On August 21, 2024, the exact day of Latvia’s Independence Restoration Day, the first of four planned Memorial Pelotons scheduled for this year took place through the streets of Riga. The event was made possible through the collaboration between the Sybir Memorial Museum and the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia. The starting point for the walk — since the event was organized in this format — was the headquarters of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia. Over fifty participants from Latvia, Poland, Lithuania, Germany, and the United States took part in the event.

The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia’s team prepared a route with 17 points of interest, where participants visited sites related to the Soviet and German occupation of Latvia and learned about the fates of Latvians during World War II.

Among the visited locations was the Riga radio station, which was seized by the Soviets in June 1940 to prevent broadcast programs directed against the interests of the Soviet Union. We also reached the place where the former Roma Hotel stood — a building where Latvian Minister of War Janis Balodis met with the Soviet authorities in order to discuss the establishment of Red Army bases in Latvia.

Participants included, among others, Solvita Viba, Director of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia; Piotr Popławski, PhD, representing the Sybir Memorial Museum; and Aldona Jakavoniene from the Center for the Genocide and Resistance Research Centre of Lithuania. All attendees received commemorative reflective badges and guides to Riga’s memorial sites.