Litene
Encyclopedia
Litene - center of Litenes parish, in Gulbene District
, Latvia
. Other names: Lytene, Myza Lytene Population - (?).
Notable buildings - Litene Manor .
in 1941. For it was Litene Army camp where most of them were arrested under disguise of "training exercise". Two hundred Latvian officers were shot in Litene, 80 in Riga and 560 were deported to Norilsk
to forced labor at Norillag
. After the war only 90 of them returned from Siberia.
In the spring of 1941, units of the Latvian Army 24th Territorial Corps were sent for summer training to the former Latvian Army base at Litene . On 14 June 1941, the remaining officers, while on an alleged training mission, were disarmed, arrested and deported to Norilsk
, north of the Arctic Circle
in Siberia
, where they were sentenced to death or long-term imprisonment.
During the commemoration ceremonies on 14 June 2001 at Litene fraternal cemetery Latvian Defence Minister Girts Valdis Kristovskis
unveiled a memorial to Latvian army officers killed in 1941.
In 1988, excavation was undertaken at the former Latvian Army summer camp in Litene, where in June 1941 officers of the former army of the Republic of Latvia (which by then became the 24th Territorial Corps) were arrested and killed. The excavators uncovered the remains of 11 individuals, evidently officers of the 24th Territorial Corps.
According to The Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defence, Senior Lieutenant Fridrich Jakovlevich Feldmanis was shot dead while trying to escape between August 1 and 10, 1941. The last place of his military service is shown as 183 Infantry Division of the Red Army.
Reference: foundation (fond or фонд) 33, volume (opis or опись) 11458, case (delo or дело) 7.
Gulbene District
Gulbene District was an administrative division of Latvia, located in the Vidzeme region, in the country's north-east. It was organized into a city and thirteen parishes, each with a local government authority...
, Latvia
Latvia
Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...
. Other names: Lytene, Myza Lytene Population - (?).
Notable buildings - Litene Manor .
History
Litene became a known symbol in the summer of 1941, the "year of terror" of the Soviet occupation. Eleven hundred Latvian army officers were arrested by NKVDNKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs was the public and secret police organization of the Soviet Union that directly executed the rule of power of the Soviets, including political repression, during the era of Joseph Stalin....
in 1941. For it was Litene Army camp where most of them were arrested under disguise of "training exercise". Two hundred Latvian officers were shot in Litene, 80 in Riga and 560 were deported to Norilsk
Norilsk
Norilsk is an industrial city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located between the Yenisei River and the Taymyr Peninsula. Population: It was granted city status in 1953. It is the northernmost city in Siberia and the world's second largest city north of the Arctic Circle...
to forced labor at Norillag
Norillag
Norillag, Norilsk Corrective Labor Camp was a gulag labor camp set by Norilsk, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia and headquartered there. It existed from June 25, 1935 to August 22, 1956....
. After the war only 90 of them returned from Siberia.
In the spring of 1941, units of the Latvian Army 24th Territorial Corps were sent for summer training to the former Latvian Army base at Litene . On 14 June 1941, the remaining officers, while on an alleged training mission, were disarmed, arrested and deported to Norilsk
Norilsk
Norilsk is an industrial city in Krasnoyarsk Krai, Russia, located between the Yenisei River and the Taymyr Peninsula. Population: It was granted city status in 1953. It is the northernmost city in Siberia and the world's second largest city north of the Arctic Circle...
, north of the Arctic Circle
Arctic Circle
The Arctic Circle is one of the five major circles of latitude that mark maps of the Earth. For Epoch 2011, it is the parallel of latitude that runs north of the Equator....
in Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
, where they were sentenced to death or long-term imprisonment.
During the commemoration ceremonies on 14 June 2001 at Litene fraternal cemetery Latvian Defence Minister Girts Valdis Kristovskis
Girts Valdis Kristovskis
Ģirts Valdis Kristovskis is a Latvian politician and the current Foreign Minister of Latvia in the Cabinet of Valdis Dombrovskis....
unveiled a memorial to Latvian army officers killed in 1941.
In 1988, excavation was undertaken at the former Latvian Army summer camp in Litene, where in June 1941 officers of the former army of the Republic of Latvia (which by then became the 24th Territorial Corps) were arrested and killed. The excavators uncovered the remains of 11 individuals, evidently officers of the 24th Territorial Corps.
List of Latvian Army officers killed at Litene
- First Lieutenant Fridrichs Feldmanis
According to The Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defence, Senior Lieutenant Fridrich Jakovlevich Feldmanis was shot dead while trying to escape between August 1 and 10, 1941. The last place of his military service is shown as 183 Infantry Division of the Red Army.
Reference: foundation (fond or фонд) 33, volume (opis or опись) 11458, case (delo or дело) 7.
Litene tragedy in music and art
- Litene : ballad for 12-voiced chorus, composed by Pēteris VasksPeteris VasksPēteris Vasks is a Latvian composer.Vasks was born in Aizpute, Latvia, into the family of a Baptist pastor. He trained as a violinist at the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music, as a double-bass player with Vitautas Sereikaan at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and played in several...
to a text by Uldis BerzinsUldis BerzinšUldis Bērziņš is a Latvian poet and translator.He studied Latvian philology at the University of Latvia and published his first collection of poetry in 1980...
(1993). ISMN M-001-10158-5 EAN 7318590011454
See also
- Katyn massacreKatyn massacreThe Katyn massacre, also known as the Katyn Forest massacre , was a mass execution of Polish nationals carried out by the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs , the Soviet secret police, in April and May 1940. The massacre was prompted by Lavrentiy Beria's proposal to execute all members of...
- Mass graves in the Soviet UnionMass graves in the Soviet UnionThis page discusses mass graves in the Soviet Union.-Soviet repression and terror:The government of the USSR under Stalin murdered many of its own citizens and foreigners. These mass killings were carried out by the security organisations, such as the NKVD, and reached their peak in the Great Purge...
- NKVD prisoner massacres
- GulagGulagThe Gulag was the government agency that administered the main Soviet forced labor camp systems. While the camps housed a wide range of convicts, from petty criminals to political prisoners, large numbers were convicted by simplified procedures, such as NKVD troikas and other instruments of...
- occupation and annexation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union (1940)Occupation and annexation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union (1940)The occupation and annexation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union covers the period from the Soviet–Baltic mutual assistance pacts in 1939, to the illegal annexation in 1940, to the mass deportations of 1941...