German/Nazi occupation II World War II

Located in the Lubāna New Cemetery in Indrāni Parish.

A memorial site to the fallen Latvian Legion soldiers and national partisans is open for viewing.

The memorial was opened on July 25, 1992. The memorial stone was created by Andris Briezis.

As the Awakening began, in October 1990, Kārlis Doropolskis, a member of the human rights group “Helsinki 86”, received permission from the authorities to begin the reburial of Latvian legionnaires who had fallen and been buried scattered around Lubāna in the summer of 1944, as well as national partisans who had fallen in later battles with the Soviet occupation troops and security institutions, in common mass graves, which were arranged in the new cemetery in Lubāna. In total, 26 fallen legionnaires and national partisans were buried in mass graves.

The Saldus German Soldiers' Cemetery is located on the Saldus–Ezeres highway. The cemetery, which covers an area of 8 hectares, contains the remains of around 25,000 German soldiers, as well as some Latvian legionnaires. Reburials have been taking place since 1997.

From May 1 to October 1, an exhibition about the battles of Courland can be viewed in the memorial room. During this period, the memorial room is open on weekdays from 9:00 to 17:00, and on Saturdays and Sundays a guide is also working in the cemetery. Registers of soldiers buried in the Saldus German soldiers' cemetery and soldiers who fell throughout Latvia are also available.

Vaiņode airfield still has 16 Soviet-era aircraft hangars and an 1800 m section of the once 2500 m long runway. The airfield can only be visited with a previous booking. Vaiņode airfield was established during the Latvian independence as one of the cradles of Latvian aviation and was later one of the largest military airfields in the Baltic States. In 1916, two hangars for German Army airships were built. Airships were used to gather intelligence and bomb the positions of the Russian Army. Later the city of Riga bought the airship hangars and used their roof structures to build the pavilions of the Riga Central Market. In May 1940, the 31st Fast Bomber Aviation Regiment of the Red Army moved to Vaiņode, and the construction of a standardized concrete slab runway began. At the end of the summer of 1944 the partially completed airfield was used by various German aviation units, however, at the end of World War II, the same airfield was used by the Red Army aviation units fighting the German Army group called ‘Kurzeme’. After World War II the Soviet Air Forces were stationed in Vaiņode until 1992.

The Priekule Memorial Ensemble of Warrior’s Cemetery is on the Liepāja-Priekule-Skoda road and is the largest burial site of Soviet soldiers of World War II in the Baltics. More than 23,000 Soviet soldiers are buried here. Operation Priekule was one of the fiercest battles in Kurzeme Fortress that took place from October 1944 to 21 February 1945. The Battle of Priekule in February 1945 lasted seven days and nights without interruption and had a lot of casualties on both sides. Until Priekule Warrior’s Cemetery was transformed into a memorial, the last monument of the outstanding Latvian sculptor K. Zāle (1888-1942) was located here to commemorate the independence battles in Aloja. Between 1974 and 1984, the 8 ha Priekule Warrior’s Cemetery was transformed into a memorial ensemble dedicated to those who fell in World War II. It was designed by the sculptor P. Zaļkalne, architects A. Zoldners and E. Salguss, and the dendrologist A. Lasis.

The centre of the memorial holds a 12 m tall statue called the ‘Motherland’, and names of the fallen are engraved on granite slabs. Until Latvia regained its independence, the Victory Day was widely celebrated every year on May 9.

The memorial is located near the Zlēki Manor ensemble, in the western part of Karātavkalns.  Around twenty boulders with the names of the people killed form a circle, and in the centre is a black marble obelisk about three metres high.

Some of those killed have been reburied at the Zlēki memorial.

In December 1944, in the vicinity of Zlēki, the German Nazi army carried out a large-scale operation against the civilian population.In the combat action log of Army Group Nord, an entry was made at 17.30 on 9 December 1944 that 161 people belonging to the "Rubens Brigade and units of the Red Arrow" had been killed on the enemy side during the action. In Soviet times, this figure was apparently taken as the total number of victims of the Zlēki tragedy, referring to civilians killed.

The course of the action is partly documented in the report of the head of the counter-intelligence section of the German 16th Army of 31 December 1944. It explains that from 5 to 9 December, under the leadership of the highest SS and police leader in Ostland, SS Oberruppenführer and Police General Friedrich Jekeln, a large-scale operation took place at Eichensumpf ("Oak Swamp") against the "Red Arrows" and the remnants of General Kurel's group at Abava.

Mērsrags Lighthouse is located in the Mērsrags village, about 1 km north of the village centre. The lighthouse was put into commission in 1875. It is an 18.5 m tall freestanding, cylindrical, riveted iron tower, the lower part of which has been fortified with reinforced concrete counterforts. The height of the signal light is 21.3 m. At the top all around the tower there is an iron balcony supported by consoles. The lighthouse tower was made by Sotera, Lemonier & Co in Paris, so this lighthouse is commonly known as the ‘Frenchie’. At the end of 1944, the 1003rd Artillery Division Battery of the German Army with 60 cm spotlights was located right next to the lighthouse. In May 1945, the Nazi Germany high command planned to move the 15th Latvian SS Grenadier Division to the area, but these plans failed, because Latvian soldiers surrendered to the Western Allies. Near the Mērsrags Lighthouse there are still remains of a building where during the USSR times Soviet border guards had a large, extendable spotlight for illuminating the sea. There is a bird-watching tower next to the lighthouse. Tours need to be booked beforehand by contacting the Mērsrags Tourism Information Centre.

At the end of July 1944, when the Red Army invaded the territory of Latvia, the German occupation authorities allowed Jānis Veide, the Riga District Police Chief and Commander of the 5th Riga Guards Regiment of the restored Latvian Guards Organisation, to establish the "General Kurelis Group of the Riga Guards Regiment". The head of the Military Commission of the Central Council of Latvia, General Jānis Kurelis of the Latvian Army, became its leader.

The Kurelis operated in Vidzeme until September 1944, when they moved to Kurzeme, where they were stationed in the houses of Stiklis in Puzes parish, Ilziķi in Usma parish, Iliņi in Ģibuli parish, and in Edole and other places in Northern Kurzeme. By the end of October 1944, the Kurelies had about 3,000 armed men, among them many former soldiers of the Latvian SS Volunteer Legion units, who joined the unit to realise their dream - the fight for Latvia's independence.

At the beginning of November 1944, the German occupation authorities' Supreme Police and SS leader in Ostland, SS Oberruppenführer Friedrich Jeckeln, began to restrict the group's activities and on 14 November arrested the Kurelian headquarters and more than 700 soldiers in Stikliai, Puse parish. The battalion commanded by Lieutenant Robert Rubens, with about 500 men in the Usma area, resisted and continued fighting until December 1944.

On the night of 19/20/1944, the Germans fought against the Germans. On November 19-19, 1944, a court-martial of the German occupation authorities was held in Liepāja Karaostas Prison, sentencing to death eight staff officers of General Kurelis' group - Colonel Pēteris Liepiņš, Captain Kristaps Upelnieks, Captain Jūlijs Mucenieks, Lieutenant Jānis Gregoras, Lieutenant Teodorma Prikulis, Lieutenant Jānis Rasas, Lieutenant Filipson and Adjutant Kārlis Valters. Three staff officers, Lieutenant Colonel Eduards Graudins, Lieutenant Arthurs Ankravs and Sergeant Vili Pavulāns, were pardoned for various reasons. On the afternoon of 20 November, the convicts were shot in the dunes near the Karosta prison, where a white cross can be seen today.

In 1994, a memorial to the officers who were shot was established in the dunes of the Liepaja Karosta. In 2012, after it was washed into the sea, the memorial was restored to its present location.
*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***

The largest memorial to Holocaust victims in Latvia is located in Liepāja, in the Šķēde dunes. The memorial is dedicated to the memory of more than 3,000 Liepāja Jews killed during World War II. It is in the form of the Israeli national symbol, a seven-branched candelabra known as the menorah. The contours of the memorial, which are clearly visible from a bird’s eye view, are made of split boulders and granite blocks. The ‘lights’ of the menorah are made of granite pillars with inscriptions of verses from the Lamentations of Jeremiah in Hebrew, English, Latvian and Russian.

The memorial is located near the Pāvilosta beach lookout tower in the dunes. There are signs pointing to the memorial.

