The first refugee boat "Zeal" from Bambali
On 31 October 1944, the boat "Centība" left the Kurzeme coast. The departure of this boat was reconstructed by Valentīne Lasmane, the Convener of the Latvian Central Council, from the recollections of several fellow passengers
On the same day of October 31, Voldemārs Jurjaks and the RS had contacted the local coast guards, as the small rowing boats needed to be built on the motorboat had been collected and placed at their guard headquarters. The coast guards were Lithuanians in this place. They agreed that they would not interfere with the rise and would also allow the use of small rowing boats. When twilight fell, V. Jurjaks and RS went to the seashore after the habit and after a while heard the noise of the engine at sea. It should be noted that the organization of the Bambaļi construction site took place in the beginning of September, when the motor boat "Blāzma" led by Krišs Lāčs left Sweden for Bambaļi. K. Lācis and his wife were from this area. This made it easier for V. Jurjak to organize this place. From the beginning of September, all boat drivers were instructed to approach the coast of Kurzeme in the Pāvilosta-Labrags district and to head north to Ventspils, watching for signals from the coast. After receiving the boat's signals, V. Jurjaks and RS hurried to the Lithuanian guard's headquarters, got a rowing boat and went to the arriving motorboat. It was "Zeal" with the driver Veco Jansons and the motorcyclist K. Silēvičs. Mr Janson's first question was where his and Mr Lāč's families were. Fortunately, V. Jurjaks had finally been able to deliver them to the place of construction. A relatively strong wind blew from the land. The sea was therefore wavy, with rippling waves. There was a bright moonlight with separate wind-borne clouds. Several local fishermen had also come ashore in hopes of bringing their sons to Sweden - those called up to the Latvian Legion. A total of 6 people were built in the first boat by Janson and Lāča's families. Rowing Wave with RS, steering by V. Jurjak.
On the second trip, Edward Zvirbulis and his wife and child boarded the boat. His wife had cancer surgery a few months ago and was seriously ill. (In Sweden, she was immediately hospitalized but died in Stockholm in January 1945.) R. Purēna's family of 4 persons, gen. Werner Tepfer and writer John Green. Razing a good piece from the shore, they suddenly heard the shooting of submachine guns. As a result, the smooth rowing broke down, and in an instant the boat was cut in the waves and flooded with water. Both women and children cried out in fear and despair. The shooting continued. Bullets shone over his head, but he was not shot directly into the boat and no one was injured. All the men jumped on both sides of the boat so that the boat would stop and not tip over. The boat was stopped on the waterfront before the first "bank". Both women and children were shouted aside, constantly shouting and crying as the shooting continued. The boat was overturned, spilled and pulled aside. It turned out that the shooters on the shore were from the Lithuanian guard, who was about to arrest everyone at the beginning. But when a couple of bottles of vodka were promised, construction was allowed to continue. No one had vodka by the sea. It could have been obtained from refugees in the woods, approx. 200-300 m from the shore. With the permission of the coast guards, Vilnis went to the forest with RS. Seeing two men coming, and frightened by the shooting, the refugees scattered somewhere in the woods. He saw some running away through the moonlit field. Gen. still met in Mežmala. Eduards Kalniņš, former Saeima deputies Jānis Breikšs and Epneris with their families. They got a couple of bottles of vodka for the guards, who then left satisfied. Arriving, the leaders of the "Efforts", Vecais Jansons and Silēvičs, heard the shooting, pulled out the anchor of the motorboat and drove deeper into the sea, where they threw a shore as a new anchor and watched the shore. When the shooting had stopped and signals were being taken from the shore, Zedy approached again and anchored closer to the shore. It was around midnight. Sick Ed brought a new rowing boat. Mrs. Sparrow with the child, as did the others. There were no more R. Puren's family in the boat, because both of their children, tested by shooting and water in the boat, were no longer available to their parents. Arriving back, the boat was greeted by Ž. Epner and 7-8 other young men, including Rūdis Jurjaks and Thompson, who were released from prison. The families Epner had called to the waterfront had refused to go because of the fire and the growing wind. Yurak had decided that he would also travel with Zed to Sweden to take part in organizing boats on Gotland. The boarders were led by Ž. Epners and someone else who had to boat back to shore. V. Jurjaks steered. While stopping at the motorboat, the other rower jumped on "Zeal" and left Ž. Epner's boat alone. (19 people left for "zeal", 5 of whom were the sons of local fishermen. The boat was able to take at least four times as many refugees.) On the way to shore, the waves anointed the boat with Ž. Epner, like a nut shell, and the current carried the boat north because Epner could not steer the boat alone in the big waves. Finally, the boat approached the shore, and Vilnis and RS, entering the sea to the chest, pulled the boat out, placing it at the headquarters of the Lithuanian watch. The refugees had long been scattered around the settlements. Yurak had promised to return by boat as soon as possible.
