About the Corner House
The narrator describes the first impressions of getting to the Corner House. Memories reveal the harsh living conditions of the prisoners.
“(..) I was taken to one of those rooms with tiled walls and a tiled floor. And I was left with that nausea, most of all because I was met by a fat Russian, I would say so, because her face and clothes were in shape with a blue hat and a red star and its green "gymnastic". It's all in front of me. A household robe and a knife are tied around the mouth and sides of the hand. Anyone is psychologically shocked when they see it. You are afraid, you do not know what will be done to you and what will happen. She says, "Ragevaisya," I take off my coat, "Ragevaisya," I take it off, "Razevaisya," and until you have nothing left. "Mouth open, squat, bend over." Then all the rubber outside, zippers, buttons, outside, boots cord outside, hair buckles outside. I slip everything down and I held on. (..) ”
"And then I was taken to cell no. 28, on the first floor. He opened the door and let me in. There are 5 women sitting there with their puppets undressed - in bras and panties. I say "Good evening" and ask if there is a sauna here. They laugh at me and answer that there is a camera here. The heat is such that there can not be clothes. Among them was Dr. Werner from Liepaja. She was 7 months pregnant. She immediately told me, “You know, there are so many people here, everyone has their own thing to do and we don't tell each other about our own things. You don't talk to anyone about your case and you have no hope. You will be promised a release if you extradite someone. No one is getting out of here. The only thing you can do is protect the people who are out yet. Don't publish them, don't name them. This is your only option. (..) ”
"(..) At night you have to sleep on your back, light in your eyes, nothing should be put on top of your eyes. If you turn to the side, come and wake you up. They need to see your eyes. I think that this night I will somehow survive, but the next one is nothing. One, the other, the third… ”(..)
"(..) Only one of the cellmates was given water, because she was in the 7th month. When she gave the others a glass of water, the guard snatched it from her hands and poured it out. In the morning I gave hot water to drink, but since it was boiled in the same pot where the canned fish soup was cooked, it smelled bad. (..) ”
Memories transcribed from the youtube platform: the title of the video "Testimonies of the Corner House" (July 20, 2021).
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Related objects
Exhibition in the KGB Building "History of KGB Operations in Latvia"
The former USSR State Security Committee (commonly known as Cheka) building is open for visitors. Here chekists imprisoned, interrogated and murdered Latvian citizens who were considered opponents by the occupation regime. There is also an exhibit from the Latvian Occupation Museum on the activities of Cheka in Latvia. Guided tours of the prison cells, corridors, basement and courtyard are available. The house was built in 1911 and it is one of the most beautiful buildings in Riga. Called the ‘Corner House’ by the people, it was the scariest symbol of the Soviet occupation regime in Latvia, and also one of the pillars of power of the USSR. Cheka operated from the Corner House during the occupation from 1940 to 1941 and then again from 1945 to 1991. Tens of thousands of Latvians were affected by direct political persecution. The fight against enemies of Soviet rule continued also after World War II. Cheka’s approach towards its operation slightly changed after Stalin’s death. Physical torture was replaced by psychological terror. The majority of Cheka agents were Latvians (52%). Russians were the second largest group – 23.7%. 60.3% of the agents were not members of the Communist Party. 26.9% of the agents had higher education. The system was designed in a way to involve local people and thus have greater control over the society. Staff documents and service records are located in Russia. And these materials have not been made available to Latvian authorities and researchers.
