Temporary refugee shelters "Vārves būda" Trail

"Vārves būdas", a place in Ventspils municipality that served as temporary housing for Latvian refugees who were waiting for boats from Gotland to arrive in 1944.

Memories of the boatman V. Jurjaks:

“My half-brother and his family had come to us from Riga, and when the news came that a boat was expected at Vārve, I united these people of mine with the group of police chief Jasūnas and we all set out for Vārve. We waited for the signals until late at night, but the boat did not arrive. We waited there like that for a whole week. It started to rain. People made tents out of sheets, so we called this place “Vārve huts”. My wife and I spent more time in Ventspils during the day, and eventually we had to think about how to deliver food to those waiting. I remember one night my wife and I were carrying hot boiled potatoes through the forest for them on our bicycles. It was raining heavily, lightning was roaring, and the warm potatoes tasted good to the waiting people who had spilled out. The Vārve forester had accidentally discovered this hiding place, but - promising him the possibility of a transfer, he came to help. The Germans had begun to go through the houses of the coastal residents, looking for people in the years of conscription. Two young people had been caught in the forest near the “Vārve huts”. Therefore, this place could no longer be safe for these more than fifty people who were languishing here.