Deportations of 1941 and 1949 II World War II

The memorial site is located in the Torņakalns railway station in Riga. It is dedicated to those deported in June 1941. Initially it was planned to create a memorial in Esplanāde park, but later it was decided to place it at the Torņakalns station. The memorial consists of five torn stone sculptures symbolising the ruined families and three generations of deportees. The sculptor of this memorial is Pauls Jaunzems and the architect is Juris Poga. It was unveiled on 14 June 2001 by the then President of Latvia, Vaira Vīķe-Freiberga. Next to the station there is a freight waggon and a commemorative stone dedicated to the deported Latvians. The commemorative stone with the inscription “1941” is a 1.2 m high crude boulder. The author of the memorial stand is the sculptor Ojārs Feldbergs.

The former USSR State Security Committee (commonly known as Cheka) building is open for visitors. Here chekists imprisoned, interrogated and murdered Latvian citizens who were considered opponents by the occupation regime. There is also an exhibit from the Latvian Occupation Museum on the activities of Cheka in Latvia. Guided tours of the prison cells, corridors, basement and courtyard are available. The house was built in 1911 and it is one of the most beautiful buildings in Riga. Called the ‘Corner House’ by the people, it was the scariest symbol of the Soviet occupation regime in Latvia, and also one of the pillars of power of the USSR. Cheka operated from the Corner House during the occupation from 1940 to 1941 and then again from 1945 to 1991. Tens of thousands of Latvians were affected by direct political persecution. The fight against enemies of Soviet rule continued also after World War II. Cheka’s approach towards its operation slightly changed after Stalin’s death. Physical torture was replaced by psychological terror. The majority of Cheka agents were Latvians (52%). Russians were the second largest group – 23.7%. 60.3% of the agents were not members of the Communist Party. 26.9% of the agents had higher education. The system was designed in a way to involve local people and thus have greater control over the society. Staff documents and service records are located in Russia. And these materials have not been made available to Latvian authorities and researchers.

The Gulbene Railway Station is located in the city of Gulbene. During World War I, in 1916 to 1917, the narrow-gauge railway line to Pļaviņas was reconstructed to 1,524 mm width to ensure that it can serve as a connection to the Rīga-Daugavpils line. In addition, a railway line to Ieriķi and to Sita was constructed, thereby establishing a connection with Pytalovo. As a result, Gulbene became a railway hub. The current station building by architect Pēteris Feders was constructed in 1926. During the War of Independence, on 31 May 1919, when Gulbene was liberated from the Bolsheviks, the 1st (4th) Valmiera Infantry Regiment collected a significant number of war trophies here. On 14 June 1941, both civilians and Latvian Army officers arrested in the Litene Summer Camp were deported from the Gulbene Railway Station. As a key hub, it was bombed in the spring of 1944. After the war, it was restored to its original form. An educational and interactive centre named ‘Railway and Steam’ was opened in 2018. Next to the Gulbene station is the company SIA Gulbenes – Alūksnes bānītis, which offers interactive lessons and tours. Visitors have access to the station building and platform, a memorial plaque and a monument to the repressed ones by sculptor Indulis Ranka.

The Latvian Army Summer Camp in Litene is located in the forest in Litene parish, near the Pededze River. The beginnings of the Litene Camp can be traced back to 1935 when the construction of a summer camp complex for the Latgale division of the Latvian Army was started. From May to autumn, several thousand soldiers learned combat tactics and shooting skills in Litene. In the summer of 1941, Latvian Army officers were arrested by Red Army and NKVD troops at an army summer camp in Litene. Several officers were shot on the spot, while others were deported to Siberia. On 14 June 1941, at least 430 officers were arrested and deported to Siberia in the Litene and Ostrovieši camps about 10 kilometres from Litene. The only historical building that has survived from the camp is a food storage facility. Only the foundations remain from the other buildings. There is a viewing platform with the Latvian flag, benches and a well-maintained place for a fire. A demilitarised cannon was installed with the support of the Ministry of Defence and the National Armed Forces. Information boards are in place. The Wall of Pain memorial in the Litene graveyard is also connected with the events at the Litene camp. The YouTube channel of the Latvian Army features a video named ‘Litene, Katyn of the Latvian Army’.

