Military heritage along the Iron Curtain

The Baltic states were the westernmost frontier of the Soviet Union during the Soviet era and the Cold War. Behind the frontier was what Soviet propaganda called the “rotting West”. The borders of the USSR were thoroughly guarded to prevent the Soviet people from seeing and experiencing what life was like for people to the west of the border of the USSR. Even individual fishing in the Baltic Sea was banned for fear that people would flee in their boats across the Baltic Sea to Sweden. This was a time when the Baltic states were located within the territory behind the so-called Iron Cur tain, which could only be crossed by a “chosen few”, who were often those close to the regime. When the totalitarian Soviet regime collapsed, so did the Iron Curtain. Although the main theme of the route is the Second World War and its aftermath – the Soviet occupation, the Cold War and the Iron Curtain – it also includes sites from other military periods of the 20th century and the present day. This is a continuation of the route of the same name, which starts in Tallinn, Estonia, and runs along the coast of Estonia and Latvia: “Military heritage along the Iron Curtain. Route by car from Tallinn to Liepāja”. This route, or parts thereof, can be connected to the following routes in Latvia and Lithuania: “Scenes of Soviet Lithuania”, “Legacy of the Cold War and Soviet Occupation in Žemaitija”, “World War I and the Wars of Independence in Southern Latvia”, “Along the Baltic Way from Vilnius to Riga”, “World War II and its Aftermath – Soviet Occupation in Southern Latvia and Latgale”.