President Rinkēvičs: We Must Dedicate All Our Energy to Keep Latvia Free and Strong

On the Day of Commemoration of Victims of Communist Genocide, President Edgars Rinkēvičs stated that everyone who has the opportunity to live in a free Latvia must dedicate all their energy to keeping the country always free and strong. He recalled that 85 years ago, innocent people were driven from their homes and deported, and many could not speak about their experiences – this silence is the most terrifying testimony to communist terror.

The president noted that mass deportation was not just removal – four out of ten deportees died. Those who returned did not come home, because their home was a free Latvia, not a Soviet prison. The Soviet regime considered them undesirable until the restoration of independence in the early 1990s.

Sunday marks 85 years since the June 14, 1941 deportations, when about 16,000 Latvian residents were taken to Siberia. According to the Latvian State Archives, more than 15,425 people were lost, including 3,751 children under 16. Men were separated from their families and sent to gulag camps.

From Torņakalns station, thousands of families were taken that day – approximately 9,300 people crammed into cattle cars on a harrowing journey to Siberia. A memorial stone and a railcar near the station stand as a reminder of one of the darkest days in Latvian history. Commemorative events are being held across the country on Sunday.