Salaspils Memorial Ensemble Memorialinis vieta
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Salaspils Memorial and historical exhibit is located in Salaspils municipality, 1.2 km from the Riga-Daugavpils A6 highway. The Salaspils Memorial was unveiled in 1967 on the site where during World War II the Salaspils Camp was once located. It is a place that was used for Soviet propaganda and is shrouded in myths and half-truths. It is a good representation of the Nazi crimes and Communist ideology that was carried out during each of the occupations. This repressive camp was a part of the German penitentiary system. It had similarities with concentration camps, but it was not the same thing. It was created so that there would not be a disproportionate number of prisoners in Riga prisons. This camp was an “extension of the police prison”. And a variety of people were imprisoned here – Jews, the Red Army prisoners of war, absentees, political prisoners, criminals, prostitutes, members of the Latvian resistance movement, Baltic soldiers in the German Army or police, and others. The camp could hold up to 2,200 prisoners. The main cause of death (~2000) was malnutrition, working conditions, corporal punishment and illness.
Panaudoti šaltiniai ir literatūra:
Kangers, K., Neiburgs, U. ,, Vīksna, R. There is only land behind this gate. Salaspils camp: 1941-1944. Riga: Latvian media, 2016.
Čunka, J. Historians: Salaspils camp cannot be called a concentration camp; the data on the victims were exaggerated. Lsm.lv. Available: https://www.lsm.lv/raksts/dzive--stils/vesture/vesturnieki-salaspils-nometni-nevar-saukt-par-koncentracijas-dati-par-upuriem-bija-parspileti.a166227/ [accessed 9.06 .2021.].
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About the Salaspils Memorial as a symbol of the ideology of the Soviet occupation regime.
The description vividly describes the extent to which a place of remembrance is politicized and its role in the ideology of the Soviet Union. The text states that one of the main goals is to fight the "rebirth of fascism". This shows that efforts with ideological infrastructure to hide communist crimes and prevent dissent are continuing. Memorial sites, Soviet army cemeteries and museums, and various cultural events maintained the myth of the "liberation of Latvia" and the "Brother Soviet Union." An inverted view of the events of World War II in Latvia was created using the facts of Nazi crimes.