Across the sea in 1944/45.
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Memorial sign for refugees "Sail of Hope" in Jūrkalne
The "Sail of Hope" commemorative sign for the World War II refugees who crossed the Baltic Sea by boat to the island of Gotland in Sweden in 1944 and 1945. The memorial is located in Osvalki on the dunes between the Jura and Ventspils-Liepaja highways, near the public transport stop "Kaujas". It was created by sculptor Ģirts Burvis, who realised it as a sail of hope symbolising the memory of Latvian refugees.
Between autumn 1944 and spring 1945, fearing the renewed Soviet occupation but unwilling to evacuate to a devastated and threatened Germany, some Latvian citizens tried to reach the nearest neutral country, Sweden, by sea. Some of the boats were organised by the Latvian Central Council with the help of the Western Allied countries, which resulted in one of the largest refugee concentration points in Jūrkalnes parish. Besides the boats organised by the Latvian Central Council, other boats were also taken across the sea. It is estimated that about 5000 persons managed to cross the sea. The number of deaths is unknown, as no records were kept of refugees leaving the Kurzeme coast.
The voyages were dangerous because the refugees were threatened by German patrols on the coast and at sea, sea mines, Soviet aircraft and warships, as well as storms, as the crossings often took place in unsuitable and overloaded cutters and boats without sufficient fuel and food supplies, sea charts and navigational instruments. Departures from Latvia were carried out in secret. The destination of the boats was the island of Gotland, and the journeys most often started on the west coast of Courland (from Jūrkalne to Gotland is 90 nautical miles or about 170 kilometres as the crow flies).
Lithuanian soldiers' graves in Zaļkalns Forest
The memorial is located near the Pāvilosta beach lookout tower in the dunes. There are signs pointing to the memorial.
At the end of the Second World War, three Lithuanian police battalions, the 5th, 13th and 256th, were also deployed in Latvia, and after guard duty and fighting against Soviet partisans and the Red Army on the Eastern Front, from autumn 1944 they were involved in guarding the Baltic Sea coast in Kurzeme.
In October 1944, all three battalions, consisting of 32 officers and about 900 instructors and soldiers, were subordinated to the German 18th Army's 583rd Rear Guard Unit (Koruck 583). The unit was tasked with guarding the Kurzeme coast from Liepāja to Ventspils. All three Lithuanian battalions were deployed in the vicinity of Pavilosta. In December 1944, the 13th Battalion was transferred to the German 1st Army Corps at the Liepaja Lake.
One of the tasks of the Lithuanian coastguard, besides being ready to fight enemy landings and to report enemy ships, was to prevent Latvian refugee boats from sailing to the island of Gotland, 160 kilometres away, but the Lithuanian coastguard men did not prevent the refugee boats from leaving. However, news of the Lithuanian coastguard helping the Latvian refugees and the Lithuanians themselves preparing to cross the sea to Sweden also reached the Germans.
On 10 January 1945, the soldiers of the 1st Company of the 5th Lithuanian Police Battalion were rounded up. More than a week of interrogation and trial followed, which, as a warning to the others, decided to execute seven of the Lithuanian soldiers and to imprison 11 of their comrades in concentration camps in Germany. The execution of the seven Lithuanian soldiers (Sergeant Macijauski, the company commander; Juozas Sendrjuas, a soldier; Vladas Salickas, a soldier; Ionas Bašinskis, Krasauskas and two unknown others) took place on 21 January 1945 in the Zaļkalns Pines in Pavilosta.