At the end of the Second World War, three Lithuanian police battalions, the 5th, 13th and 256th, were also deployed in Latvia, and after guard duty and fighting against Soviet partisans and the Red Army on the Eastern Front, from autumn 1944 they were involved in guarding the Baltic Sea coast in Kurzeme.

In October 1944, all three battalions, consisting of 32 officers and about 900 instructors and soldiers, were subordinated to the German 18th Army's 583rd Rear Guard Unit (Koruck 583). The unit was tasked with guarding the Kurzeme coast from Liepāja to Ventspils. All three Lithuanian battalions were deployed in the vicinity of Pavilosta. In December 1944, the 13th Battalion was transferred to the German 1st Army Corps at the Liepaja Lake.

One of the tasks of the Lithuanian coastguard, besides being ready to fight enemy landings and to report enemy ships, was to prevent Latvian refugee boats from sailing to the island of Gotland, 160 kilometres away, but the Lithuanian coastguard men did not prevent the refugee boats from leaving. However, news of the Lithuanian coastguard helping the Latvian refugees and the Lithuanians themselves preparing to cross the sea to Sweden also reached the Germans.

On 10 January 1945, the soldiers of the 1st Company of the 5th Lithuanian Police Battalion were rounded up. More than a week of interrogation and trial followed, which, as a warning to the others, decided to execute seven of the Lithuanian soldiers and to imprison 11 of their comrades in concentration camps in Germany. The execution of the seven Lithuanian soldiers (Sergeant Macijauski, the company commander; Juozas Sendrjuas, a soldier; Vladas Salickas, a soldier; Ionas Bašinskis, Krasauskas and two unknown others) took place on 21 January 1945 in the Zaļkalns Pines in Pavilosta.

In January 1945, the 5th Battalion was disbanded and the combat-ready soldiers were divided into the two remaining battalions, while the rest were formed into a separate sapper company. At the time of the surrender of Army Group Kurzeme in May 1945, two battalions (13th and 256th) were still in Kurzeme as a sapper company with a total of 900 soldiers who were taken prisoner by the Soviets.
 

During the ride with the recreational boat “Zezer” along Lake Ciecere near Brocēni you can listen to the audio guide and captain's stories about Lake Ciecere and the city of Brocēni on its shores, World War II events near Lake Ciecere, trenches on both sides of the lake and the Oak Island, as well as the tank route running along an observation tower and the tank that is said to be sunk in the lake. The audio guide is available in Latvian, Lithuanian, English, and Russian languages. The ride takes 1 hour 15 min.

The "Sail of Hope" commemorative sign for the World War II refugees who crossed the Baltic Sea by boat to the island of Gotland in Sweden in 1944 and 1945. The memorial is located in Osvalki on the dunes between the sea and Ventspils-Liepaja highway, near the public transport stop "Kaijas". It was created by sculptor Ģirts Burvis, who realised it as a sail of hope symbolising the memory of Latvian refugees.

Between autumn 1944 and spring 1945, fearing the renewed Soviet occupation but unwilling to evacuate to a devastated and threatened Germany, some Latvian citizens tried to reach the nearest neutral country, Sweden, by sea. Some of the boats were organised by the Latvian Central Council with the help of the Western Allied countries, which resulted in one of the largest refugee concentration points in Jūrkalnes parish. Besides the boats organised by the Latvian Central Council, other boats were also taken across the sea. It is estimated that about 5000 persons managed to cross the sea. The number of deaths is unknown, as no records were kept of refugees leaving the Kurzeme coast. 

The voyages were dangerous because the refugees were threatened by German patrols on the coast and at sea, sea mines, Soviet aircraft and warships, as well as storms, as the crossings often took place in unsuitable and overloaded cutters and boats without sufficient fuel and food supplies, sea charts and navigational instruments. Departures from Latvia were carried out in secret. The destination of the boats was the island of Gotland, and the journeys most often started on the west coast of Courland (from Jūrkalne to Gotland is 90 nautical miles or about 170 kilometres as the crow flies).

It was located near the house in "Brankša" in a grain field.

On September 2, 2021, under the leadership of Saulkrasti region history enthusiast Andris Grabčiks, in coordination with the tenant of the agricultural land, Ines Karlova, excavation work took place on the German army bunker of the Sigulda defense line of World War II.

"77 years have passed since the bunker was built, having experienced both an attack by the Soviet army and agricultural machinery driving over it. Only 3 years ago did it partially succumb to heavy machinery. To prevent the floor from being submerged in water, a drainage system was developed with a water storage reservoir at the entrance, which was drained if necessary. The floor of the bunker is made of round logs 10 cm in diameter and was covered with straw. This bunker is not one of the large ones, but it is quite sufficient for about 6 people. This bunker is not the only one in this area, but one of the few that has been well preserved." - this is how Andris Grabčiks tells about the bunker.

After the information was published on the internet, 2 scanned historical photographs were received from historian and owner of the Saulkrasti Bicycle Museum Jānis Seregins with the inscription "29.08.44, Saulkrasti, Vidriži parish" and the comment: "The photographs were obtained from a Saulkrasti woman, who is now deceased. According to her, refugees from the Pskov and Leningrad regions, whom the Germans had driven out of their homes during the retreat, had settled in Saulkrasti. They were employed in digging trenches on the defense line near Ķīšupe. One of the pictures shows people working in the forest. In this way, logs were obtained, which we can now see in the bunker near Brankšai. The second picture shows them being fed at a distribution point or in the kitchen set up at the house. I think it is the Brankšai mill."

The bunker has survived from WWII on the Sigulda defense line.
The bunker site was first surveyed in April 2021, but due to high groundwater levels, excavation work could not take place.

The bunker was located on agricultural land and, after excavation and research, was filled in so as not to interfere with agricultural work.

Located in the Rauna Castle Ruins area, opposite the stage.

You can visit the monument to Soviet activists killed in 1941 and the ruins of Rauna Castle.

When Nazi German troops occupied the territory of Latvia and entered Rauna, on July 8, 1941, 14 Soviet activists were shot in the ruins of Rauna Castle.

Among them were trade union activist Roberts Ogriņš and his son, a schoolboy Ādolfs Ogriņš, pioneer leader Jānis Lakats, farm workers Kārlis Palsis, Jānis Zariņš and Antons Noviks, member of the Rauna parish executive committee Jūlijs Gailītis, farmer Jānis Geižins, tractor driver A.Alders, blacksmith Jānis Kaštanis, members of the auxiliary militia Jūlijs Ceriņš and Artūrs Milnis and worker Ēvalds Plētiens. Official articles describe this event as a showdown with supporters of the Soviet regime, however, in the memories of local residents, this event is more often treated as a personal showdown between one Rauna resident and other Rauna residents.

After the killings, the victims were buried right there at the foot of the castle ruins, but were later reburied in the cemetery. After the end of World War II, a temporary monument was erected at the site of the shooting, which was later replaced. The current monument in the castle ruins was erected in 1982.

Grieze is located at the Latvian-Lithuanian border, where the Vadakste River flows into the Venta River. The Grieze church was built in 1580, but the parish existed before 1567. The church was rebuilt several times - in 1769, in 1845 and in 1773 the first organ was installed. Both the altarpiece and the two bells have been lost for various reasons.

In the church garden there is a cemetery where people belonging to the church and noblemen are buried. One of them is Grieze organist Friedrich Baris and his wife Charlotte, who have a monument erected in front of the church sacristy. On the south side of the church, 32 Swedish soldiers who died in the Great Northern War are buried. The cemetery also contains the graves of 110 German soldiers who died in the First World War, for whom a monument was erected in 1930.

During the Second World War, the church suffered when the front line was stretched along the Venta River in late October 1944 and the German 225th Infantry Division was stationed in the vicinity of Grieze Church. When the Soviet 4th Shock Army launched attacks across the Venta River on 19 November 1944, several artillery shells hit the south wall of the church and the church tower was badly damaged.

After the surrender of Army Group Kurzeme, the Red Army's Leningrad Front accounted for 284 171 people taken prisoner. 7493 were Red Army soldiers released from German captivity. 48 German generals surrendered to captivity. According to the documents submitted at the time of the surrender of Army Group Kurzeme, the number of soldiers was about 185 000. The rest of the nearly 100 000 people subjected to filtration were Kurzeme civilians and Soviet refugees, as the Soviet Leningrad Front ordered on 10 May 1945 that all men between the ages of 16 and 60 be subjected to filtration.

