Efforts to prevent the blowing up of Ķegums HPP

During the Second World War, when the armies retreated, a large part of the militarily and logistically important objects in Latvia were blown up, so that these resources would not remain with the current opponents. Such objects were also in the vicinity of Ķegums, where one of the most important objects is the Ķegums HPP, which, however, was not completely destroyed due to the efforts and efforts of its employees.

I will recount that day as I have heard and found out while collecting documents for the Kegums History Museum. There are some facts known, but also more unknown ones, which are also unlikely to be fully clarified.

Knowing how the Germans are blowing everything up, this perspective was also clear to the people of Kegumi. Moreover, when the guard unit located in Ķegums, the zonder team, started mining the bridge, Pāvels Krasovskis, the director of Ķegums HPP, and probably also his like-minded people and associates, whose names we do not know, thought and actively worked to save the power plant as much as possible. Krasovsky ordered the entrance to the galleries under the dam to prevent explosives. As a hunter, he went on a hunt to Sunāksti, although already in 1942 the German self-government refused to extend the permit to keep hunting weapons (fact). But in fact he met there with the men of the guerrilla unit led by Oshkalns, Samson. They seem to have agreed that in September Samson and his men will occupy Kegums, prevent the bombing and hold it until the Russians arrive. This plan has also been known to the Russian army command. This is evidenced by the fact that Kegums has never been harmed by the bombing of all strategically important hubs by Russian aviation. And the fact that a landing with the codename "Red Arrow" was dropped on Tom's side on July 28, who may have had to cooperate with Samson in the operation. But the German spy machine was also working, and in mid-September the landing was completely destroyed. Krasovsky told his wife that Samson had not arrived on time. Samsons says that due to his betrayal, he was not able to go to Ķegums. On the same day, Osmanis, the father of the poet and writer Jāzeps Osmanis, Bērziņš and Giruckis, and HPP workers were also arrested in Ķegums. Krasovsky was transferred from Riga Central Prison to the Stutthof camp, then to the Sachsenhausen camp, where he died on February 12, 1945 (International Red Cross certificate). Osman apparently died on the way from Stuthof to Saxhausen. But Bērziņš was in the infirmary at that time, then sent to Sachsenhausen, but on his way the Americans released him, and when he got home, he worked at the power plant and died in 1978. Following these arrests, the zonder team was immediately replaced. On the second day, September 17, there was the first Russian aviation flight to Kegums, and then many of Kegums had already left. Bētiņš, a Baltic German, has been appointed director.

A few days before the Russian army entered (on October 7), the Germans released their mines. Both long spans of the bridge have been blown up, one segment shutter (but the concrete dam and the dams are then intact!). All three generators were blown up in the engine room and then burned out, an explosive was fired into the fourth turbine, and two shovels were torn down (this turbine can be seen in the Kegums History Museum), and the control room was burned out. But the open air distribution equipment is completely destroyed, no whole transformer, switch, measuring transformer, support. Scrap pile! And the same Germans had to remove all this damage and rebuild the equipment, now as prisoners. Their bones are still lying in the territory of Ķegums school stadium. The power plant was renovated in three years.

Used sources and references:

Haunzems, H. 1996. "Daugava and We", pp. 57-58

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