Pranks and games with military ammunition
After World War II, the land of Latvia was full of physical remnants of war. It was a large number of shells, unexploded mines and simply cartridges. Even now, especially in places where active war activity took place, unexploded mines are found, which is a great rarity, while in the post-war years these shells were a part of everyday life for residents in forests and even in yards, and even children's toys.
Me and the neighbor boys were seriously fascinated by both the search for artillery shells and mines and detonators. We dragged heavy ones there. With the neighbors we broke the smaller ones, but the larger ones had to be screwed on carefully, if you hit something, there would be an explosion. We burned them, if you hit them, they exploded, but you could burn them.
Then we skipped school and went to the forest to collect cartridges, there was a lot of earth there, we removed a little moss with our hands, and everything was full. We also looked for mines, they were good, we already knew where the detonator was, how to unscrew it. Then we had such tricks, there was the Riga-Moscow railway line. We put the collected cartridges on the tracks, and when the train passed by, there was one bang after another. Nothing happened to the train, but the bangs were loud. At one point the train was stopped and then the police caught us too, although someone had already seen what we were doing there, then they took away everything we had collected.
I had also stored a lot of those cartridges at home, but my mother didn't like them, and every time she found them, she took them away from me and threw them in the pond. We also found aircraft cannon shells, there was one swampy place in particular where we walked around with a metal rod and poked in the ground, and when we hit metal, we dug them out. One time we were very lucky, because I had only stuck a small piece of the mine detonator with the metal rod, if it had hit, there would have been an explosion. After that, we dug a hole with the neighbor boys, filled it with all sorts of collected shells, which were mostly unexploded, we also put aircraft cannon shells, we had already researched them and put them in a way that something would burn and explode. But then it went off in a way we hadn't expected, everything started to explode. The police and firefighters arrived, but by then we had already gone away and were watching from the bushes. They didn't come near at all, they waited until the fire and explosions died down. Then I didn't show up at home until dark, I hid. Then there was one classmate with whom we came across surprise mines, picked them up and put them back in the fire, there were also good explosions, and even then we didn't go home for a long time. That was a very topical topic for us.
Then, when I was older and working at the Military Commissariat, we were called because an unexploded bomb had been found. We drove over and called the sappers, but we had to wait so long for the sappers to arrive that my colleague and I decided to take the mine to the military commissariat building on our own. He was at the wheel of the moped, while I sat in the sidecar with the mine on my lap with the detonator facing up so it wouldn't explode. We calmly took the mine all the way through Riga, and the sappers came to us, collected it, and took it away, as childhood games helped us later on.
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Related objects
Exhibition of historical evidence from the USSR period at the Tirza Parish Local History Museum
The exhibition, located in the former collective farm dispatcher's room, was opened in 2005. Visitors are invited to experience the atmosphere of the USSR in interactive classes: discussing the Soviet period, creating legends about historical evidence, participating in choir singing, dancing "letkis", making paper airplanes and chlapushkas, thus surviving a break at school, as well as enjoying kilavu buns and linden flower tea.
Stories and historical evidence about traditions, ancient crafts, and outstanding local people.
Please book your visit in advance!
Adults: 2.00 Eur
Students, pensioners: 1.00 Eur
Guided tour for up to 6 people (1-1.5 hours): 6.00 Eur
Guided tours for more than 6 people (1-1.5 hours): 1.00 Eur per person
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.
Latvian War Museum
The Latvian War Museum is located in the Old Town not far from the Freedom Monument in a historic defence building called the ‘Powder Tower’. There are 11 exhibits in the museum. There are various weapons, documents, uniforms, awards, badges and other items detailing the everyday life of a soldier in war. The Latvian War Museum is one of the oldest museums in Latvia. Its origins can be found in World War I. Museum’s collection was made up mainly of personal items of soldiers or items found on battlefields. After Latvia gained its independence the main goal of the museum became to create an exposition on the military history of Latvia and the active role of the population in protecting their land. In 1937 the museum was expanded and was technically one of the most modern museums in Europe at that time. The Powder Tower was one of the fortification towers of Riga. Some evidence dates back to 1330 where it has been mentioned as the ‘Sand Tower’. The tower was destroyed in 1621 when Riga was besieged by the Swedish Army. But in 1650 a new tower for storing gunpowder and weapons was built. After the city’s fortifications were taken down, the Powder Tower remains as one of the most important pieces of evidence of the Riga defence system.
Private military collection in Mundigciems
Private military collection in Mundigciems. Aivars Ormanis has been collecting historical objects for many years - military uniforms, uniforms, camouflage, communication devices, household items, protective equipment from different periods and countries, dating back to the Second World War, the Soviet army and the restoration of independent Latvia.
The collection is currently not well maintained and the exhibits are housed in a former collective farm barn.