In the Red Army, unlike the armed forces of other countries, the screening, guarding, maintenance and protection of prisoners of war was carried out not by army units, but by the internal affairs bodies - the People's Commissariat for State Security. The main task of the filtration was to detect citizens of the USSR and Soviet-occupied countries who had taken part in the hostilities on the German side. Captured German soldiers were examined in order to detect possible perpetrators of war crimes.

A prisoner-of-war filtration camp was located in the vicinity of the Grieze Church from 10 May to 17 June 1945. The camp was probably located here because the Grieze Church was close to the main roads. The pits in the ground where the prisoners hid from the cold on cold nights by covering themselves with whatever was available are still clearly visible in the surrounding area. During this period, the Red Army caused considerable damage to the interior of the church (all the pews were removed - "for the war effort", the pulpit was damaged, the organ was destroyed, etc.). A laundry was set up in the church building itself.

The last service in the church was in 1950 and the congregation ceased to exist. After the dissolution of the congregation, also later under the supervision of the Latvian Society for the Protection of Nature and Monuments, the church was not repaired. However, the building stood under roof until the 1960s-1970s. The church was damaged during the storm of 1961 and in 1968 the remaining interior elements were rescued by the Rundāle Palace staff.

Since 2003, a group of like-minded people from Riga parishes have been involved in the clean-up and restoration of the church. To date, the church walls have been conserved and the tower has been restored.
 

The thematic horse-drawn carriage tours offered by the owner of the Stiebriņi farm, such as a horse-drawn carriage ride on a railway embankment, listening to a guide talk about the industrial heritage, are a great adventure. A horse-drawn carriage ride through the sites of the former military garrisons/towns around Paplaka will also be unforgettable. We particularly recommend the children's playground of the Soviet army housing estate, known locally as "Disneyland", the Finnish cottages (a Finnish wartime contribution to the Soviet Union), the water towers and the ruins of the former luxurious buildings of Barons fon Korfs. 

The most dangerous direction of attack for the port of Emperor Alexander III was from the east between the lakes of Tosmare and Liepāja, where there was a 2.5 km wide strait of land. Three fortifications were built to defend the land strip. On the southern shore of Lake Tosmare there was a left redoubt, on the northern shore of Lake Liepāja a right redoubt, and between the redoubts there was a Middle Fort. The Middle Fort was the most serious fortification of the Liepaja Fortress, but it was not fully completed and artillery was not deployed until 1908.

It was at the Middle Fort that the most serious battles took place in April 1915, when German troops attacked, in November 1919 during the Latvian Army's battles against the West Russian Liberation Army, and in June 1941, when Liepāja was attacked by the 291st Infantry Division of the German Armored Forces.

In June 1941, when hostilities between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union broke out, the Liepaja garrison of the Soviet Army consisted of units of the Liepaja naval base of the Navy and the Red Army. The Liepaja naval base consisted of mine trawler, torpedo boat and submarine divisions, including former Latvian Navy ships and submarines. The coastal defence was carried out by the 23rd and 27th artillery batteries with 130 mm guns and the 18th railway artillery battery with 180 mm guns, covered by two Zenith artillery divisions. The base also included several sapper, repair, liaison and training units, totalling some 4 000 soldiers, commanded by Captain M. Klevenski, 1st rank. Of the Red Army units, the garrison was manned by the 67th Rifle Division (minus the 114th Rifle Regiment and one artillery division), commanded by Major-General N. Dedaev. The division had about 9000 soldiers before the outbreak of hostilities. The 143rd Fighter Aviation Regiment with 68 aircraft of various types was stationed at Liepāja airfield. In addition, the 12th Border Guard Unit operated in the Liepāja area.

The battle action at the Liepaja Fortress began in the early morning of 24 June 1941. Despite the Soviet losses, the German units were unable to break through the Liepaja Fortress rampart on 25 June. The fighting in Liepāja ended on 27 and 28 June, when Soviet units tried to break northwards.
 

The Liepāja Museum exhibition "Liepāja under the occupation regimes" is located in Liepāja, 7/9 Klāva Ukstiņa Street.

The exhibition covers the period from 1939 to 1991 during the double Soviet and German occupation. The inhabitants of Liepāja were among the first in Latvia to experience the outbreak of the Second World War and among the last for whom the war ended both literally and symbolically.

It was not until the collapse of the USSR in the late 1980s that the opportunity arose to restore Latvia's independence. The Latvian People's Front played a major role in this process, and its exhibition, opened on 21 January 2001, is housed in the former headquarters of the Liepāja City Branch. The Liepāja branch of the Popular Front was the second largest after the Riga branch, with 13 000 members. It was from here that buses of volunteers were organised during the barricades in January 1991 to go and defend the sites in Riga. On 23 August 1991, the day of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Lenin Monument, a symbol of Soviet power in the city, was dismantled. In later years, 500 bronze bells were made from it in Germany - souvenirs of a bygone era. One of these bells is also on display.

World War II and the Soviet occupation of Liepāja ended only in 1994, when the last troops of the USSR's heir, Russia, left the city.

The museum regularly organises thematic exhibitions of its collection and artworks, as well as lectures and meetings with historians and eyewitnesses of recent Latvian history. The museum building is currently being renovated and the exhibition is being renewed.

The restored fire control tower of the 46th Coast Guard Battery in Ventspils is located on Saulrieta street and is available to visitors in the form of an observation tower. There are four artillery gun positions near the tower and it is the only World War II coastal defence battery in Latvia in such a good condition. Visitors can take the tower stairs to an outdoor viewing platform overlooking the sea. An information stand with a QR code is available next to the tower. You can use the QR to watch an animation about historical events. There is a new street leading to the tower, a large parking lot and a wooden footbridge that crosses the protected nature area next to the tower.

This military complex was built in 1939, marking the start of construction of USSR military bases in Latvia. The 46th Coast Guard Battery had four positions for the gun type Б-13. This battery had its first military engagement on 24 June 1941, when Ventspils harbour was attacked by German torpedo boats that were driven away from the shores of the Baltic Sea by battery fire. On June 28 the Soviet Army blew up the guns and left.

No military infrastructure was planned in Cape Kolka, except for several offshore lighthouses that were rebuilt over a long period of time, either before World War I, during World War I or during World War II. Coastal defence batteries were planned for the narrowest part of the Irbe Strait, between the Sirves Peninsula and the Michael Tower Lighthouse.

The only fortifications of a military nature appeared at the end of 1944, when the German Army Group North was preparing to repel possible landings by the Soviet Baltic Fleet. In the spring of 1945, after the ice retreated, two batteries of the 532nd Artillery Division defended the coast at Cape Kolka. Battery 7 with four 75 mm guns and three 20 mm zenith guns. Battery 8 with four 88 mm mortars, three 20 mm mortars and an 81 mm mortar. The anti-deserter infantry garrison consisted of one of the most famous coastal defence units of the German Navy, the 5th Company of the 531st Artillery Division. Although it was an artillery unit by name, it was an infantry unit by deployment, which started its war in June 1941 at Liepāja. The unit was then garrisoned on islands in the Gulf of Finland and later took part in the fighting on the island of Saaremaa. The remnants of the division were reformed into one company and, reinforced with seven anti-tank guns and three 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, deployed at Cape Kolka.

The Soviet naval landing operation never took place and the German units capitulated in May 1945.

The military infrastructure in Cape Kolka began to be built after the Second World War, when Soviet border guard posts were deployed here and Kolka, like the entire Kurzeme coast from Mērsrags to the Lithuanian border, became a closed zone

Walking along the slope of Mount Odju for 200 m along the path, you can see several objects related to the First World War - old concrete foundations of cannons from. An unfinished concrete observation tower stands next to the beach, parallel to the forest path along the Rojas Trail. The exact use of this object is unknown. Below the base, niches have been built for ammunition. Deep pits, former dugouts, are also visible among the pines.

Some of the objects probably date back to the end of the Second World War, when German coastal defence batteries were stationed in the area. The 4th Battery, 532nd Artillery Division, Navy, was armed with four 88 mm guns, three 37 mm guns, one 20 mm four-barrelled gun and one 50 mm mortar for illumination at night. Two 45 mm anti-tank guns are deployed at the mouth of the Rojas. The town garrison consisted of units of the 64th and 109th Sapper Battalions.

