Liepāja militia building or "Blue miracle"
Infrastructure

215

In Liepāja, the militia, the institution of the communist occupation regime, was located in Republikas Street 19, a building that had been in use since its construction in the 20th century. in the beginning, people from Liepāja called it the "Blue Miracle". On the other hand, the headquarters of the check was located at Toma Street 19. Shortly after the occupation, it acquired the name "Red Miracle" in society.

In the course of investigating the crimes of the communist regime so far, it has been established that no executions or extrajudicial shootings have taken place either directly in the Liepaja Cheka building, i.e. in the "Red Miracle", or in the prison. Due to the start of the war on the territory of Latvia, all the detainees who were in these places were transferred to prisons in Russia starting from June 23, 1941. This affected both detainees who were arrested for so-called "political" crimes and criminal criminals, regardless of whether the person was under investigation or had already received a sentence.

The transfer of the prisoners was determined by the order No. 2455/M of the People's Commissar of State Security of the USSR Vsevolod Merkulov of June 23, 1941, which was addressed to the chiefs of the NKGB of the Latvian SSR, the Estonian SSR and several regions of the Ukrainian SSR. The reason for the shooting was terrible and tragic – it was no longer possible to transfer the detainees to Russia, but they could not be left alive. As a result, extrajudicial shootings of residents took place in Liepāja during the war, similarly to the cases in Riga Central Prison, Valmiera Prison, Valka and Rēzekne militias, and on the Croix Hill near Ludza. The mentioned crime took place in the "Blue Miracle" - Liepāja militia building, Republikas Street 19.

Used sources and references:

Inese Dreimane: "THE EXTRAJUDICIAL SHOOTING OF CIVILIANS IN THE LIEPAIA MILITIA, OR THE SO-CALLED "BLUE MIRACLE" AT THE END OF JUNE 1941"

Related stories

Extrajudicial shooting of civilians in Liepāja's "Blue Miracle"

Extrajudicial killings in Latvian territory during the war, at the end of June and beginning of July 1941, were the last manifestation of repression and violence in the first stage of the communist occupation, which ended with the entry of Nazi German troops into the entire territory of Latvia.

The reason for the shooting was terrible and tragic – it was no longer possible to transfer the detainees to Russia, but they could not be left alive. As a result, extrajudicial shootings of residents took place in Liepāja during the war, similarly to the cases in Riga Central Prison, Valmiera Prison, Valka and Rēzekne militias, and on the Croix Hill near Ludza. In Liepāja, this crime of the Soviet occupation power was realized in the "Blue Miracle" – Liepaja militia building, Republikas Street 19.