Deportees gather in Ikšķile: "Grandfather died in the wagon, we left him by the river"

On Saturday, August 8, Latvia's politically repressed citizens — people forcibly deported to Siberia during the Soviet era — gathered in Ikšķile for their annual reunion. The event has become a yearly tradition where former deportees meet to share memories of what they endured.

Each year the group of attendees grows smaller, as many who lived through the deportations have since passed away. Still, those who are able to attend continue recounting the difficult journey to remote regions of Siberia and the hardships of life in exile.

A family tragedy along the way

One of the participants recalled a tragedy that struck her family during deportation: her grandfather died while the family was being transported in a train wagon toward Siberia. Since continuing the journey with his body was not possible, the family was forced to leave him by the riverbank.

Such personal accounts are shared again each year at the Ikšķile gathering, helping preserve the memory of what happened to thousands of Latvian residents during the years of Soviet occupation. The reunion serves not only as a place of remembrance but also as an opportunity to pass these experiences on to younger generations, so the history of deportation is not forgotten.