Located in the premises of the Preiļi Cultural Center.

The Preiļi Museum of History and Applied Arts (PVLMM) exhibition "Museum Stories for Latvia" about the First World War, the War of Independence and the Second World War is on display.

The section "The Story of Drywys" of the Preili History and Applied Arts Museum's exposition "Museum Stories for Latvia" (opened in 2018) is dedicated to the First World War, the War of Independence and the liberation of Latgale, as well as the Cavaliers of the Lāčplēšana War Order. The section of the exposition "The Story of the Flag" tells about the complex events of the Second World War, during which the people of Preili were affected by deportations, the Holocaust, involvement in the military units of the warring parties, and after the war - in the ranks of the national partisans. The medal "Righteous Among Nations" awarded to the Preili resident and Jewish rescuer Vladislavs Vuškāns is also on display.

Tours are available in Russian and English by prior arrangement.

The Melānija Vanaga Museum is located in the Amata village school in Cēsis municipality. The museum showcases materials about the life, literary activity, family and destiny of writer and cultural historian Melānija Vanaga: video content about Siberia and the deported Latvians living there and a Siberian dugout taking its visitors on a trip to the writer’s place of deportation in Tyukhtetsky district, Krasnoyarsk region. The appearance and layout of the dugout form a realistic idea of life away from home. The dugout features unique historical objects brought there from the Tyukhtet Museum: a birch-bark dish known as ‘tuyesok’, a clay mug known as ‘krynka’ and a kerosene lamp. The museum features video interviews with politically repressed people from the municipality and 18 characters from Melānija Vanaga’s book Suddenly, a Criminal: Sixteen Years in Siberia. The museum’s virtual exhibition ‘BE YOURSELF!’ (http://esipats.lv) shows the experiences of five deported children and their parents who were wrongly accused by the Soviet authorities of ‘betrayal of the motherland’.

The Valka Railway Station is located at the end of Poruka street, next to a set of train tracks that are out of use. The station building can only be viewed from the outside where information stands of the importance of the railway in Valka and Valga are in place. Near the station building is a memorial stone devoted to the people deported to Siberia on 14 June 1941. The station building was constructed around 1896-1897. Narrow-gauge railway lines in the Valka-Rūjiena-Pärnu section were put in place here initially. During World War I, the railway was severely damaged. After establishing the state border, the Valka Railway Station (Valka II) became a border station. In late September 1920, the special Railway Board Commission arrived in Valka. The commission was authorised to negotiate and conclude an agreement with Estonia on the transfer of passengers from the station of one state to the other. The tracks between the triangularly placed Lugaži, Valka and Valga stations were strategically important, as they allowed armoured trains to turn around and move in the opposite direction. During the Soviet period, the USSR Army used this station to deliver ballistic missiles to Valka. A mass deportation of the Latvian people to the inland areas of the USSR took place on the night of 13-14 June 1941. More than 90 people from Valka and the surrounding areas were put in cattle waggons to be deported from the Valka Railway Station without any court judgement, prior warning or explanations. In September 1944, the station was destroyed by the retreating German Army.

To commemorate the deportations of June 1941 and March 1949, a memorial stone and a four-axle wagon, which also serves as the museum dedicated to deportations, was erected at the Skrunda railway station. This is the first wagon-type museum in Latvia that holds a permanent exhibit of photos, letters, memoirs, documents and various items made by the people deported from the Skrunda station. Skrunda station was a location where deportees were gathered, and one of the three stations in the region to which people from the Skrunda and the Kuldīga area were brought. In 1941, the family of the first President of the restored Republic of Latvia, Guntis Ulmanis, was deported from here to Krasnoyarsk Krai in Siberia.