The ruins of the Ķerkliņu Church are located about 5 kilometres north-west of Kokmuiža, near the Ķerkliņu Lake. The church was built in 1641 by Heinrich von Dönhoff (Derkarth), the owner of the Ķerkliņi manor. The original wooden church was replaced by a stone building, under which tombs were built for the dead of the Dönhof and later Kleist families. The tombs were already destroyed during the 1905 riots, but in 1949 the coffins were moved from the tombs to the church. The church was an example of the Kurzeme Baroque style - its carvings were made by the Kuldīga - Liepāja woodcarvers. Although the owners of the manor and the church were at various times plagued by financial problems, the church underwent several reconstructions during its existence. It also suffered during the First World War, after which the parish rebuilt the stonework in 1929 and added an organ in 1934. Unfortunately, the church was damaged during the Second World War and much of it was lost, so it is to be commended that before the church was rebuilt in 1933, many unique pieces of Baroque sculpture were photographed, inventoried and even ended up in the archives of the Monuments Board. With the establishment of the landfill and the eviction of the inhabitants, the church was never restored. Today, the church walls and tower are visible.

The Soviet partisan unit was formed on 30 September 1944, when 19 soldiers of the German 283rd Police Battalion, under the leadership of Vladimir Semyonov, deserted with their weapons. The battalion was formed in 1943 from volunteers from the Latgale region and took part in the anti-partisan operations of the German occupation authorities in the territory of Latvia and Belarus.

The unit was called "Semyonov Unit" after its commander and only at the end of the war adopted the name of "Red Arrows", which was already spread by Soviet propaganda after WWII. By December 1944, the unit had 300-400 partisans. Most of them were escaped Red Army soldiers, former Legionnaires, including fighters left after the destruction of General Kurel's group. Although many Red Army reconnaissance groups were active in Kurzeme at this time, they avoided close cooperation because the activities of the commander of the partisan unit and its main core in the ranks of the German police were too suspicious. The Red Arrow's activities were relatively poorly organised and more focused on waiting for the end of the war. During its activities it carried out extensive terrorising of the local population.

Vladimir Semyonov, the first commander of the Red Arrow, drowned on the night of 10 December 1944 while knee deep tried to cross the swollen Abava River. His corpse was found only in the spring of 1945 and buried. He was reburied in Kuldīga in 1961.

The monument is located on the site of the "Red Arrow" and other guerrilla camps in the area (about 50-70 people), which on 7 March 1945 was surrounded and attempted to be destroyed by German troops.

Remte Manor Castle (German: Remten) is a manor house located in Remte. The buildings and the park of Remte Manor are national monuments. The manor house houses the Remte Primary School. Remte Manor Palace was built in 1800 in the Berlin Classicist style for the then owner of the manor, Count Karl Medem.

At the end of World War II, the 19th Division of the Latvian Legion of the German Army Group was stationed in Remte Manor and its surroundings. 

The Virga Manor House houses an antiques collection. Here you can get an idea of the Curonians on the banks of the Vārtāja River and in Virga, the Virga Manor and the Baron Nold family, as well as the World War II and Soviet collective farm times in Virga. You can just look at the items, but you can also listen to stories about topics that are interesting to visitors.

The Virga Manor survived the Battle of the Kurzeme Cauldron in 1944/1945 so well that a simple walk through the territory of the former manor allows you to perceive the breath of antiquity and the presence of the former inhabitants of the manor. A moment of rest at the memorial sign of the Swedish King Charles XII "Charles' Boot" or at a specially arranged resting place near the Virga House of Traditions will be useful not only for relaxation, but also as a reminder that Charles XII spent the winter of 1701 right here - in Virga.

In the former manor barn, now the House of Culture and Domestic Traditions of the Locals, you can rent a sauna and rooms for any celebrations, including weddings.

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. 

The Ezere Customs House is located in Ezere near the Saldus-Mažeikiai highway at the Latvian-Lithuanian border. The act of surrender of the German Army units ‘Kurzeme’ (Kurland) surrounded in the so-called ‘Courland Pocket’ was signed in this building on 8 May 1945. It is believed that World War II actually ended in Ezere. The customs house has an exhibit covering the events of the end of World War II and exhibits detailing the history of Ezere parish from ancient to modern days. In the morning of 7 May 1945, the commander of the Leningrad Front, Marshal L. Govorov, sent an ultimatum to the command of the army group ‘Kurzeme’ to lay down arms. The act of surrender was signed by the involved parties on May 8 and it detailed the procedure of surrender, weapons collection points, documents and information to be submitted and other practical measures.

The St Nicholas Orthodox Sea Cathedral is the visual and spiritual dominant feature of the Karosta, in stark contrast to the high-rise prefabricated housing built next to it. The church was designed and built according to the principle of 17th century Russian Orthodox churches, with one central and four side domes.

A representative cathedral was already envisaged at the time of the design of the port complex by Emperor Alexander III, but initially the port infrastructure took priority. A temporary Orthodox church was in operation from the beginning in the area of the port hospital.

Construction of the St Nicholas Maritime Cathedral began in 1900 to a design by the architect Vasily Kasyakov, which was very similar to other sacred buildings of the Russian Empire of the time. The cathedral was consecrated on 22 August 1903 and was attended by Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and his family. Until 1915, the cathedral hosted all the ceremonial events of the Russian army and navy, including the service of the 2nd Pacific Squadron in 1904 before it sailed to the Far East, where it was destroyed in the Battle of Tsushima.

After 1915, when Liepāja was occupied by German troops, the cathedral retained its sacred status and partly its furnishings, with rare services held there.

After the Latvian army garrisoned Liepāja in the territory of the Karosta, the cathedral continued to function as an Orthodox church until 1934, when it was converted into a Lutheran church for the Liepāja garrison. The church was redecorated, including the replacement of the crosses, and the three major denominations - Lutheran, Catholic and Orthodox - were able to hold services there. One Orthodox altar was retained in the cathedral, and in the late 1930s an electric organ manufactured in VEF was installed for Lutheran services.

During the Soviet military base in 1939-1941, the cathedral lost its sacred status, and during the Second World War the building was also used by various German units.

After the Second World War, the Soviet naval base authorities established a matrons' club in the cathedral and the building was converted to its new function.

In September 1991, while the Russian Federation was still in operation, the cathedral was restored to its historic name and handed over to the Orthodox Church. The first service was held on 19 December 1991 in honour of Saint Nicholas. In September 2016, the restored cathedral bells were consecrated.
 

It is located at the crossroads of rural roads, turning off the road leading from Pienava to Džūkste.

Memorial to H. Faul, and to the nine German and Latvian soldiers who fell in the battle of 27 December 1944 (probably blown up by a direct hit from a cannon shell) and who are presumed missing since then, as no remains, documents or other evidence of their identity have been found.

The Soviet Soldiers' Cemetery is located on the Skrunda - Embute - Priekule road, which is situated on a highland between the two rivers Dzelda in the south and Koja in the north. More than 3000 fallen are buried there. 

World War II battles

The Red Army launched an offensive operation from 27 October 1944, now known as the 1st Kurland Battalion, with the aim of destroying the German army group "North", later renamed "Kurland". By 5 November, the Soviet 61st Army and parts of the 6th Guards Army and the 4th Shock Army reached the River Zeld and some units of the 5th Guards Panzer Army captured the bridgeheads on the north bank of the river. Before the next attack, the 2nd Guards Army of the 1st Baltic Front was moved into this sector to reach the Skrunda-Liepaja railway line. After the initial invasion was achieved, the attack towards Kuldīga would be continued by the 5th Guards Panzer Army.

The start of the 2nd Battle of Courland was delayed by weather conditions and only began on 19 November. The Red Army made its greatest gains in the vicinity of what is now the Cemetery of the Brothers and by the evening of 24 November the 1st and 60th Rifle Corps had captured the placdarm on the north bank of the River Koj. However, the Red Army's success ended there. The German Army Group North anticipated the direction of the Soviet attacks and concentrated appropriate forces here, including two panzer divisions.

On the evening of 26 November 1944, the Red Army attacks were halted and no further attempts were made to destroy the German forces in Courland until the end of the Second World War. In the battles that followed, the task was to prevent the German army from being evacuated from Courland.

