Remembering March 25, 1949 exibition opening


March 25, 1949 is the darkest page of Latvian history and tells the tale that no one should forget. In March, 1945 more than 90 000 citizens on the Baltic countries were deported, among them –  42 125 were from Latvia.

The night of March 25 found people woken up by gunshots or broken doors. Soldiers sent by the Soviet government told them that in two hours they will be on their way to the eastern parts of the large Soviet country. They were sent there without a permission to ever return to their homeland.

That was the widest deportation ever, when Latvian citizens got deported to Siberia and other far regions of USSR. People could take along with them only their personal belongings like clothes. food or tools, but all  other possessions were confiscated.

Depending on the distance they had to cover and weather, people have reached their destinations in the time from 5th April to 3rd May. People were placed in collective farms – kolkhozes – and the fight for survival began. The workload was brutal, without pay, many deported were starving, fell ill, watched their family die, suffered from the unjust treatment of the government representatives.

629 people were deported from Ludza district. The exhibition provides information about the life of the deported people in Siberia.