With the help of deportations, the Soviets dealt with supporters of the national partizans’ and at the same time intimidated the remaining rural population, forcing them to join the collective farms.

Located in Drabeši parish, Amata region, near the former Amata station building.

A memorial site for deportees with an information stand and a square can be visited.

A total of more than 42 thousand people were deported from Latvia in 33 echelons on March 25, 1949 and the following days.
On March 27, 1949, at two in the morning, 62 wagons departed from Amata Station - long echelon No. 97322 with 329 men, 596 women, and 393 children.

The central object will be 1,318 metal poles of various sizes and colors. Each of them symbolizes a person deported from the then Cēsis and Alūksne counties on March 25, 1949. Each pole bears the name, surname, year of birth and parish of the deportee – from which place they were deported. At the moment, 394 poles have been installed with the support of the deportees themselves or their relatives, and 932 more poles are needed.
The author of the idea, Pēteris Ozols, also has his own column, but still with the surname of that time - Ozoliņš, who was taken from Kosa parish to "Pērkoņiem" at the age of six with his family on March 26, 1949.
The information stand contains information about the 1949 deportation and the operation "Priboi" (Coast Wave) carried out by the repressive organs of the USSR in the occupied Baltic States, which was the basis for the deportation.

Located 3 kilometers from the city of Valka, on the Valka - Inčukalns (A3) highway, on the left side (there is a sign).

During World War II, the Riga - Valka railway line was of particular importance. It served the German army as the main supply artery of the Leningrad Front. Lugaži station was established in 1942 as a Valka substation for the formation of military echelons. It had 12 tracks. The tracks between Lugaži, Valka and Valga stations were also strategically important, forming a triangle between themselves so that armored trains could be turned in the opposite direction. Near the Pilēnieši house (behind the station) there is a collapsed guardhouse, which German soldiers used to monitor prisoners of war - railway workers.

Today, the station building can only be viewed from the outside.

At the Lugaži railway station, since March 25, 1992, a monument has been erected to more than 600 citizens of the Republic of Latvia who were deported to Siberia on March 25, 1949 and before. This is the work of architect Aivars Kondrats, based on the design of the Jānis Sīmanis monument. It is designed as a stone split in half, symbolizing the hearts of the divided Latvian family, in essence also the entire nation with its culture and morals, reminding us of one of the darkest pages in the history of the Latvian people.

Art is found in the Litene cemetery.

On June 14, 2001, the memorial "Wall of Pain" created by architects Dina Grūbe, Benita and Daiņš Bērziņš, stonemasons Ivars Feldbergs and Sandras Skribnovskis was unveiled at the Litene cemetery. It symbolizes the resting place of the soldiers killed in 1941. In October 1988, the ashes of 11 officers murdered by the Soviet army in June 1941 were found in the territory of the former Latvian army summer camp in Sita sila, Litene parish. Although they could not be identified, on December 2, 1989, after being consecrated in a service at the Gulbene Evangelical Lutheran Church, they were solemnly reburied at the Litene cemetery.

11 white crosses, a memorial plaque and information boards.

Located in the central part of the Ezeriņi cemetery in Anna parish.

In the cemetery, where burials have been held since 1925, there is a monument erected with funds collected by the Annas parish Guards Department and opened in 1933 to the soldiers of Annas parish who fell in World War I and the Latvian Liberation War. Until World War II, the Annas parish guards took care of the maintenance of the monument, who went to the cemetery every Sunday and, honoring the fallen, laid flowers. On November 18, 1940, the monument was shot down, the traces left by the bullets are still visible. Nowadays, commemorative events dedicated to Lāčplēsis Day are held in the cemetery every year.

In 2004, a memorial site was opened in the cemetery for those politically repressed in 1941 and 1949, and in 2006, a memorial plaque was opened for national partisans.

Located in Cesvaine Lutheran Church and church grounds.

