Cheka II World War II

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.

During World War II, one of the largest national partisan camps in the Baltic states was situated in Stompaki Swamp. Today, the territory is included in the nature reserve “Stompaki swamp”. The settlement sites located on the islands in the swamp can be reached via a marked footpath.

In early 1945, about 350 to 360 people, including 40 to 50 women, lived at the camp of National Partisans in Stompaki Swamp. The camp consisted of 24 residential bunkers – buildings that were half-immersed into the ground and could accommodate 3–8 people. There was a bakery, a church bunker and three above-ground rails for horses. Partisans from the camp carried out attacks against officials of the occupation regime.  On 2–3 March 1945, the Battle of Stompaki took place here – the largest battle in the history of Latvian national partisans. The 350–360 partisans in the camp were attacked by the 143rd Rifle Regiment of NKVD and local fighters of the so-called ‘istrebitel’ (eliminators) battalion – 483 men in total. The battle lasted for the entire duration of the day on 2 March. On the night of 3 March, the partisans managed to break out of the camp and retreat to their previous base camps. The battle resulted in 28 casualties among partisans, while the NKVD force lost 32 fighters.

Today, the site of the Stompaki camp is home to three restored bunkers – a church, a headquarters and a residential bunker – as well as 21 sites of former bunkers. Information boards about the camp and the battle have been installed at the site. Guided tours can be booked.

Located in the forest 50 m from the V36 highway, on the section from the Jugla paper mill village to the P4 highway.

Between February 3, 1941 and March 25, 23 people were buried in four pits at this site. The victims had been shot in the Cheka building in Riga. The exhumation took place on April 27, 1944. At that time, 14 of the buried were identified, and today, as a result of research, all those buried at this site have been identified.
The White Cross was erected at this location on July 12, 1991 as a memorial to the victims of the communist occupation regime. The White Cross was made and erected by the People's Front members and residents of the Stopiņi district. In 1998, a memorial stone made by sculptor Uldis Sterģis with the inscription "To the victims of Russian imperialism 1941" was erected near the White Cross.

The following were buried here: Jānis Bergmanis (1900-1941), Alberts Bļodnieks (1904-1941), Kārlis Goppers (1876-1941), Arveds Laane (1916-1941), Ernests Ošs-Oše (1882-1941), Antons Pacevičs (1901-1941), Jāzeps Pošeiko (1897-1941), Arnolds Smala (1912-1941), Jāzeps Stoļers (1903-1941), Walfrīds Vanks (1888-1941), Zenons Vjaksa (1904-1941), Viktors Kopilovs (1904-1941), Kārlis Prauls (1895-1941), Artūrs Salnājs (1904-1941), Evgenijs Simonovs (1896-1941), Eduards-Verners Anerauds (1897-1941), Efraims Gorons (1910-1941), Pēteris āaksa-Timinskis (1913-1941), Pēteris Melbārdis (1892-1941), Izraels Paļickis (1911-1941), Jānis Priedītis (1897-1941), Jānis-Arnolds Stālmanis (1913-1941), Aleksandrs Weinbergs (1884-1941).

The museum exhibits the history of Latvia from 1940 to 1991, under the occupation of Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. ‘House of the Future’ is a reconstruction and expansion project of the Occupation Museum designed by the well-known American Latvian architect Gunārs Birkerts as well as the new exhibit of the museum. The exhibit ‘History of Cheka in Latvia’ was created by the Occupation Museum and it is located in the ‘Corner House’, which is the former USSR State Security Committee (KGB) building. Latvian Occupation Museum was founded in 1993. It tells the long-hidden story of the fate of the Latvian state, nation and land under the occupation of two foreign totalitarian powers from 1940 to 1991. At the end of 2020 the museum had more than 70,000 different historical items (documents, photographs, written, oral and material evidence, objects and memorabilia). Museum specialists have recorded more than 2,400 video testimonials, making it one of the largest collections on occupation in Europe. The events that unfolded in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia clearly show us what the nations had to endure under the two totalitarian regimes.

