In the picture: the territories occupied by the USSR and Nazi Germany at the beginning of World War II.

A Soviet regime was established in the independent Baltic states, the Sovietization of the countries began - within a year

• a different value system, a different ideology was imposed on people;
• many people lost their property;
• repressions began soon after the occupation - people were arrested, tortured, killed;
• On June 14, 1941, more than 15,000 Latvian residents were deported from Latvia to Siberia and other remote regions of the USSR.

Pictured: Torņakalns station in Riga. A memorial site has been established in Torņakalns to commemorate the victims of the communist terror of 1941.

Its most emotionally impressive element is the deportation wagon. Looking at the small wagon in the wild, it is hard to believe that it was possible to “load” more than forty people into it. Let alone imagine that in such conditions – in many cases without proper food, without basic necessities, without anything – thousands of kilometers had to be covered.

After the German attack on the Soviet Union in June 1941, Latvia fell under the rule of Nazi Germany. The Soviet occupation was replaced by the German occupation.