A memorial to parishioners who fell in World War I and the War of Independence can be seen in the church.
In memory of the residents of Cesvaine and its surroundings who fell in the freedom struggle, a memorial site was renovated and consecrated in the church in 2004 with a dedication in poetry by the writer Augusts Saulies.
The plaque also contains all 34 surnames that were engraved on the old plaque. The wooden altar was made by local craftsman Juris Neimanis.

In the church garden, you can visit the memorial site for the victims of the communist genocide, opened and consecrated on March 25, 2003, in the center of which is a monument created by sculptor Bērtulis Buls.

The roof and foundations of the tower of the Cesvaine Evangelical Lutheran Church were damaged during World War II. In the post-war years, the organ, altar, pulpit, and lead frames of the window glass were destroyed. On March 29, 1964, the last service was held in the church, but in 1978, architect Maija Elizabete Menģele developed a reconstruction project for the church for its use as a house of traditions. In 1985, a group of craftsmen was formed to carry out interior reconstruction work. The first service was held in the partially renovated church on August 25, 1990, led by Archbishop Kārlis Gailītis (1936–1992). In 1994, the construction work of the altar and pulpit was completed. On August 17, 2002, Archbishop Jānis Vanags consecrated the partially restored organ.

Source: http://www.cesvaine.lv/turisms/apskates-objekti-cesvaines-novada/cesvaines-luteranu-baznica.html

Located near the Palsmane Lutheran Church.

Monuments to be visited - to those who fell and went missing in the Latvian War of Independence, to those who fell and went missing in World War II, and a monument to the residents of Palsmane parish deported in 1949.
The monument to the residents of Palsmane parish who fell in the Latvian War of Independence and went missing was unveiled in 1927. It was unveiled by General Eduards Aire (1876–1933).
Funds for the creation of the monument were donated by Palsmane, Mēra and Rauza parishes' associations and public organizations.

The historical exhibit ‘Fire of Conscience’ is located in Cēsis, near the Cēsis Castle Square. Established in a Soviet-era temporary detention facility, it tells about the occupation of Latvia and reveals surprising and heroic stories of resistance from individuals. The yard features a memorial wall with the names of 643 residents of the former Cēsis district who died in Soviet repressions, including national partisans deported in 1941 and 1949 and those shot and sentenced to death. The exhibit’s timeline encourages visitors to study the course of the occupation of Latvia from 1939 to 1957. Arranged by topics, quotes from local newspapers offer a comparison of the political propaganda of the two occupation regimes. The six cells for temporary detention have survived to the present day in their original form from 1940 to 1941 and the post-war years. Here, the residents of Cēsis district, detained for various anti-Soviet activities, including national partisans, their supporters, young people who distributed anti-Soviet leaflets and other ‘traitors of the motherland’, were held for several days during the initial investigation and interrogation before being sent to the main KGB Building in Riga. Everything here is real: cells with iron doors, built-in ‘kormushkas’ (small openings for providing food), plank beds, a latrine for detainees, a small kitchen with an oven, as well as typical Soviet-era oil paint on the walls. In 2019, the exhibit was ranked third in the national design competition, the Latvian Design of the Year Award.

Located in Krustpils Castle

Exhibition "Fights for Freedom in the 20th Century" on display
Soviet repressions. Hard memories. Sitting here in a club chair, you have the opportunity to listen to fragments of the book “There Were Such Times” by Ilmārs Knaģis, a resident of Jēkabpils. On one of the walls of the room, a list of citizens deported to Siberia slides dispassionately, like the credits after a movie. Right there, on an old TV, you can watch an amateur video about the removal of the Lenin monument in Jēkabpils. Visitors are interested not only in the content, but also in the technical capabilities - how this film was made on an old TV.

It is possible to listen to lectures prepared by museum specialists at the Jēkabpils History Museum or to register for a field trip: Jēkabpils and its surroundings during the First World War, Jēkabpils in 1990, The Time of the Barricades, 1949 Deportations - 70, Jēkabpilians - Cavaliers of the Lāčplēsis War Order, etc.
The average duration of lectures is 40 minutes. Information and registration for lectures can be found by calling 65221042, 27008136.