Located: Inčukalns municipality, Inčukalns, Miera Street, Inčukalns cemetery.

Monument opened: July 16, 1944. Monument opened after the death of K. Zāle. Inscription: For the fallen partisans of the Fatherland in 1941 (restored). Monument restored on November 5, 2020. Monument restored with the support of the Inčukalns Regional Council. Restorer artist Igors Dobičins.

Events: “On June 17, 1940, Latvia was occupied by the USSR. On June 14, 1941, deportations were carried out. On June 22, 1941, Germany attacked the USSR and units of the Wehrmacht entered Latvia. The Red Army and its supporters retreated. In many places in Latvia – including Ragana, Sēja and Inčukalns – former guards and patriotic young people organized themselves to protect their homes and rush to drive out the Soviet occupiers. When the flag of the Free State of Latvia was raised again in the “Ziediņi” (Flowers) neighborhood of Sēja parish on July 1, 1941, special units of the Red Army shot the landlady of this house – 39-year-old Elza Viša – at the Northern Cemetery, and her mother – 64-year-old Elza Martinova – at the border of Sēja and Krimulda parishes. This created even more hatred and indignation among the residents of the area, and they began to gather in the people's resistance movement and form self-defense units, which were also called the first partisans (the leader of the Inčukalns group was Maksis Cālītis). The fighters of the region were also joined by soldiers and officers from the so-called Latvian Territorial Corps who had escaped from the Litene military camp or who had been released. An armed clash with the Reds took place a few days later, on July 4, and seven soldiers and the son of the pharmacist from Ragana, Pēteris Prašķēvičs, died in the battle. In addition, the 17-year-old student of the Rēzekne Teachers' Institute, Jānis Porietis, was also wounded and taken prisoner in the Battle of Ragana, who was tortured, shot and buried near Straupe.

Here in Inčukalns, a common grave of brothers was dug out, to which coffins made of white unplaned boards were brought one by one in eight horse-drawn carriages, so that the fallen heroes could be laid to rest in their native land. A few months later, already during the German occupation, a monument designed by Kārlis Zāles (from 1939 until the end of his life on February 19, 1942, due to a serious illness, the brilliant Latvian sculptor chose Inčukalns as his place of residence) was installed in the cemetery - the image of a grieving mother over a rose lap. In the 1950s, local communist activists blew up the monument. The monument lay damaged and motionless until the Awakening, when in the late 1980s more and more people became interested and talked about the events of July 4, 1941 and called for the restoration of the Kārlis Zāles monument. This demand was voiced on September 8, 1988, at a meeting of the people and authorities convened at the Inčukalns Elementary School, which was attended not only by the residents of Inčukalns, but also by residents of nearby parishes, as well as members of the Environmental Protection Club and the Latvian National Union of Communists from Riga.

… The residents of Inčukalns actively participated in the restoration of the monument – Teodors Ildens, Arvīds Blaus, Pēteris Vorfolomējevs, … and many other patriotic people. On July 4, 1989, the newly reborn noble and sad monument was consecrated by the priest Vaira Bitēna in a solemn ceremony.”

Located in Plāņi parish on the banks of the Vija River.

The memorial room of General Kārlis Goppers in his birthplace "Maskati" can be visited.

The “Maskatu” farm was run by the general’s brother Augusts Goppers, because the talented war leader was busy with major events and world wars. In 1920, the general returned to Latvia, to his native home. But many responsible duties connected him to Riga. Augusts continued to manage “Maskatu”. In 1940, General Goppers was arrested and shot in the Cheka cellars on March 25, 1941. In 1944, the Gopper family fled to Courland with three horse-drawn carriages. The war divided the family, and Aleksandrs Goppers’ daughters – Biruta, Elza and Anna – remained in Latvia. They were no longer allowed to return to “Maskatu”. The houses were large and carefully maintained. Three or four families of newcomers were accommodated there in separate rooms. A horse farm was set up in the large barn. Due to mutual quarrels, a fire broke out in 1980. The barn and the large shed burned down. Fortunately, the fire did not spread to the house, the flames were repelled by large trees planted by our ancestors.

