Childhood on the border in Pasienė parish

"Supply – for sweets" ("Remaining for sweets")

In the village of Terehovo there was the house of Pāvila Lopatenko. His son Ignatijs from the age of 12 to 15 helped his parents herd cows in the summer, of course, right at the border. Once he heard someone calling him from the Russian side. It was a Soviet border guard. This border guard began to give Ignatijs tasks from time to time, which he was not allowed to tell anyone about. Ignatijs had to go to Zilupi, buy Latvian newspapers in Russian there and deliver them across the border. For the child, this was a great joy, despite the fact that it was a 10-kilometer journey to Zilupi, because he had received money for sweets for it. The border guard had given him two lats each time to buy newspapers. At that time, it was a large sum. The boy could keep the rest for himself. Each time he went barefoot to Zilupi and back. He hid the newspapers in the barn, but at the agreed time, he went to the border to deliver them to the border guard.

"Почему я не курю или не было бы счастья, да нечастье помогло" ("Why didn't I smoke or there is no harm without good")

In the summer of 1940, Jānis and two of his friends were sent to herd cows. They gathered the cows and went to the border together. They saw three Soviet border guards. To attract their attention, the guys started singing a verse in Russian, which was politically sharp, but the boys had heard it from their parents and did not really understand the content of the verses.

The Soviet border guards very kindly explained that it was not nice to sing such songs and gave the boys a book with songs. Of course, the book also contained the USSR anthem. The boys thanked them for the gift and sat and talked for a while. Before saying goodbye, the border guards did not know what to give the children as a souvenir and found only a pack of cigarettes, a pack of mohawks and matches. The boys really liked the matches, because they had never seen matches with a red stick and a yellow tip. Jānis also dared and, putting on a border guard's hat, asked to keep it for himself as a souvenir. The border guard explained that he was forbidden to do so, but nevertheless gave the red star from the hat to the boy with the words: "Take care of the star and remember that it was given to you by the Soviet border guard Uncle Styopa."

On September 1st, Jānis went to school with this star, all the children envied him, which is probably why someone stole the star after a while.

Continuing the story of what happened after this meeting – the children, when they came home, decided to smoke. They had experience before, but here they smoked everything that was given to them. Of course, they felt nauseous. Mom was really scared when Jānis came home blue-green. But the good thing about it is that none of the boys have ever smoked in their lives after this time.

"Squirrel – squirrel" ("Squirrel – squirrel")

After some time, the guys with the cows came to the same place in the hope of meeting the same Soviet border guards, but there was no one. Then the boys went to the forest, where they tried to catch a squirrel. While the children were running around and having fun, the cows went to the border zone and grazed right next to the border ditch. At that time, Latvian border guards were patrolling this border section and, seeing the cows, heard the screams of children in the forest. The border guard’s last name was Guntmanis, who caught Jānis, hitting the child hard on the head, and asked: “Who gave you permission to graze cows along the border zone?” The second friend was also hit in the head, but the third boy ran away to drive the cows further away from the border zone. When they got home, the boys told their parents about what was happening, who went with this information to the head of the Pasienė garrison. Border guard Guntmanis was no longer seen there, as he had either been fired from his job or transferred to another job.