Price information

The Jēkabpils History Museum is located in Krustpils Castle. In 1940, after Latvia was incorporated into the USSR, the 126th Rifle Division was stationed in Krustpils Castle. During World War II, the castle housed a German infirmary, and after August 1944, a Red Army military hospital. After the war, Krustpils Castle and the adjacent manor buildings were occupied by the central warehouses of the 16th Long-Range Reconnaissance Aviation Regiment and the 15th Air Army of the Soviet Army.

Located near the Drusti Lutheran Church.

The monument was unveiled on June 19, 1932.

On June 14, 1931, the foundation stone of the monument was laid, engraved with the text “Hundreds of years will come and go, heroes will sacrifice for the fatherland.” A galvanized tin capsule with a commemorative inscription signed by the then Chief of Staff of the Army, General Aleksandrs Kalejs, the parents of the fallen soldiers, and other guests of honor at the ceremony was embedded beneath it.

During the communist occupation, the text under the relief was cemented, but the bronze plaque was hidden by parishioners. When the Awakening began, local activists of the Latvian Popular Front cleaned up the inscription and placed the preserved plaque in its place.

41 members of the Drusti congregation who fell in World War I and the Latvian War of Independence have been identified.

Memorial plaques for the victims of communist terror have been placed in niches in the church wall - with 58 names of Drustenians and Gatartians carved into oak - the names of those whose graves are unknown.

This monument is situated in the small borough of Risti, next to its railway station.

Designed by Viljar Ansko, the monument was unveiled in 1999 and is dedicated to all of those deported from Western Estonia.

Risti station, the last stop in Lääne County, was the point from which not only the majority of the people from the local area, but also those from Pärnu and Rapla counties and the islands of Hiiumaa and Vormsi were deported to Siberia. A total of 3000 deportees passed through here along with people arrested in Lääne County. The 13-metre monument is mounted on a small railway platform with stone stairs at both ends. Four rails rise up into the air from the platform, which are bound together by a double cross made from rails. Aside from commemorating the mass oppression of the recent past, the cross also represents the history of Risti as a railway settlement.

The railway line Ventspils - Mazirbe, as well as the Stende - Dundaga extension to Mazirbe with a branch to Pitrags, were intended only for strategic military needs. During the construction of these lines, and afterwards, all civilians were evacuated from the region. The main task of the military railways in the Irbe Strait area was to provide the German army's coastal defence positions with guns and ammunition.

These military-only military railways also connected the three most important lighthouses, located in Oviši, Mikeltornis and Šlītere.

Nevertheless, passenger transport was also provided as early as the years of World War I.

A memorial stone (1989) to the deported Latvians of 1941 and 1949 is located at the Stende railway station.

On 30 October 1919, Stende railway station was occupied by Bermont troops. On 17 November, soldiers of the Latvian army led by K. Šnēbergs attacked the station, driving away a wagon with weapons, war materials and grain. 6 soldiers were awarded the Order of the Order for these battles: K. Bumovskis (1891-1976), P. Strautiņš (1883-1969), R. Plotnieks (1891-1965), E. Jansons (1894-1977).

The memorial ensemble in the Bauska Castle Garden was opened on the 90th anniversary of the Republic of Latvia – on November 18, 2008. The memorial site was created according to the idea of the Bauska region’s politically repressed club “Rēta”. The two-part grey granite monument was made according to the design of architect Inta Vanaga with the funds of the Bauska city municipality and donors. The text is engraved on it: “To the fighters against the Soviet occupation regime, those arrested, deported and tortured 1940-1990”. Every year on March 25 and June 14, memorial events dedicated to the victims of the deportations of 1941 and 1949 are held at this place

Vecumnieki railway station is located south of the village of Vecumnieki.