The South Fort of Liepaja Fortress is located in the south-western part of Liepaja, between Klaipėda Street and the beach.

A fort was planned to protect the port of Emperor Alexander III from the south, two kilometres from the southern border of the city. The fort was to be located between Liepāja Lake and the sea, west of the outlet of the Thunder River, reinforcing the reinforced concrete fortifications with a moat. Although the fortifications were almost completely finished, the armaments had not been deployed. The constructed cellars were used as storage facilities both during the First World War and during the Second World War. In the 1920s and 1930s, various factories were located in the fortification area. Unlike the Middle Fort and Ravelin, the South Fort never took part in the war, because in all the wars the invaders besieged the eastern shore of Lake Liepāja and tried to invade Liepāja between Lakes Tosmare and Liepāja.

To the north of the South Fort is Liepāja's largest cemetery, the Central Cemetery. In the southern part of the cemetery there is a Red Army cemetery where Soviet soldiers who died in the vicinity of Liepāja are reburied, including the commander of the 67th Rifle Division, Major General Nikolai Dedaev, who led the defence of Liepāja in June 1941.

The Mazbānīte is the name given in Northern Kurzeme to a train that transported passengers and cargo along 600 mm wide narrow-gauge railway tracks between 1916 and 1963. It is a legacy of military history from the First World War, which once played a significant role in the cultural and economic prosperity of all of Northern Kurzeme, but especially of Livonian fishing villages, providing a connection between settlements and providing jobs.

The nature trail leads from Mazirbe to Sīkrag along the former Stende - Ventspils narrow-gauge railway track, or as the locals say – mazbānīša track. The construction of the railway began in 1916 and it served until 1963. The narrow-gauge railway line connected the port city of Ventspils with coastal fishing villages, Dundags and the large railway junction in Stende, thus contributing to the economic and cultural prosperity of the region between the First and Second World Wars.

During the Soviet Union, the coast was a "Closed Zone", so coastal villages were economically isolated and their population decreased. The presence of newly built secret military facilities also contributed to the fact that railway traffic was suspended in the 1960s.

The trail has a small loop of 15 km and a large loop of 19 km.

GPX map available here:

https://www.kurzemesregions.lv/projekti/turisms/unigreen/dabas-takas/mazbanisa-dabas-taka/

The "Duncs Bunker" with the memorial plaque "Patriotic Hawks" is located in Otaņķu municipality, in the place where the first bunker of the partisan group of the national resistance organisation "Patriotic Hawks" was located.

In the winter of 1945/46, in the village of Ķīburi in Barta parish, three patriotic men, led by Alfred Tilib (a former legionary of the 19th SS Division), founded the national resistance movement "Tēvijas Hawks", which soon had about 200 members from different places: Liepāja, Aizpute, Nīca, Dunika, Grobiņa, Barta, Gavieze. This movement fought for the liberation of Latvia.

The size of the bunker in which the partisans were housed was 4 x 4 m and was made of thick, horizontally laid logs. It was entered from above through a trapdoor with a small pine tree growing out of it, under which was a ladder. The hatches were on two floors, each with a place for 7-8 men to sleep. Unfortunately, the bunker was found and blown up in 1947.

Today, a depression can be seen in the ground where the bunker was. The site is located in the forest and can be freely accessed by anyone at any time without prior reservation.

A picnic area with a shelter is available nearby.

The memorial plaque was unveiled on 9 September 2005. The granite stele was erected by the Latvian National Partisans' Association in cooperation with the Municipality of Nīca, the Barta Forestry and the Rudes Primary School.

The object has the status of a cultural and historical monument of the region

The Otanki local museum is located in the yard of the former Rude school.

The guide's narration about the bunker and its creators, their further fate. A model of the bunker created by the students of the former Rude school (according to the partisans' own narrative) and a spatial map of the forest area of those times with marked houses of supporters and contacts can be viewed. Bunker household exhibits collected.

Advance application by phone 26323014 or email lelde.jagmina@gmail.com.

Aizvīķi Manor Park is located in Aizvīķi, Gramzda Parish, just a few kilometers from the Lithuanian border.

In Aizvīķi Park, the sites of bunkers and trenches from World War II are still clearly visible. One of the types of weapons was the rocket launcher system "Katyusha". Several such rocket launcher systems were located in Aizvīķi Park, even after the end of World War II, and these sites (caponiers) are clearly visible in nature.

This unique forest park, shrouded in secrets and legends, was created in the late 19th century as the Aizvīķi Manor Park, when the manor's baron von Korf planted the nearby hilly land with a pine and spruce forest. Later, walking paths were laid out in the 40-hectare area, other species of trees were also planted, and a pheasant garden was established.

In addition to the picturesque forest landscapes, there are also wooden fairy tale and legend characters, as well as stone sculptures that tell travelers events from the history of Aizvīķi and mark the cultural and historical sites in the park. The park also has a Green Class.

To better explore the cultural and historical heritage of Aizvīķi Manor Park, we recommend using the services of a guide.

Aizvīķi Manor Park is located in Aizvīķi, Gramzda Parish, just a few kilometers from the Lithuanian border.

In Aizvīķi Park, the sites of World War II bunkers and trenches are still clearly visible. A Red Army bunker has been restored in the park.

One of the types of weapons during World War II was the Katyusha rocket launcher system. Several such rocket launcher systems were located in Aizvīķi Park, and even today these places (caponiers) are clearly visible in nature.

To better explore the cultural and historical heritage of Aizvīķi Manor Park, we recommend using the services of a guide.

A memorial sign for the 7th Battery of the 3rd Division, commanded by Major Jānis Ozols, has been installed on the side of the Riga - Liepāja highway, in Džūkste parish, approximately one kilometer from the Memorial Site for the Defenders of Kurzeme.

During the Third Battle of Courland from December 23 to December 31, 1944, Major J. Ozols' III Division repelled the enemy's superior attacks, preventing the front from breaking through. In this battle, Major J. Ozols demonstrated personal heroism and commanding abilities.

Jānis Ozols (1904-1947) was an officer of the Latvian Army and the Latvian Legion, a recipient of the Army's Honor Roll Buckle, as well as a national partisan and victim of Soviet repression.

Misiņkalns nature park is located in the town of Aizpute. Misiņkalns is the highest place in the city of Aizpute. Its height reaches 95.4 m. The top offers a scenic view of the city. Misiņkalns nature park was started to be built in the 20th century. at first. The area of the park is currently about 28 ha.

In the territory of the park there are several places and memorials related to the events of the 20th century - the memorial stele of the soldiers who died in the Latvian Freedom Wars - the cavaliers of the Lāčpleš Order, the place of the Holocaust memorial, the place of remembrance of the repressed and the memorial plaque of the fallen red partisans.

In the park, you can get to know the plants and plantations of various rare species, as well as enjoy the untouched nature. Currently, the park is criss-crossed by renovated walking and cycling paths, and there is a motorcycle track on the territory of the park, where Latvian motocross competitions take place.

In order to get to know the cultural and historical heritage of Misiņkalns manor park more fully, we recommend using the services of a guide.

Nazi troops entered Aizpute on June 28, 1941. Already at the beginning of July, individual Jews were shot in the Dzirkaļi Forest and the city park, while the rest of the Jews from the city and the surrounding area were arrested and placed in two city synagogues.

The mass murder of Jews then took place during two campaigns.

Nowadays, a monument has been erected at the reburial site with an inscription in Hebrew and Latvian: “Here are buried the Jews of Aizpute and other innocent victims of the German Nazis, brutally murdered in 1941. We will remember them forever.”

In Aizpute, Ģertrūde Lindberga founded a cardboard factory in 1890.

During World War II, German military equipment and weapons repair workshops operated in the factory premises.

After the war, the Aizpute District Industrial Complex was established and its production consisted of agricultural equipment. There were also weaving, fabric dyeing, and wool yarn processing workshops. Later, a furniture production workshop was also opened.
The lock and hardware factory "Aizpute" is renamed the metal fittings factory "Kurzeme", or MFR "Kurzeme".
MFR "Kurzeme" was transformed into a joint-stock company "Kurzemes atslėga 1" and began producing various types of non-standard metal products and continues to successfully produce them today.

We recommend taking a guided tour of the factory. The factory houses a photography exhibition "Soviet Aizpute".

Monument at the Cirkale cemetery to the priests Ārija Stiebriņa and Velta Vaska, who were shot by the Germans on November 9, 1944. Created by sculptor J. Karlovs.

