Memories of the Kolka border zone

I worked at the Kolka fish processing factory, the manager was Morozovs. At first I worked in the sprat workshop, then in the workshop where fish was marinated in tomato sauce. I worked in fish processing plants all my life until I retired.
The border guards came to the workshop to help when the products were being sent to Riga and the boxes of fish had to be loaded into the large trucks. The majority of the workers in the workshop were women, there were no men who could do such hard work. Then they called the post office to send border guards to help. For their help, they were given products again: oil, fish, whatever they could give, because they couldn't pay them anymore.
There were border guards and sailors in Kolka. Initially, the post was located in the old manor building near the church, the border guards had their own buildings at Cape Kolka itself.
The main thing was that we had to carry our passports with us at all times. We could leave Kolka at any time, but it was difficult for relatives, friends and acquaintances to enter our border area. Buses and cars were controlled by border guards, and special passes were required, which we called propuski in Russian, to enter the village. Every short distance along the roads there were checkpoints with sluice gates in front. Border guards were on duty at them.
The local residents also had their own prohibitions, you could only swim on the bay side opposite the Kolka Culture House, walk along the seashore, go to the open sea side, for example to Vaide, you could only ask permission from the border guards through acquaintances. My husband worked at the post office and was quite well-known to the border guard officers. My husband asked for permission and we often went for a walk along the seashore to the village of Vaide and back on Sundays. However, once it happened that we had reached not far from the Kolka Cape, when two border guards with batons on their shoulders stopped us, did not let us go further, but made us go through the entire village to the post office under their escort. Then we could have collapsed from shame. When the officer saw us, he laughed, praised the border guards and allowed us to go.
When the autumn storms came, many people went to the open sea beyond the cape to collect amber, because there were many more of them there than on the bay side. Then they also had to ask permission from the officer, those who had not asked for permission were told to leave and not allowed to collect.
The area behind the cape towards Ventspils was very strict, and it was under increased control. There was a shooting range there, trenches were dug, and border guards were trained in shooting there. Increased control occurred when border guards learned of a prisoner's escape or return from prison.
Jurmala was not illuminated during the dark hours, but large beams of light came from the lighthouse and the village was bright 24/7.
The border guards also had dogs, a dog named Ruslan, known to all of Kolka.