Vecumnieki railway station was built in 1904 as a station on the Ventspils-Moscow railway line. Initially, it was called “Neugut” (during the German occupation in 1916/1917, it was called “Neugut Kurland”). It gained greater importance during the First World War, when a European-wide railway branch was built from it. In 1916, when the German army's front line had strengthened and stabilized along the left bank of the Daugava, on March 15, a decision was made to build a 25 km railway line with a track gauge of 1435 mm from Vecumnieki to Baldone (station: Mercendarbe - Merzendorf) for the needs of supplying the front. On March 30, about 5,000 workers began work, and by May 1, the line had been built to Skarbe station, and by May 6, to Mercendarbe. The sequence of stations from south to north was as follows: Neugut Kurland, Nougut Nord, Birsemnek, Gedeng, Skarbe, Merzendorf. At the largest of the stations, Skarbe, cargo was transshipped, from where it was transported to the front by horse-drawn transport. This railway existed for only a few years, as late as 1921, logs and firewood were transported along the railway line, until it was demolished in 1925. The location of the railway line is very different in different sections - in places it is crossed by roads of various importance, in places, as the embankment is clearly visible, it crosses forest massifs. There are places that are difficult to pass during the vegetation period.

At the former Gediņi station ("Bahnhoff Gedeng"), a narrow-gauge railway branched off in a northeasterly direction, the tracks of which continued towards the Daugava. At the Sila house it crossed Silupi (Kausupi) (former station "Bhf. Sille"), but at the Podnieki house it branched off. The first branch went to the right to Berkavas, and the second to the left to Vilki mountains and then returned to the broad-gauge (1435 mm) railway at the Skarbe station.

In September 1917, the Germans built another narrow-gauge railway line (gauge of 600 mm) from Mercendarbe and Skarbe to the Daugava, where they built a pontoon bridge and opened traffic all the way to Ikšķile on October 1. The flood of December 4 washed away the aforementioned bridge.

Since 1919, the station has been called Vecmuiža. In 1926, a stone building (architect J. Neijs) was built on the site of the wooden station building destroyed in the war. In 1940, the station was renamed Vecumnieki. On June 14, 1941 and March 25, 1949, several hundred Latvian residents were deported from Vecumnieki station, as well as from many other Latvian railway stations. In total, 44,271 Latvian residents suffered as a result of the deportation actions of March 25, 1949 (until March 30).

In 2000, passenger train traffic was closed on the Jelgava-Krustpils line; currently, this line is used only for freight train traffic.

Arendole Manor was first mentioned in historical sources in the 16th century. Over the course of time, the owners of the manor have changed several times. The manor has belonged to the Grappenbruck, Lydinghausen-Wulf and Plater-Zyberk families. The manor house received its current look during the reconstruction between 1895 and 1901. On 14 January 1921, on the basis of the agrarian reform law, the manor was expropriated and put at the disposal of the Kalupe Parish Board. The landlord house building of the manor was renovated and, in 1925, a primary school and an orphanage were founded there, while the home for the disabled of the war was established in the building of the servants’ house. The school and the home for the disabled were operating until 1975.

In 1995, the building of the Arendole Manor landlords was purchased by private owners and its restoration began. Since 2002, the association “Es Latgalei” (I am for Latgale) has been operating at the manor, which is taking care of its preservation and development.

The visitors to the manor have the opportunity to see the renovated premises and get acquainted with the largest collection of ancient objects in Latgale, as well as to learn about the historical events of the 20th century in Latgale. A special exhibition is dedicated to Jānis Babris, the former policeman of Kalupe Parish (1904–1982), who, on 14 June 1941, resisted a deportation task force, shot a militia operative, Slics, and wounded Communist Party plenipotentiary, Jozāns.

Arendole Manor offers overnight stays and rental space for various events.

A memorial site where a memorial stone was erected on June 14, 1989 to the people of Jelgava who suffered and died in the Soviet genocide against the Latvian people.

In 2008, in memory of those who died during communist repressions, a memorial "The Road of Suffering" was opened in Svētbirzē. It is designed as a railway embankment approximately twenty meters long.