About the occupation of Latvia
In 1940, the existence of the independent state of Latvia was interrupted by the occupation and annexation, or incorporation, of the Soviet Union into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR).
"The year 1940 came, June 17. A lady came into the bookstore and said that there was a Russian tank in the station square. I went to take a look. There was a Russian tank, a tanker was sitting with his feet inside the tank, a few people were standing around, nothing was happening. I realized that there were some big changes.
Late in the afternoon I went there again - to the station square. On one side of the goods station there were one-story buildings with shops, quite chic shops, and there were these big glass windows. I saw several boys throwing stones at these windows, and one shouted - "I've already got six!"
"There were rumors that something had happened around where the Metropole Hotel is, two demonstrators had been shot, I used to know their names. The next morning the city was, so to speak, on martial law - guards, police with carbines, and next to them - the Soviet army, but at the Esplanade... The situation was tense, there were also arrests. Guards from the countryside had been mobilized."
"When did the envoys in London and Washington start protesting? Not on June 17th or 21st, much later. At first it seemed - what General Dambītis told me - that there would be an independent Latvia, friendship with the Soviet Union without Ulmanis, and that was it."
"How cunningly it was played - in all three republics, there is not a single communist in the first governments. Then local communists start appearing, then Latvians from Russia start appearing, who were sent as deputy ministers. Then a joke is played with the elections.
You know, in the first days, if someone shouted: "Long live Soviet Latvia!", the communists called them names - it was forbidden. The elections were held quickly, and since the time of Ulmanis there was a column in the passport asking whether you had participated in the elections - I know that a lot of people went because they were afraid - if they didn't go, there could be trouble, regardless of the result. Ninety-seven percent is ridiculous."
The memories were published in 2011 in Ata Klimovičs' book "Personal Latvia".
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Museum of the Occupation of Latvia
The museum exhibits the history of Latvia from 1940 to 1991, under the occupation of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. ‘House of the Future’ is a reconstruction and expansion project of the Occupation Museum designed by the well-known American Latvian architect Gunārs Birkerts as well as the new exhibit of the museum. The exhibit ‘History of Cheka in Latvia’ was created by the Occupation Museum and it is located in the ‘Corner House’, which is the former USSR State Security Committee (KGB) building. Latvian Occupation Museum was founded in 1993. It tells the long-hidden story of the fate of the Latvian state, nation and land under the occupation of two foreign totalitarian powers from 1940 to 1991. At the end of 2020 the museum had more than 70,000 different historical items (documents, photographs, written, oral and material evidence, objects and memorabilia). Museum specialists have recorded more than 2,400 video testimonials, making it one of the largest collections on occupation in Europe. The events that unfolded in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia clearly show us what the nations had to endure under the two totalitarian regimes.
