Deportation Wagon
During early Soviet times more than 50 000 people living in Latvia were deported to Siberia and Central Asia in such wagons. It was about 2% of country population and all of them were classified as enemies of workers.
Deportation of Latvian people was just a little part of something much bigger. Total more than 3 millions of people were transferred in USSR for 8 years between 1941 and 1949.
It was a big crime against freedom and human being in general.
This wagon is forever parked at Tornakalns station, which is infamous because of such events.
See also another memorial to deported children.
BTW, Ozols has a great rap song about this events called Deportacija.
People Reaction (5)
Excellent post. Thank you.
That is such a painful past. I am glad you have this memorial, so people never forget.
it was much more then 2%.......actually, it was about 50% in reality (yea yea, fuck theoretical facts!!!!)..... 50% of latvian people got deported...in their place russians got placed with 300% more people than originally latvians were living...
and for all russians..dont hate me..biggest part of my friends are russians..i dont blame them anything..stalin and lenin are dead..but never forget..same as yugoslavia...soviet union was one big shit, at the end, the only thing that soviet union was good for was murder, rape, corruption, abuse, and many other horrible things, sure, communism ideoligy, great!! but it doesnt work.. this is a free world.. soviet union, goodbye! forever, goodbye! .. greetings from the west to eastern europe! we support you!.... viva the baltics and viva a free europe!!!
May I have your perpission to use your photo in the story of my father and brother who both spent long years in Siberia. Stalin also murdered my uncle in the purge of officers in 1937.
I can no long fly and cannot come home to take photos for my self any more.
I am mainly writing our family story for my grandchildren who have neither experienced war, famine or the terror of both communism and fascism.
My grandmother died in one of these wagons. We have no idea where her body was buried. Such sad times. Have we really learned enough from such events. From what is happening in this world, I think not.