In 1991, after the miraculous Awakening, the Latvian state was reborn for the second time. In 1992, the family of General Goppers' brother August regained “Maskatus” as a sacred place of their ancestors. For ten years, everyone worked hard to save the houses from destruction, to restore and rebuild the destroyed buildings, to make the entire “Maskatus” farm beautiful. The houses have been restored to their ancient appearance, and a memorial room for General Kārlis Goppers has also been set up. The memorial room can be visited by calling in advance and making an appointment at +371 29396870, +371 29254285.

Located 15 km from Balvi in the direction of Viļaka, on the right side of the road.

A memorial sign is visible.

A memorial to the participants of the resistance movement, dedicated to the memory of the national partisans of Pēteris Supe who fell in the battles of March 2 and 3, 1945, was unveiled on the side of the Balvu - Viļakas highway opposite the Stompaku swamp on August 11, 2011, on the Day of Remembrance of Latvian Freedom Fighters. At the end of July, a capsule with a message for future generations was embedded in the foundation of the monument. A document with the names of 28 national partisans who fell in the battles of March 2 and 3, 1945 is placed in the capsule.

"In February 1945, on the islands of the Stompaku swamp, which the people began to call the Stompaku swamp islets, 2 km from the Balvi - Viļaka highway, the largest national partisan camp in Latvia was established, where 360 people lived in 22 dugouts. Among them were some legionnaires who, when the legion division retreated, had remained at their father's house with all their weapons. In order to destroy the partisans, on March 2, 1945, soldiers from two Cheka battalions attacked the dugouts together with destroyers, who also had four mortars in their armament. The fighting lasted all day, the partisans resisted stubbornly, and the attackers suffered heavy losses, so that they were unable to take the camp and destroy the partisans. 28 residents of the Stompaku swamp had also fallen in the battle or died from serious injuries. The next night, the partisans broke through the camps with a battle "the siege and left undefeated" - this is what Zigfrīds Berķis, the chairman of the Commission for the Affairs of the National Resistance Movement Participants of the Awards Department, writes about the Battle of Stompak.

In honor of the memory of the national partisan commander Pēteris Supe, a monument dedicated to him was unveiled in Viļaka on May 28, 2005. It is located near the Viļaka Catholic Church, on the edge of the trenches dug during the war, where the Chekists buried the national partisans who were shot. Under the monument dedicated to P. Supe, a capsule with the names of 386 fallen national partisans, descriptions of battles and materials about the partisan commander is placed. The words are carved into the stone: "To you, Latvia, I remained faithful until my last breath."
The monument was designed by Pēteris Kravalis.

Nearby is a memorial to the Latvian freedom fighters who fell in Stompaku Forest and other battle sites and were murdered by the Chekists in 1944-1956.
On June 20, 2008, a granite plaque was unveiled on the right wall with the names of 55 fallen partisans arranged in three columns.
The monument was erected at the site where the communist occupation authorities had once exhibited the remains of murdered partisans to intimidate the rest of the population.

On the adjacent plaque are engraved words of gratitude to Pēteris Supe and a poem by Bronislava Martuževa:
"Get up, Peter Supe,
Soul, fight in the war!
Today is your blood sacrifice,
Risen among the people.
Go out and live forever
In the strength and vigor of youth,
It flutters, flutters, flutters
"In the rising flag!"

The Private exhibition “Abrene Rooms” is located in the town of Viļaka, in a building with a diverse history. Initially, the building was located on the old Marienhausen market square, later it housed apartments, offices and various shops, and during World War II, it was the Latvian self-defence headquarters, the Gestapo and also the Cheka. Several exhibitions reveal diverse events and historical periods in the town of Viļaka and its nearest vicinity covering the time period from 1920 to 1960 when Viļaka was part of Jaunlatgale, later Abrene, district. The exhibit features items from the national partisan camp in Stompaki Swamp, which are related to the national partisan movement in the Latgale region. Documents and photos associated with the War of Independence are also on display. The latest exhibition is dedicated to the once-famous motocross track “Baltais briedis”.