The two women were shot by units of the German Nazi army on December 9, 1944, along with other captured residents of the Zlēki area, deserters from the German army, or the like.

According to the stories, the young women joined the Rubenis battalion voluntarily. They traveled with the Rubenis battalion from Suntaži to Usma. However, during Jekeln's "Eichensumpf" operation, the young women were arrested on the road, taken to the Vēlogi forester's house for interrogation and shot together with a small group of other detainees. A woman, a resident of Cirkale, knew Ārija and managed to rebury the remains of both girls at the edge of the Cirkale cemetery and maintained this cemetery throughout the Soviet occupation.

Under the leadership of the Supreme SS and Police Leader in Ostland, SS Obergruppenführer and Police General Friedrich Jeckeln, a large-scale operation, Eichensumpf ("Oak Swamp"), took place from December 5 to 9, which was directed against the Red Arrow fighters and General Kurel's group near Abava.

The course of the campaign is partially documented in a report dated December 31, 1944.

Among the many objects of the Liepāja Naval Museum, the Liepāja Coastal Artillery Battery No. 2 is still the most mysterious place in Liepāja. Battery No. 2 was invariably equipped with ammunition depots for the troops of various existing powers.

Liepāja Fortress Battery No. 2 was built further from the coastline and was protected by a high fortification wall. The battery was armed with 16 11-inch (280 mm) mortars of the 1877 model. After the fortress was dismantled, ammunition depots were set up here. Due to the explosive hazard, the territory was closed to the public for 130 years, a guarded area, but now an exhibition has been set up here about the activities of the 1st Courland Division Headquarters in 1919-1940, as well as photographic evidence of the 1st Liepāja Infantry Regiment, the 2nd Ventspils Infantry Regiment and the Courland Artillery Regiment.

The monument to the soldiers of the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps of the Red Army is located at the ruins of the Kaulači half-manor farmhouse about 100 metres south-west of the road.

On 17 March 1945, the last Red Army offensive attempt in Courland began. The task of the 7th Estonian Rifle Division of the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps was to reach the Riga-Liepaja railway line west of Blidene station and to secure the attack of the 3rd Guards Mechanised Corps in the direction of Gaiki. By the evening of 17 March, the 354th Rifle Regiment reached the railway south of Kaulači half-manor through the forest and continued its attacks north-westwards, reaching the Pikuliai houses. In the Kaulači semi-mansion and further to the north-east were the German Burg-Stellung positions, defended by individual units of the 329th Infantry Division. Throughout the day of 18 March, attacks by the 354th Rifle Regiment continued unsuccessfully.

On the evening of 18 March the 354th Rifle Regiment was relieved by the 27th Rifle Regiment. The advance unit of the 7th Mechanised Brigade of the 3rd Guards Mechanised Corps, the 1st Motorised Battalion, with one tank company, was also to be used for the attack. By the evening of 19 March, in a concentrated attack, the Soviets had captured the Kaulači half-manor, seizing a section of the German-built defensive line on the dominant high ground.

Until the end of March 1945, attacks by the 8th Estonian Rifle Corps and the 3rd Mechanised Corps in the directions of Vikstraute and Remte continued, but without success.

During the fighting, the Kaulači half-manor housed various levels of headquarters and a memorial stone was unveiled on the site in May 1975.

In 1944, there was active refugee boat traffic from the Staldzene cliffs to the shores of Sweden.

Ž. Lapuķis' memories of meeting with Dr. E. Bakusis:

“One afternoon, a local police officer came to me and quietly told me that a boat from Sweden was expected to arrive that night near the village of Staldzene near the Koku hills to pick up refugees. My task was to come with a group of guards from my unit to guard this place and, if necessary, help to transport the refugees to the motorboat. [..] Not far from the sea, without waiting, a man stood in front of us on the rope, wearing a gray half-coat with a turned-up collar and a jockey's hat pulled low on his forehead. He said a quiet good evening and asked: “Is this the road to Lošupi?” That was the watchword for Swedish riders in that place. He said that he was here on a special mission, but at the same time he would like to get his family to Sweden safely. Then, to my great surprise, he pulled out our forestry plan from his pocket. In the twilight, I began to watch the stranger's face and soon recognized him. It was Bakūzis, the head of the Forestry Department's Forestry Management Division [..] It was approaching midnight when we saw a black dot in the distance in the sea. We gave the agreed signal with a flashlight, repeating it several times. After a short while, the same answer came from the black dot, only it was not from a flashlight, but the light transmission of a warship. We realized that the boat was no longer expected that night and the group of refugees was starting to disperse. Bakūzis invited us both with the company commander to stay with his family. We found it in a hollow in the dunes under a thick fir tree. There, in the green moss, with their heads resting on a white pillow, three offspring of this family were lying in a deep sleep, and next to them, with a white scarf around their heads, sat the caring mother of the house. The father of the house found a bottle and the mother of the house offered sandwiches. It seemed that with their Latvian sincerity they were the real father and mother of the house, who had found their home on this rainy autumn night under the fir tree of their homeland. On one side the sea hisses, on the other a forest massif and heavy raindrops slowly fall through the branches of the fir tree. We emptied the bottle, but refused the sandwiches, because we realized that they needed them more themselves.

Located in Tukums region, on the side of the A9 highway, 500 m from the turnoff to Lesteni in the direction of Riga.

The memorial was established in 1991 near the Rumbu houses, which were the scene of active hostilities. It is a tribute to the defenders of the “Courland Fortress” who fought against the Red Army in World War II. The battles were significant because they temporarily halted the Red Army’s complete occupation of Latvia. Approximately 300,000 Latvians emigrated to escape the crimes committed against civilians by the Soviet regime.

At the end of World War II, a peculiar situation had developed in the territory of Latvia. German army forces were located in Courland, which the Red Army tried to eliminate or prevent from being involved in battles in East Prussia or around Berlin. “Courland Fortress” is the most common term used to describe the hostilities in Courland from 1944 to 1945. “The Battle of Courland” was the German army’s fight to repel the Red Army’s massive attacks. The Courland Fortress ceased to exist shortly after Germany’s capitulation.

Today, you can visit the memorial and resting place, which was popular among Latvian legionnaires since the restoration of Latvia's independence.

The restored “Bambaļi” houses in Ošvalki, Jūrkalne parish, which in 1944 was one of the main places of accommodation for boat refugees on the Kurzeme coast.

Memories of boat refugee Kārlis Draviņš: ““Bambaļi” were old, small, very run-down houses in Jūrkalne parish, about 40 kilometers from Ventspils. [..] Small fields spread around in a damp place, but on the other side an old, overgrown dune wrapped itself around it. The sea gurgled a little behind it - the houses were right next to the sea. On the other side, half a kilometer away, the Pāvilosta-Užava highway ran, but the road to the houses was not easy to drive on, which is why the Germans could not be everyday guests here. The place where boats were waiting was easily accessible - a small forest clearing on a high bank. [..]

The owner of "Bambaļi" and her group, who were also waiting for the "movement of the water", lived in two rooms facing the sea, but the group of refugees lived at the other end of the house, also in two rooms. They shared the kitchen. The hallway between the two ends was stuffed with the refugees' many belongings. The rooms were filled with straw, which was spread out along the walls. On each side of the room was one bed, where a mother and her children slept. The straw beds were covered with sheets or something else during the day. They came out to sit or sleep in them during the day, because there was nowhere else to stay. [..] The days passed monotonously, one after the other. They got up on command, there was no hurry. When the communal breakfast was eaten, some went to play cards, some took up fortune-telling, while others tried to read. Some had to do household chores - fetch firewood, water.

Named ‘Pāvilosta, a Closed Area’, the exhibit in the Pāvilosta Local History Museum is about everyday life in the town of Pāvilosta during the Soviet occupation; specifically, about the executive branch, border area, fishermen’s collective farm, and the cultural and social activities. In addition to the permanent exhibit, there is an interactive and emotionally rich digital exhibit in two languages and an audio-visual installation offering a film about Pāvilosta.

The museum also features a new exhibit named ‘The Golden Sand Grains of Pāvilosta’. The digital installation showcases old events, how Pāvilosta was founded and the most important developments from 1918 to the present day. Military heritage is a point of focus in the War of Independence section, which tells a story about the freedom fighters of Latvia and the time of the Soviet occupation.