In January 1945, the 5th Battalion was disbanded and the combat-ready soldiers were divided into the two remaining battalions, while the rest were formed into a separate sapper company. At the time of the surrender of Army Group Kurzeme in May 1945, two battalions (13th and 256th) were still in Kurzeme as a sapper company with a total of 900 soldiers who were taken prisoner by the Soviets.
Staldzene steep bank, from which refugee boats to Sweden were transported in 1944
In 1944, there was an active traffic of refugee boats to the shores of Sweden from Staldzene.
The building in Ventspils, where in 1944-1945 In 2010, LCP representative and refugee boat traffic organizer Dr. lived in Kurzeme. Valdemars Ginters
House at 4 Katrīnes Street, Ventspils, where archaeologist Valdemārs Ęinters worked.
From October 1944 to May 8, 1945, the representative of the LCP in Kurzeme was archaeologist Valdemārs Ęinters (nicknames "Doctor", "Gardener") (1899–1979). Participant of the Latvian War of Independence, director of the State Historical Museum and docent of the University of Latvia. Awarded the Order of the Lāčplēš War and the Order of the Three Stars. One of the signatories of the LCP memorandum of March 17, 1944. Lived in Sweden after World War II. From 1949 to 1979, chairman of the board of the Latvian National Fund.
Prison in the castle of the Livonian Order during World War II
1944-1945 in the prison set up in Livonia Oden Castle. In 2010, several members of the LCP Ventspils communication group and the movers of refugee boats were detained.
The road to "Grīnieku" houses in Vārve parish
The road to the "Grīnieku" house in Vārve parish, where in 1944 there was one of the main settlements of boat refugees on the coast of Kurzeme.
Refugee temporary accommodation "Vārve huts"
Vārves "huts", a place in Ventspils county, which served as a temporary accommodation for Latvian refugees who were waiting for boats from Gotland to arrive in 1944.
"Bambaļi" houses - one of the main places of accommodation for boat refugees
The restored "Bambaļi" houses in Ošvalki, Jūrkalne parish, were one of the main places of settlement for boat refugees on the coast of Kurzeme.
The building in Ventspils, where LCP liaison Valentine Jaunzeme (Lasmane) lived in 1944
House at Lauku Street 4, Ventspils, where the teacher teacher Valentīne Lasmane (b. Jaunzeme) (1916–2018) lived and worked, who in 1944-1945 worked as LCP liaison and member of Ventspils communication group. Lived in Sweden after World War II. She compiled the testimonies of 130 boat refugees in the publication "Across the Sea 1944/1945." (Stockholm, 1990), but V. Lasmane's own life story can be read in the book "The night is not just for sleeping" (Riga, 2020). In 2000, she was awarded the Order of Three Stars. Died at the age of 102 in 2018 in the Stockholm suburb of Tebia.
"Laukgaļi" house, writer Kārlis Skalbe's place of residence
"Laukgaļi" in Jūrkalne parish, the writer Kārlis Skalbe's place of residence in October-November 1944, while waiting for the refugee boat to Sweden.
The coast of Mazirbe, from where the refugee boat traffic to Sweden took place in 1944
The coast of Mazirbe was an important place in the Second World War, from where the traffic of refugee boats to Sweden took place in 1944.
Pāvilosta local history museum exposition
Named ‘Pāvilosta, a Closed Area’, the exhibit in the Pāvilosta Local History Museum is about everyday life in the town of Pāvilosta during the Soviet occupation; specifically, about the executive branch, border area, fishermen’s collective farm, and the cultural and social activities. In addition to the permanent exhibit, there is an interactive and emotionally rich digital exhibit in two languages and an audio-visual installation offering a film about Pāvilosta.
The museum also features a new exhibit named ‘The Golden Sand Grains of Pāvilosta’. The digital installation showcases old events, how Pāvilosta was founded and the most important developments from 1918 to the present day. Military heritage is a point of focus in the War of Independence section, which tells a story about the freedom fighters of Latvia and the time of the Soviet occupation.
Monument to those who fled across the sea to Sweden in 1944
This monument is situated on the water’s edge on Cape Puise. In 1944, around 80,000 people fled westward from the advancing Red Army, many of them by sea. This monument, commemorating that mass flight, was designed by Aivar Simson. The idea originated from Heidi Ivask, who, held in her mother's arms, was one of many who waited for a boat on the beach in Puise. Construction of the monument was led by the Estonian Memento Union.