Located in Veclaicene parish, Alūksne region.

Opened on October 4, 2019. Stonemason Ainārs Zelčs.
On March 13, 1953, in the Veclaicene forests near the "Koruļi" houses, the Chekists discovered a carefully camouflaged bunker and arrested Bernhards Ābelkoks and Elmārs Tortūz.
Weapons were found in the bunker: 2 German rifles and 95 cartridges, 2 “Parabellum” pistols and 152 cartridges.
On November 11, 1949, Cheka agents shot K. Dokti-Dokteniekus, and his group disintegrated. After the attack, B. Ābelkoks and E. Tortūzis hid for some time in a bunker near the “Maskaļi” houses, but from the spring of 1951, with the support of Ilona Ābolkalna, they set up a bunker in “Koruļi”, where they lived until their arrest.

Located in Ziemers parish, in the 66th block of the State Forest.

The memorial was opened on July 10, 2020.
In the second stage of the Latvian national partisan movement, in mid-1948, a group of 4 people - Viks Pētersi, Stebers Rolands, Bukāns Ilgmārs and Kangsepa Elvīra separated from the J. Bitāns-Liepačs unit in the territory of Mālupē-Beja parishes and began independent activities in Ziemera-Jaunlaicene-Veclaicene parishes. The partisan headquarters was near the Estonian border, not far from the Riga-Pskov highway, on a hill, in a well-built bunker.
On March 2, 1950, when the Chekists discovered the bunker, the partisans hid in a barn built of boulders in the “Napke” house on the Estonian side. After a long and intense firefight, on March 3, 1950, the Chekists managed to set the barn on fire. Ilgmārs Bukāns, Rolands Stebers, and Elvīra Kangsepa burned to death along with their newborn daughter. Pēteris Viks jumped out of the barn window and hid in the attic of the house, where he was found and shot. The farm was burned down. The bodies of all the fallen partisans were taken to Alūksne. A memorial sign was erected at the site of the fighters’ deaths in the early 1990s. Elvīra Kangsepa’s daughter, who was born in the burning barn, was named Liesma.

Located in Ilzene parish, Alūksne municipality.

The memorial stone was unveiled on September 28, 2018. Stonemason Ainārs Zelčs.

The residents of these houses in Ilzene parish from the autumn of 1944 supported the national partisans led by Voldemars Andersons (“Vecs”), whose bunker was located nearby in the thicket of the forest. On November 23, 1945, the bunker was surrounded by NKVD soldiers. Nine fighters died in the battle. After it, 2 machine guns, 14 automatic rifles, 11 rifles, 10 pistols, 3,500 cartridges, 45 grenades, 4 binoculars were found. The destruction of Voldemars Anderson’s group was planned in the Cheka agency’s case “Chain” (“Цепь”).

The group consisted of Voldemārs Pāvels Andersons ("Vecais"), Gastons Dzelzkalējs, Voldemārs Tonnis, Centis Eizāns, Osvalds Kalējs, Jānis Koemets, Stāvais ("Polis"), Voldemārs Rappa, Eduards Rappa, Elmārs Rappa (remained alive).

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 on Riga Street near the Krustpils Lutheran Church.

On September 22, 1996, a memorial stone was unveiled in Krustpils to Rihards Pārups and the national partisan group he led. The memorial stone was created by sculptor Ilgvars Mozulāns, and its creation was financially supported by the Speaker of the Saeima, Ilga Kreituse. This event was organized by the board of the Latvian National Partisan Association.

