The role of the former lieutenant of the legion, Arvīdas Gailīš, in the liquidation of Pēteris Chever's group
Captain Pēteri Čevera and seven other partisans were captured on November 1, 1950 in the Engure forest massif, where the group of fake partisans of former legion lieutenant Arvīdas Gailīš (the agent-fighter's nickname was "Grosbergs") had stationed themselves by chance. It included operatives of the LPSR VDM and agent-militants who played the role of "forest brothers".
The group of fake partisans of the former lieutenant of the legion Arvīdas Gailīš (the nickname of the agent-militant "Grosbergs"), which included operatives of the VDM of the LPSR and agent-militants and who pretended to be "forest brothers", while listening to the radio, heard an interference whistle, which occurs when receiving another radio frequency, and went to find out who was listening to the radio in the forest.
Talks about possible cooperation between the two groups began, as Chevers trusted his fellow legionnaire Gailītis, whom he knew personally. 1-2 of 1950 in November, during a joint meal in the Sulu forest near Pliņciems, seven national partisans - P. Chevers, J. Gura, A. Lauks, Ziedonis Āls, Valdis Dzelzgalvis, A. Dundurs and Ārends Lapiņš were poisoned with the operative special agent - an alcoholic drink mixed with drugs "Neptun-2 " and captured unconscious.
Four forest brothers, including Chever, were executed on July 24, 1951 with the highest penalty - shooting, while the others were sentenced to long years of imprisonment in Gulag camps. Only a few of them returned to their homeland later.
The liquidation of this national partisan group is made especially tragic by the fact that the Chekists forced Lieutenant A. Laukas to become a traitor, who psychologically broke down already during the February 3rd battle when he tried to shoot himself, but was later recruited and provided information to the Soviet security authorities, as a result of which they were arrested or destroyed other members of Chever's group still at large. On March 31, 1952, the last to be arrested and later executed was Artūras Kalniņa ("Artūrs"), who had disguised himself in women's clothes and hid with his girlfriend. In addition, Kalniņa's ex-girlfriend revealed his whereabouts to the Chekists as a result of jealousy.
If the total number of members of Chever's national partisan group reached 20 people, then the number of their supporters was almost three times larger - they were at least 53 people and members of their families.
Vandzene partisans and their supporters. The tragedy of the Blum family and the mystery of the "Valdu" houses / Article (lsm.lv)
Uldis Neiburgs (Dr. hist., researcher at Latvian History Institute)
Arvīds Gailītis (timenote.info) https://timenote.info/lv/Arvids-Gailitis
Zigmārs Turčinskis - researcher at the Institute of Latvian History of the University of Latvia.
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Pēteris Čevers national partisan bunker
The bunker of the national partisans of Peter Chever is located in Lauciene municipality, about 4 km from the Talsi-Upesgrīva road. A trail covered with wood chips leads to the bunker. The renovated 31 square metre bunker is made of a concrete frame finished with half-logs of logs to create an authentic feel.
Captain Chever's group completed the bunker in the forest near Vangzene at the end of October 1949. It was planned to survive the winter of 1949-50. On 3 February 1950, the local forester betrayed the partisans and the bunker was attacked by a Cheka unit of more than 300 soldiers. At that time there were 19 people in the bunker - 17 men and two women. Six partisans fell in this unequal battle, but the others managed to break through two chains of Cheka siege by fighting their way through. By the end of the winter the partisans took refuge in surrounding houses with their supporters, but in the spring the group reunited until it was captured and destroyed in November 1950. After an attack by Cheka troops, the bunker was blown up and before it could be rebuilt, only a water-filled pit remained.
Exhibition in the KGB Building "History of KGB Operations in Latvia"
The former USSR State Security Committee (commonly known as Cheka) building is open for visitors. Here chekists imprisoned, interrogated and murdered Latvian citizens who were considered opponents by the occupation regime. There is also an exhibit from the Latvian Occupation Museum on the activities of Cheka in Latvia. Guided tours of the prison cells, corridors, basement and courtyard are available. The house was built in 1911 and it is one of the most beautiful buildings in Riga. Called the ‘Corner House’ by the people, it was the scariest symbol of the Soviet occupation regime in Latvia, and also one of the pillars of power of the USSR. Cheka operated from the Corner House during the occupation from 1940 to 1941 and then again from 1945 to 1991. Tens of thousands of Latvians were affected by direct political persecution. The fight against enemies of Soviet rule continued also after World War II. Cheka’s approach towards its operation slightly changed after Stalin’s death. Physical torture was replaced by psychological terror. The majority of Cheka agents were Latvians (52%). Russians were the second largest group – 23.7%. 60.3% of the agents were not members of the Communist Party. 26.9% of the agents had higher education. The system was designed in a way to involve local people and thus have greater control over the society. Staff documents and service records are located in Russia. And these materials have not been made available to Latvian authorities and researchers.
