Memorial plaque to the resistance members of Jelgava 1st secondary school, repressed by the Soviet occupation regime, at 10 Akadēmijas Street
Memorial site

A memorial plaque to the members of the youth resistance organization of Jelgava 1st Secondary School (previously Hercogs Pēteris Gymnasium) repressed by the communist regime was installed by the Jelgava branch of the Latvian Politically Repressed Association on October 24, 1996. Initially, the plaque was located inside the Ģ. Elias Jelgava History and Art Museum, but after the renovation of the building's facade and premises in 2007-2008. it was moved to the outer wall of the museum to the right of the main entrance, alongside memorial plaques dedicated to other historical figures. The text engraved on the plaque reads: “On 26 October 1940, students of the Hercogs Jēkabs Gymnasium arrested and deported to Siberia – members of the anti-Soviet movement “Free Latvia” T. Bergs, V. Einfelds, A. Engurs, A. Gaišs, J. Jegermanis, I. Kārkliņš, I. Leimanis, J. Liepiņš, O. Ošenieks, A. Saldenais, F. Skurstenis, V. Treimanis, A. Valkīrs, J. Valūns.”

The Jelgava student resistance organization “Free Latvia” was secretly founded on September 30, 1940, by six 11th grade students of Jelgava 1st Secondary School in the apartment of Fričas Skurstenis at 11-4 Slimnīcas Street. The organization was led by Juris Valūns and its members numbered about 20 people. They gathered in illegal meetings where they discussed the organization’s structure and activities. The young people printed the anti-Soviet slogan “Get ready!”, 100 copies of which were pasted around the city on October 14. From October 25, 1940 to November 6, Soviet security authorities arrested thirteen students of Jelgava 1st Secondary School, who were imprisoned in Jelgava prison and interrogated for a long time. 1941. In 1942, the detainees were taken to the USSR, where on February 7, 1942, the Special Meeting of the USSR People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs sentenced them to 10 years in prison. Only Voldemārs Treimanis survived and returned to Latvia, while the other members of the resistance organization of Jelgava 1st Secondary School died in the Gulag camps in 1942-1943.