To the national partisans of Rihards Pārup,
who were murdered by a Cheka special group
Richard Parups (1914 – 2nd July 1946)

Group commander
Richard Stulpins (1923 – 1946. 2. VII)
Alberts Avotiņš (1912 – 2 July 1946)
Erik Juhna (1928 - 2 July 1946)
Aleksandrs Lācis (1919 – 2 July 1946)
Peter the Bear (1921 – 1946, 2nd July)
Jānis Ēvalds Zālītis (Āboliņš) (1911 – 1946, 2nd July)
Siegfried Bimstein, Theodore Schmidt (… – 2 July 1946)
Uldis Šmits (... - 1946. 2. VII)
Peter Lazdans (1926 – 1947)
Erik Konval (1929 – 1947. VI)
Niklāss Ošiņš (1908 – 12 October 1954) – executed in Riga
Alberts ħiķauka (1911 – 1972 II) – imprisoned in the Mordovian camp

Rihards Pārups was born on June 11, 1914 in “Kaķīši” of Krustpils parish. During World War II, he was a sergeant of the anti-tank division of the 15th Latvian division. He participated in national partisan operations in the Jēkabpils and Madona areas and was a member of the National Resistance Movement, the leader of a unit in the Jēkabpils and Madona areas. Rihards Pārups fell in battle with Cheka troops on July 2, 1946 in Vietalva parish. Unfortunately, the place of burial is unknown. A memorial plaque has been installed in the Riga Brothers' Cemetery. In the autumn of 1945, a national partisan group was formed in Jēkabpils district, led by R. Pārups. During its short existence, it participated in more than twenty armed clashes with units of the then Ministry of the Interior. The report of the Cheka Colonel Kotov to the Riga leadership states that the activities of the Soviet government in the Jēkabpils and Madona districts were effectively paralyzed during this time as a result of the group's activities. The national partisans led by R. Pārup found and destroyed several lists of deportations, thus saving the lives of many people. The leadership of the Security Committee, unable to destroy the national partisan unit in open battle, infiltrated it with four people from the Cheka special group, who shot ten partisans of the unit, including R. Pārup. In 1947, two more were shot near Jaunkalsnava, and in 1951 — one member of this unit. After twenty-five years of hard labor in a Mordovian camp, the fourteenth partisan of the group led by R. Pārup died a few days before liberation.

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.

Hotel Viru in Tallinn was built in 1972. The hotel for foreigners also had to suit to the national security body, i.e KGB. The museum tells the story of more than just one hotel and the KGB. It is a treasure trove of stories of two different worlds - one which existed mostly on paper, of happy Soviet citizens living in friendship and never wanting for anything, led by a wise, all-powerful group of men in a place where there were never any accidents or catastrophes; and the other real world, which was a very different and a much tougher place to live in.
Please book in advance to visit the museum.

This museum is located in the cellar of the former NKVD and KGB headquarters in the centre of Tallinn.

The building at 1 Pagari Street was home to one of the most infamous and feared pre-trial detention centres of the Soviet era, where many Estonian politicians, state officials, intellectuals, War of Independence veterans and even commoners were tortured and sentenced to death or prison. The unmodified cells are the epitome of the Red Terror and are now open to visitors. The museum consists of two corridors, six prison cells and one solitary confinement cell. The main exhibition, entitled ‘History of the KGB House’, recalls the atrocities committed there.

This address has had an interesting past. The residential building constructed here in 1912 was the headquarters of the Provisional Government of Estonia and the military high command during the War of Independence. Then, until 1940, the building housed the Ministry of War of the Republic of Estonia. In March 1991 the building became the head office of the Estonian Police. Today, 1 Pagari Street has regained its former residential use.

This museum is situated on the corner of Riia and Pepleri streets in Tartu.

It is a branch of Tartu City Museum. The museum is located in the infamous grey building on Riiamägi Hill that the KGB used as their base of operations in Tartu during the 1940s and 1950s. The basement here was used as a pre-trial detention centre for political detainees. Now, many years later, it is open to visitors. Some of the cells (including those used for solitary confinement) and part of the corridor have been restored to their original appearance. The exhibition in its former jail cells provides an overview of World War II, the post-war anti-Soviet resistance in Estonia, the crimes committed by the communist regime and the conditions in the detention centre. The idea of opening the museum came from members of a former underground student resistance group in Tartu called Blue-Black-White, who discovered upon visiting their former cells that the basement had been abandoned and that it would not be very difficult to restore the former look of the jail. The museum was officially opened on 12 October 2001.