This monument is situated on the water’s edge on Cape Puise. In 1944, around 80,000 people fled westward from the advancing Red Army, many of them by sea. This monument, commemorating that mass flight, was designed by Aivar Simson. The idea originated from Heidi Ivask, who, held in her mother's arms, was one of many who waited for a boat on the beach in Puise. Construction of the monument was led by the Estonian Memento Union.

Several members of the academic unit “Austrums” and the Central Council of Latvia, secretly established in Riga on August 13, 1943, worked at the Agricultural Academy in Jelgava (Mītava) (today - the Latvian University of Biosciences and Technologies) in 1943-1944 - professors Rūdolfs Markuss, Andrejs Teikmanis, Alfrēds Tauriņš and other teaching staff. On March 10, 1944, Vilis Eihe, an assistant professor at the Agricultural Academy, together with his wife Aleksandrs and assistant Hermanis Zeltiņš, printed the LCP’s illegal newspaper “Jaunā Latvija” in Jelgava using a duplicating machine. It provided news about Latvia’s international situation and set out further guidelines for Latvian political life. Among the 188 Latvian socio-political workers who, in the LCP memorandum of March 17, 1944, expressed the need to restore an independent and democratic Republic of Latvia based on the 1922 Constitution, were the academic staff of the Agricultural Academy in Jelgava - professors Jānis Vārsbergs, Pāvils Kvelde, A. Teikmanis and R. Markuss.

The memorial site for the Bauska Volunteer Battalion in Jumpravmuiža Park was established in 1990 at the initiative of Imants Zaltiņš, a former soldier of this battalion. It is located at the place where Latvian soldiers prevented the first Red Army units from crossing the Lielupe River at the end of July 1944. A white marble plaque is attached to a roughly worked boulder with a gold-colored text engraved on it: “On 28.7.1944, the command post of the Bauska Volunteer Battalion was located here.” Initially, a bronze plaque with an engraving was located in place of the marble plaque, but in the 1990s it was stolen by non-ferrous metal thieves.

At the end of July 1944, as the Soviet troops approached Bauska, there were no significant German forces in the city, which had recently been deep in the rear. The immediate fall of Bauska was prevented by the decisive action of Major Jānis Uļuks, the head of the Bauska district and commander of the guard regiment, who at the end of July formed the Bauska Volunteer Battalion, which consisted of guards of the 13th Bauska Guard Regiment, police officers, as well as volunteers. The battalion took up defensive positions on the banks of the Lielupe River in Jumpravmuiža opposite Ziedoņi islet and on the very first day had to engage in battle with the attacking Red Army. During the battles, a group of Lithuanian police officers who had retreated from Lithuania to Latvia also joined the battalion. Many Lithuanians fell because they fought bravely and without sparing themselves. The first to fall was a Lithuanian police captain, who was buried right there in Jumpravmuiža Park next to the graves of German soldiers from World War I.

In the garden of the Bauska Holy Spirit Evangelical Lutheran Church, the defenders of Bauska – Latvian soldiers – were buried during the battles of 1944. During the years of the USSR occupation, playgrounds for a kindergarten were set up here. On November 9, 1996, a memorial stone created by sculptor Mārtiņš Zaurs was unveiled in the church garden. The text carved into the roughly worked red boulder under the Latvian Legion sleeve patch – a red-and-white representation of the shield – “Long live Latvia to you! To the defenders of Bauska in 1944.” The memorial stone was erected at the initiative of the Latvian National Soldiers’ Association and the Bauska branch of the organization “Daugavas Vanagi”. Financial support was also provided by the Bauska city and district municipalities. Next to the stone is a white-painted wooden cross, under which is attached a red-white-red painted replica of the legionnaires' shield, and even lower is a pink granite plaque with the text: "Here lie the legionnaires, the heroic defenders of Bauska, 1944.28.VII – 1944.14.IX"

The memorial site at the Butki cemetery was established after the Bauska branch of the Environmental Protection Club cleaned up the graves of approximately 30 Latvian soldiers who fell in the battles for the defense of Bauska in 1944, buried in two columns, in the autumn of 1988, and decided to erect a monument. A collection of donations followed for the construction of the monument. The monument made of red granite, dedicated to the soldiers of the Bauska Volunteer Battalion buried here, was unveiled on 25 November 1989, but already on the night of 4/5 December 1990, it was blown up by the USSR occupation army. In 1992, a massive wooden cross was erected in place of the monument. On 13 October 2002, a new granite monument, similar to the previously destroyed monument, was unveiled with the text engraved on it: “For the Freedom of Latvia Those Who Fell in 1944”.

A memorial plaque to the members of the youth resistance organization of Jelgava 1st Secondary School (previously Hercogs Pēteris Gymnasium) repressed by the communist regime was installed by the Jelgava branch of the Latvian Politically Repressed Association on October 24, 1996. Initially, the plaque was located inside the Ģ. Elias Jelgava History and Art Museum, but after the renovation of the building's facade and premises in 2007-2008. it was moved to the outer wall of the museum to the right of the main entrance, alongside memorial plaques dedicated to other historical figures. The text engraved on the plaque reads: “On 26 October 1940, students of the Hercogs Jēkabs Gymnasium arrested and deported to Siberia – members of the anti-Soviet movement “Free Latvia” T. Bergs, V. Einfelds, A. Engurs, A. Gaišs, J. Jegermanis, I. Kārkliņš, I. Leimanis, J. Liepiņš, O. Ošenieks, A. Saldenais, F. Skurstenis, V. Treimanis, A. Valkīrs, J. Valūns.”

The Jelgava student resistance organization “Free Latvia” was secretly founded on September 30, 1940, by six 11th grade students of Jelgava 1st Secondary School in the apartment of Fričas Skurstenis at 11-4 Slimnīcas Street. The organization was led by Juris Valūns and its members numbered about 20 people. They gathered in illegal meetings where they discussed the organization’s structure and activities. The young people printed the anti-Soviet slogan “Get ready!”, 100 copies of which were pasted around the city on October 14. From October 25, 1940 to November 6, Soviet security authorities arrested thirteen students of Jelgava 1st Secondary School, who were imprisoned in Jelgava prison and interrogated for a long time. 1941. In 1942, the detainees were taken to the USSR, where on February 7, 1942, the Special Meeting of the USSR People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs sentenced them to 10 years in prison. Only Voldemārs Treimanis survived and returned to Latvia, while the other members of the resistance organization of Jelgava 1st Secondary School died in the Gulag camps in 1942-1943.

The Monument to the Liberators of Jelgava “Lāčplēsis” is located in Jelgava, at Station Park, opposite the Railway Station building. It was opened on 22 June 1932, with the participation of the President of Latvia A. Kviesis, and was built to commemorate the liberation of Jelgava on 21 November 1919, during the Latvian War of Independence.

In 1940, during the first period of Soviet occupation, the monument was not affected by changes. In 1941, when the Soviet occupiers were replaced by the German occupation forces, the head of the German occupation administration, von Medem, who had returned to Jelgava (his ancestors were the original builders of Jelgava Palace), did not like the unequivocal symbolism of the monument. On 31 October 1942, the German occupation authorities ordered the author of the monument, Kārlis Jansons, to remove the image of a German knight from the monument.

In 1950, the Soviet occupation authorities gave the order for the monument to be destroyed. With the help of a tractor, Lāčplēsis was torn off its pedestal, smashed, and an attempt was made to destroy it in a stone crusher. However, Lāčplēsis proved to be so hard that the crusher broke. The unbroken middle part of the monument was secretly buried in the grounds of a kindergarten.

In 1988, a fragment of the monument was found and is now located in front of the Jelgava History and Art Museum of Ģederts Eliass. The monument was restored and inaugurated on 21 November 1992. It was created by sculptor Andrejs Jansons, who restored the monument created by his father, K. Jansons.

The memorial is located in Ančupāni, in the vicinity of Rēzekne. It was created to commemorate the tragedy of Audriņi – the extermination of civilians during the Nazi German occupation, which took place in 1942 in the village of Audriņi, Makašāni Parish, Rēzekne County.

