Das Jahe des Grauens's file / תיק – שנת האימה

These sources document the Soviet occupation of Latvia Between 1940 and 1941, as depicted in a 1943 German propaganda publication called "The Year of Horror"The documents describe, through photographs and texts, the The violent repression, the mass imprisonments and executions carried out under Stalin's rule. The content highlights the Confiscation of property from farmers, destruction of cultural and religious sites, and use of detention and torture facilities by the secret police. Testimonies and statistics are presented to illustrate the The deportation to Siberia and the great human suffering that befell the local population. The sources serve as visual historical evidence of the Latvian national tragedy under The Bolshevik regime.

The sources describe the period known as the “Year of Horrors” (Das Jahr des Grauens) in Latvia, between 1940–1941, under Soviet occupation (H47-1f). This is a propaganda publication published in Riga in 1943, during the Nazi occupation, and aimed to present the crimes of Bolshevism using a strongly anti-Semitic narrative that identifies the Jews as the driving force behind Soviet terror (H47-1f).

Key events and crimes of the Bolshevik regime:

• The Red Army invasion: On June 17, 1940, armored units of the Soviet Army invaded Latvia and annexed it to the Soviet Union, eliminating democratic institutions of government and establishing a puppet government (H47-1f).
• Terrorism and repression: The Bolshevik regime operated an extensive terror system through the GPU (Secret Police). The sources describe the "House of Horrors" in Riga, where severe torture was carried out in basements and solitary confinement cells (H47-1f). Evidence has been found of execution chambers with walls coated with rubber to absorb bullets and blood, and drainage channels in the floor (H47-1f).
• Mass deportation to Siberia: On the night of June 13-14, 1941, a mass deportation operation was carried out in which approximately 34,250 people, including men, women, and children, were arrested and sent to Siberia (H47-1f). The deportees were crammed into cattle cars without basic conditions, and many of them perished en route (H47-1f).
• Destruction of the economy and private property: The regime nationalized land, factories, and bank accounts, and abolished the right to private property (H47-1f). Latvian farmers were forced to give up their lands in favor of collective and state farms (H47-1f).
• Religious and cultural persecution: The Bolsheviks conducted propaganda against the Christian religion, turned churches into warehouses or dance halls, and destroyed national monuments (H47-1f).

Key figures:

Victims:

• General Bolstein: Commander of the Border Guard Brigade who investigated the first Soviet border attacks in June 1940 (H47-1f).
• Oberst Streipa: A senior officer in the Latvian army who was brutally murdered in the basements of the GPU (H47-1f).
• Arnolds Cuibe: The director of the schools department who was tortured and murdered by the Bolsheviks (H47-1f).
• Jānis Ozoliņš: The commander of the railway defense who fell victim to torture and murder (H47-1f).
• Gedimins Franckevics: A 19-year-old student who was executed for belonging to a Latvian youth organization (H47-1f).

Nazis (and similes mentioned in the context of German rule):

• Adolf Hitler: Mentioned in the text as a "liberator" who sent the German army to save Latvia from Bolshevik annihilation (H47-1f).

(It is important to note that the sources are Nazi propaganda documents, which use the suffering of Latvians to justify Nazi ideology and incite hatred towards Jews).

List of sources

• H47-1f : A Nazi propaganda book called "The Year of Terror" that describes, through images and documents, the period of Soviet rule in Latvia (1940-1941) and its crimes from an anti-Semitic perspective.

 

– H47-1f

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