Documents left behind by the Bolsheviks reveal the destinations of the deported Latvians. The map on the right shows districts of intended locations. Numbers for each location are specified as numbers of railway cars, not people! A few, who at the last moment discovered the terrifying communist plans, escaped and went into hiding.

An officer of the Home Guard with his wife [above]. After three weeks of hiding in the forests, they were scarcely recognizable. [right]

LATVIANS, DO NOT FORGET!

Everyone who went through this door of the CHEKA lived through the most terrible fear, and the worst torture and suffering. For many Latvians unable to escape, who did not know how to hide from the Bolsheviks' bloody clutches, life ended behind these doors.

"The most democratic constitution in the world", the constitution of Stalin, "the Father of Nations and of Working People", guaranteed that "Latvia's future would be happy and sunny." Thousands of Latvians endured a bloody and pain-filled night, where death was the only deliverance.

HOW THE CHEKA WORKED

If the CHEKA intended to destroy anyone, it requested that material for that purpose be found; that is, fabricated.

An order addressed to the NKVD Third Special Branch to provide complete proven and compromising material on Clara Veiss.

.

Deliberate malice on this occasion is especially conspicuous: Clara Veiss had departed from Latvia a year before, as shown in an NKVD document.

The Soviets could rely on their mercenaries. The report of writer Janis Niedra to the State Security Commisar comrade S. Sustin.

Special reports were ordered for the gathering of incriminating information on people under suspicion. The CHEKA kept a special file on each one of them. If one institution did not have the needed material, they were borrowed from another.

Order from Latvian Interior Commisariat for the gathering of incriminatint materal.

THE LATVIANS WERE PERSECUTED FROM THE FIRST DAYS OF THE COMMUNIST RULE

The witnesses of the methods of the communist rule. Statements of arrests and searches.
A police calendar taken from citizen Prieditis during a search. A note identifies the searchers.

Particulars and directions on persons to be watched, searched or arrested were delivered to the CHEKA by a carefully organized network of informers, spies and agents. However, the most valuable service came from trustworthy men, planted in offices and working places

Return to Main Page | Onward to the CHEKA