From the autumn of 1941, several Red Army prisoners of war who had escaped, hid in Audriņi. On 18 December 1941, their whereabouts were discovered and four auxiliary police troops were killed in clashes. On 24 December, 203 residents of Audriņi were arrested and imprisoned in Rēzekne Prison. On 3 January 1942, most of the arrested were shot near the Ančupāni Hills, about 5 km from Rēzekne, and on 4 January, 30 men, arrested in the village of Audriņi, were publicly shot in the market square of Rēzekne, and the village itself was burnt down. The memorial was unveiled on 27 July 1974. It was designed by landscape architect Alfons Kišķis (1910–1994). The evergreen spruce trees on the right side of the road symbolise people lined up to be shot, while the stone wall on the opposite side of the road represents the shooters. In the lowest part – the Valley of Suffering – a boulder-strewn path leads past the mass graves of the people who were shot, ending at a concrete wall with the inscription: “They died so that you might live.” Then, the stairs leading to the Square of Life follow, with the central sculpture “Mother Apple Tree” by sculptor Rasa Kalniņa-Grīnberga (1936) in the square.

WW2 – World War II exhibition in Aglona or the War Museum was established in 2008 and is one of the most extensive and interesting expositions of this kind in Latvia. The collection has been continuously supplemented with new acquisitions and stories of war participants and people of the wartime generation.

The core of the museum consists of weapons, equipment, ammunition, and uniforms used during World War II. In addition, there are household objects, fragments of aircraft wrecks and other exhibits. One of the most precious and unique exhibits is the Feldpost (field post) correspondence between Oberleutnant August and his lover Martha, which created a dialogue between two loving people with a happy ending during the period of the five years of war. Wartime chronicles are displayed in the background of the exhibition.

The exhibition is not politicised and reflects both sides of the war equally, allowing viewers to perceive it without making judgements of good or bad, which makes the exhibition easy to understand.

Hitler’s visit to the Headquarters of the German Army Group North in Malnava and the air defence bunker are mentioned as related sites. However, apart from the location – Malnava Manor, there is no other link between them.

From 12 to 28 July 1941, the headquarters of the German Army Group North, which was waging an attack against Leningrad, was located in Malnava Manor. The reason for the choice of location was practical: Malnava Agricultural School, which was located in a former manor house, had modern facilities: electric lighting, centralised water supply, showers, and sewerage. The headquarters of Group North was located in one of the side blocks of the manor, while the rest of the building continued to operate as an agricultural school. Hitler’s visit to the Group North headquarters in Malnava took place on 21 July 1941. Hitler and his entourage arrived in two Junkers aircraft, accompanied by nine Messerschmitt fighters. The visit only lasted for a few hours and is immortalised both in German military newsreels from the front and in the memories of the pupils of Malnava.

The air defence bunker, located about 70 metres from the manor house, was built at the beginning of 1944 when Soviet aviation began to dominate the airspace in the second half of the war. At that time, the retreat process of German troops was in progress. In 1944, the Headquarters of the German Army Group North stayed in Malnava from February to mid-July.

Strazde Manor is located on the side of the Riga-Ventspils highway and was the headquarters of General Jānis Kurelis' group from September 29 to October 28, 1944. The Skrīveri Battalion commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Eduards Graudiņš was stationed in the manor buildings. The Kurelis were a military unit formed in Vidzeme in the summer of 1944 from the Riga District Guards, whose goal was to restore Latvia's independence between the retreat of the German army and the attack of the USSR troops on Latvian territory.

Heavily rebuilt for the needs of a school (from 1922), it has lost its original appearance and proportions during the reconstruction. Strazde Manor is surrounded by a beautiful park.

Ārdava was an important military and strategic location during World War II, where both partisan activities and other military events took place.

The Neo-Renaissance manor house was originally built between 1860 and 1863 for the noble Mol family. The owner of the manor, Vaclav Mol, had established a private school for his own children and the children of his servants, where he taught Latvian and Russian, writing, and arithmetic.

In 1922, the Ārdava Elementary School was established in the manor house, which existed until 2003.

The school was the center of life in Ārdava – it also served as a public house and event venue for weddings, celebrations and similar events, and was active all year round. Until the German occupation, the manor was lit by kerosene lamps, later a generator was installed in the manor. Rainwater was collected from the gutters and used for washing clothes, as it did not contain lime and made clothes softer. For heating, each room had wood-burning stoves and a wood-burning heating stove with stone chimneys, which accumulated hot air and retained heat.

Life at Ārdava Elementary School in Ārdava Manor from 1934 to 1943, as recounted by Lidija Odeiko and Vija Liepa (née Odeiko) to their family.

Helen Broka (1905–1975) was the daughter of a farmer from the village of Lieli Leimaņi. Alberts Odeiko (1903–1938) was the son of a factory worker from Riga. Helen and Alberts met in Aglona and got married there in 1927. They lived in the village of Somerset, where their eldest daughter Lidija was born in 1930, and their second daughter Vija in 1932. In 1934, Helen was appointed headmistress of the Ārdava Manor Primary School.

Wartime events: 1940
After the Soviet invasion in the spring of 1940, Helen was removed from her position as principal, but she was allowed to remain as a teacher. A teacher named Jachuk took over as principal in her place.

Wartime events: 1941
The family's living quarters were in the left wing of the building. In the summer of 1941, when the Germans invaded and drove out the Soviets, Helen and the girls were staying with Donāt in Lielai Leimaņi. During this turbulent time, they were forced to hide in the forest. When they finally returned home to Ārdava (after the Germans had completed their invasion of Latvia in July), they discovered that Helen had been included in the Soviet list of mass deportations for June 1941.

The German headquarters were located in Ārdava in the summer of 1941, after the German army occupied the area, shortly after the capture of Riga in July 1941. The Ārdava manor, which had previously been the building of the local elementary school, was used for the needs of German troops. The Germans set up their headquarters in the manor, because the nearby railway led directly to the Russian front. Most of them were not soldiers, but military personnel who dealt with supplies and logistics. Electricity was installed, and fuel drums for the generator were buried on the road leading to the house. Water tanks were installed outside, providing running water for drinking and cooking for the first time.

Wartime events: 1942
On June 17, 1942, an explosion occurred at the Ārdava station, which was organized by the Red Partisans, marking the events of June 17, 1940 and the Red Army's invasion of Latvia. An ammunition train, which was heading to the Russian front, exploded at the Ārdava station, approximately 0.5 km from the Ārdava manor. As a result of the explosion, the railway station was destroyed and there were human casualties - the Mickāns family died: their son, a journalist and writer Vincents Mickāns, his father, a railway worker Joachims Mickāns, and their mother Petronelija Mickāne, who died of injuries. The entire family is buried in the Aglona cemetery.[1] According to the memoirs of the residents of Ārdava, it was planned to blow up the school building when the Germans retreated, because mines found in the basement by the Ārdava partisans.

Wartime events: 1944
When the German Eastern Front began to collapse in August 1944 and Soviet forces were approaching, Helen took the girls to her parents' home to ensure their safety. She herself returned to Ārdava, where the Germans were preparing to retreat. Knowing that Helen was a target for the Soviets, the Germans offered her to go with them and suggested that she bring the children so that the family would not be separated. They packed their belongings in blankets and boarded a truck that took them to Daugavpils. From there, the Germans took them to a farm in Vidzeme, where they hid for about a week until the soldiers returned and took them to Riga. The Odeiko family went to Vienna, Austria, where Helen found work, while the girls lived on a farm in nearby Ramsau. In the spring, they moved to a farm near Fleischwangen, Germany, and after the war ended, the girls were able to resume their Latvian school in nearby Ebenweiler. Helen and Vija went to the United States in 1950.

The longest-serving national partisan in Latvia, Jānis Pīnups, lived in Ārdava. He was mobilized into the Red Army in 1944, from which he deserted and hid in the forest of Pelēči parish in Latgale for more than fifty years, and legalized himself only on May 9, 1995, when he was already seventy years old. He was called the last "World War II forest brother in Latvia", although he did not participate in the armed struggle against the Soviet regime. Jānis Pīnups' life story has been used as material in Jānis Baložs's dramaturgy for the Latvian National Theatre's play "Mežainis".

[1] sources: “The third victim of the tragic accident has died.” Daugavas Vēstnesis. 1942. June 26., “Vincents Mickāns laid in the lap of the earth.” Daugavas Vēstnesis. 1942. June 20., Mazjānis, R. “Vincents Mickāns (photo).” Daugavas Vēstnesis. 1942. June 21.