agreement was reached with sculptor Kārlis Jansons to erect monuments in the Leja and Bērzaine cemeteries. Both monuments were unveiled on June 14, 1936, and they cost 4,600 lats.
In the Bērzaine cemetery, granite steps lead to a mound, where a stele rises above a two-stepped base. The smooth granite surface features a bronze cross, beneath which are the words in bronze letters:
MENTION HERE
REST IN GOD'S PEACE
472 COURZIE AND
REFUGEES FROM ZEMGALE
1915-1918
Used sources and references:
S.Upīte, P.Puķite, World War I and Freedom Struggle Memorial Sites in the Cēsis District, Cēsis Museum Association, 1989
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Memorial sites and burials of Kurzeme and Zemgale refugees in Cēsis
Before the First World War, 2,552 thousand people lived in the territory of Latvia. The census of 1920 registered 1,596 thousand people. This means that during this period the population of Latvia had decreased by 956 thousand people, or by 37.5%.
In the summer of 1915, German troops occupied Courland and Semigallia. More than half a million refugees left their native places in an endless stream. The first refugees arrived in Cēsis in April 1915.