Riga to Commemorate Victims of Communist Genocide on 85th Anniversary

On June 14, marking 85 years since the first mass deportation of Latvian inhabitants, several commemoration events will take place in Riga.

At 9:30 AM, a memorial moment will be held near Šķirotava railway station, featuring actress Zane Vaļicka, teachers and young guards from Oskars Kalpaks Folk Applied Arts Primary School, members of the Latgale Suburb Association of the Politically Repressed, and a male vocal group led by Ārija Šķepasts.

At 11:00 AM, the official Communist Genocide Victims Remembrance Day event will occur at the "Vēstures taktīla" memorial for victims of Soviet occupation, attended by top state officials and foreign diplomats.

At 1:00 PM, memorials at Matīsa Cemetery will honor those executed at Riga Central Prison in June 1941, political prisoners who died in custody in 1940–1941, and members of the national resistance movement killed between 1944 and 1953. Participants include Riga Vice Mayor Edvards Ratnieks and city council deputies. On June 27–29, 1941, the communist regime executed 99 innocent people without trial at Central Prison; between 1944 and 1953, 170 arrested resistance members died there. Matīsa Cemetery also holds executed resistance fighters; the exact number is still being determined. On May 20, the Riga City Council decided to protect these cemetery sectors by prohibiting new burial plots.

At Latviešu strēlnieku laukums, video testimonies of deportees from the Latvian Occupation Museum's audiovisual collection will be shown on a large screen from 8 AM to 8 PM (with a break from 11 AM to 12 PM). Fragments from 15 testimonies have been selected. The museum will offer free entry from 10 AM to 6 PM.

At 7:00 PM, the concert "Iesarkana saule lec" will be held at St. John's Church, performed by the Riga Orchestra under Valdis Butāns, the State Academic Choir "Latvija", and soloists Beāte Zviedre and Linda Pētersone. Admission is free with tickets. On June 13, a concert "Aizvestajiem" (For the Deported) commemorated deported children.

At 9:30 PM at Torņakalns (Riga Luther) Church, three choirs will perform Lūcija Garūta's cantata "Dievs, Tava zeme deg!" (God, Your Land is Burning!). The choirs are from Riga Luther congregation, Riga Practical Aesthetics School's "Anima Mea", and Talsi Secondary School No. 2. Entry by donation. The cantata, first performed in 1944, was banned after the occupation and revived in 1988.

In the first mass deportation on June 14, 1941, over 15,400 people were deported, including 3,741 children under 16. Death sentences were carried out on 700; 3,453 died in custody; 1,940 perished in exile settlements.