The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia (Latvijas OkupÄcijas muzejs) is a historical museum located in the historical center of Riga, the capital of Latvia.
Opened in 1993, the Occupation Museum traces the 51 years of occupation of Latvia (from 1940 to 1991), under the Soviet regime, except for three years of German occupation, during the war (1941-1944).
The first section of the museum documents the events that led to the occupation of Latvia: the Molotov-von Ribbentrop pact, signed on 23 August 1939, with which the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany divided their respective spheres of influence in Europe Oriental.
The tour continues with the first Soviet occupation (between 1940 and 1941), then with the German one (between 1941 and 1944) and, finally, with the second Soviet occupation (from 1944 to 1991, year in which Latvia regained independence). Exhibits include a life-size reproduction of a Siberian gulag barrack.
In the last section of the museum are exhibited documents that testify to the dissent of the Latvian people against the regime, which intensified between the end of the eighties and the beginning of the nineties.
According to sources, about 200,000 Latvians emigrated to Western Europe during the years of Soviet and German occupation, of which only 80,000 returned to their country of origin after independence.
Starting from 2018, the building that houses the museum is the subject of major renovations while the exhibition is temporarily moved to another location, in Raiņa bulvÄris 7, where the old United States embassy was located.
Museum of the occupation of Latvia
Address: Raiņa bulvÄris 7, Centra rajons, LV-1050
Phone: +371 67 212 715
Site:
http://okupacijasmuzejs.lv/lv/Location inserted by
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