Pāvilostnieki

AJ I started going to Pāvilosta as a child, I visited my girlfriend. I had to graze cows and the border guards also had cows Darya. The cows had to graze in shifts, they had their own shepherd every day, because the whole village hunted cows in one herd. When it was time, the border guards also grazed the cows. They had their own farm - both pigs and cows. When I moved to Pāvilosta in 1981, my mother could not visit me so easily. The Executive Committee issued a certificate and the passport section issued a pass. Once the mother had not seen that the pass had expired, the border guard had disembarked her from the bus.
My husband (Belarusian by nationality) served in Akmesrags in the early 1960s. The mother-in-law told me when the father was given free time, then the two went on a date and met. It's been a couple of hours. After the army, the husband demobilized, went back to Belarus, but then returned to Latvia and got married.
IK My father Nikolai Zarecki was from Smolensk, but called him from Donetsk, because from there his father was. My father served for four years because of the extension of the service in connection with the events in Cuba. He started serving in Lithuania, then in Riga, then in Pāvilosta. It has been in Pāvilosta since 1962. On January 1, 1963, at a New Year's party, he met my mother. On June 1, 1963, they both celebrated their wedding, but Dad was still serving. His service ended in November. After that, his father went to sea, working as a ship's mechanic. Pāvilosta had border guards, rockets, liaison officers (serviced locators) and a small number of sailors (for a short time). All parts of the base were across the Saka River bridge. In the 1960s, barracks were built there for soldiers and family home officers - rockets and liaisons, where they lived with their families. Until the mid-1970s, their children came to a Russian school, when the school was closed, then they took Russian-speaking children to Aizpute. Representatives of different nationalities, including Latvians, served, but very few.
The army had its own shop and very good supply. Sometimes they already told when there would be oranges, bananas. I tasted the first bananas in the early 1970s, I didn't know what they should be - green or yellow. In the store you could get tights for children, shoes. We went to that store, first the ladies of the officers were shopping, then we, the local pilgrims, stood in line and bought things, starting with food, ending with clothes (towels, sheets, bedding). The supply for them was completely different. At first scared, but then we realized that there was nothing to fear.
There was also a time when there was a shortage of fuel, now a large part of Pauline residents ran with army fuel. They themselves were already trading.
Events always took place on May 27 - Border Guard Day. The events took place in the army part and in Pāvilosta culture house, where beautiful concerts took place. The students went to greet the border guards.
The army took part in the clean-ups and helped to improve the city with both machinery and manpower.
On February 23, the day of the army, the border guards came to the school to evaluate the regular shows. Many officers lived here with their families, most of the officers' wives worked - in kindergarten, for me in kindergarten the officer's wife was a nurse, very sympathetic with light, flexible hair.
The most interesting and unusual for the pilgrims was that the officers always went with their wives if the child had to be taken to the doctor. The people of Pāvilost never did that, they were surprised by this thing. But the officer always helped his lady to undress the child.
Quite a few Pāvilosta girls married guys serving in the army. My father served in Pāvilosta as a rocket worker.
It is interesting when during the Awakening in the late 1980s we meet to celebrate Midsummer and Midsummer, celebrated by Latvians - Popkovs, Krivcovs, Ivanovs, Kurčanovs, Jakovļevs, but all Latvians. The girls did not go to the boys until Russia, the boys stayed here.
There are still two men living in the pavilion who worked in the part. Zinchenko and Zakharov. Zakharov works in Liepaja, it is difficult to meet him. Of the Latvians, Officer Ilmārs Roze served here and now lives in Kuldīga.
In AJ Pāvilosta, a group of border guards was formed in the early 1960s, because when I started working at Pāvilosta Secondary School, the groups were already active. Orida Greenberg, the founder of the Pavilosta Museum, began to promote cooperation with border guards. One of the most important points of the students' hikes was visiting the border guards, the students liked it very much, because the border guards had thought of all sorts of attractions. They allowed the weapons to be seen, but the main attraction was the dogs of the border guards. If the hike was not included in the hike, the hike was not successful. The border guards showed their living, training and recreation areas, dining room, etc. I always remember the perfect order in the barracks, the blankets on all the beds. The yard was also tidy, flowers were arranged.
The army left its entire territory in excellent condition.
Since 1987, I have led a group of border guards, with both boys and girls actively participating. My job was simple, once a week I had to take the children to the border guards and there they worked - they learned to work with walkie-talkies, disassemble and assemble machines, take part in various war games. Competitions were also organized, the group participated in the competition in Vārme, once we won the 1st place, we received the award for the radio device "Selga."
During the hikes, students were able to visit the restricted area. A list of participants was compiled, often students went on hikes from the southern pier of Pāvilosta to Akmesrags along the sea.
IK Speaking about Pāvilosta port, there is such a saying "Mi skaimiņam paidjom na mol zuš laviķ!" If someone went to the pier to fish, they had to report to the border guards first. One man had already forgotten to speak Russian, but had not yet learned Latvian. The border guard takes a list of local residents and searches for the surname Skaimiņš and cannot find it, because such a surname does not already exist.
All the big bosses were already at sea with the locals and fishing for salmon.
Coastal fishing was also prohibited in Pavilosta. At sea, fishermen sailed with RB-type vessels, the vessels were inspected by border guards every morning when they went out to sea and every night when they entered the port. Swimming was allowed from the northern pier to the large Jūrakmeni, about 1 km. In summer, you could stay on the seaside until 22:00 in the evening. Jurmala was regularly harrowed until the mid-1970s, after that not anymore. Photography on the seashore was strictly forbidden, so photography was a huge rarity at the time. The same dune, now the famous Gray Dune, where sea manure was dried, is not immortalized in photographs and now there are disputes over what it really looked like.
Most amber and at that time all sorts of interesting things washed up on the shore behind Jūrakmens, where you could not go. Then the boys with mopeds drove fast and collected these things, but the border guards caught someone from time to time. The potatoes were peeled and released at home, but neither the "trophies" nor the amber were taken away.
AJ Once my girlfriend Anita and I and our friends are sitting in our backyard, there was also an executive committee. Accidentally, one of the guys knocked on the window by hand. Here, suddenly, a border guard hut enters the yard, border guards jump out with rifles, and the two boys are ordered to put their hands on their backs, board the hut and take them away. They were taken to the post, where they got to peel the potatoes, and after three hours they were released home. Taking it away is nothing. "