Kurzeme fortress museum in Zante Museum
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Kurzeme Fortress Museum is a large private collection dedicated to the events of World War II in Kurzeme. The museum is located in the village of Zante, Kandava municipality, which is part of the military history of the Kurzeme Fortress. Exhibit includes items of military history, military machines, restored trenches and bunkers.
The Kurzeme Fortress and Courland Pocket – these are the terms that are most commonly used to describe battles between the German and Red Army in Kurzeme from 1944 to 1945. These engagements or “Grand Battles of Kurzeme” were notable, because the German Army, which was located in a partially isolated territory, managed to withstand multiple large-scale attacks by the Red Army at a time when Berlin had fallen to the Allied Army and Germany had already surrendered. Units of the Latvian Legion were one of the best combat units in Kurzeme. Latvian Legionnaires believed that their fight would help thousands of Latvians to escape the Red Army's crimes against civilians. Even long after the war had ended the land of Kurzeme was riddled with reminders of the battles fought – military cemeteries, destroyed equipment, armaments and trenches.
Used sources and references:
Website dedicated to the Kurzeme front. Available at: http://www.kurland-kessel.de/default.html [accessed 19.02.2021].
Freivalds, O. Kurzeme fortress. Copenhagen: Source, 2007.
Lācis, V. Latvian Legion in the Light of Truth. Riga: Jumava, 2006.
Related timeline
Related stories
Memories of Werner Preijer, Commander of the Company of the 42nd Regiment of the Latvian Legion, about the battles of Kurzeme.
The Kurzeme fortress was formed after the fall of Riga on October 13, 1944 and the Russian break-up to Klaipeda on October 10, thus stopping traffic with Germany by road.
About found war items
In today's Latvia, the collections of various museums are supplemented by the personal collections of private individuals, which are often exhibited in public and are accessible to everyone. Many people's hobbies are ancient things, including items related to military history. Visitors often do not have an idea of the origin of these things. They suddenly appeared? In all cases, it's several years of work and an interesting, personal story about one person's interests in putting things together to make a museum out of them, for example. The narrator describes his personal experience, giving the reader an idea of the situation in Latvia after World War II. The legacy of various armies and the lack of raw materials on the farm are forcing people to find creative ways to use virtually anything to survive. Over time, the useless on the farm become valuable, historical exhibits that tell about the experience of Latvia and its people.
Stories of sunken machinery
Numerous stories of machinery sinking in swamps and lakes have survived in Latvia. Few of them are true.
Jūlij Bērziņš's testimony about the 201st (43rd Guards) Latvian Rifle Division of the Red Army in 1942-1945
In the fall of 2011, I received the memories of Jūlij Bērziņš (1900–after 1963), a Latvian living in Russia, a former soldier of the 201st (43rd Guards) Latvian Rifle Division of the Red Army (hereinafter - 201st Latvian Rifle Division; Division) - in two notebooks with a 189-page handwritten Russian story of a Latvian soldier about his experiences in the German-USSR war (1941-1945). These memories were also not commissioned work.