Litene

Litene - center of Litenes parish, in Gulbene District, Latvia. Other names: Lytene, Myza Lytene [http://www.fallingrain.com/world/LG/9/Litene.html Litene, Latvia Page] . ] Population - (?). Notable buildings - Litene Manor [http://www.pilis.lv/tulk/view.php?id=100 Photo: Litene Manor] ] .Litene became a known symbol in the summer of 1941, the “year of terror” of the Soviet occupation. For it was Litene where mostFact|date=July 2007 Latvian officers were arrested. Part of them were shot on thespot, the others were deported to Siberia where nearly all of them died.

History

Army camp Litene is one of the places where Latvian army personnel were arrested and killed by the NKVD after occupation of Latvia by Soviet Union. [http://vip.latnet.lv/lpra/zemitis.htm Archaeology of Terror by Dr. hist. Guntis Zemītis] ] Latvian: [http://visz.nlr.ru/project/books/uk2003/13.html#lat No NKVD līdz KGB. Politiskās prāvas Latvijā 1940–1986: Noziegumos pret padomju valsti apsūdzēto Latvijas iedzīvotāju rādītājs] Latvijas Universitātes, Latvijas vēstures inst.; Red.: R. Vīksnes, K. Kanger; Sast.: Dz. Ērglis, R. Vīksne, A. Žvinklis, S. Boge.— Rīga, 1999.— XVIII, 975 lpp.]

In the spring of 1941, units of the Latvian Army 24th Territorial Corps were sent for summer training to the former Latvian Army base at Litene [http://www.lettia.lv/en_a_litene-1937-1938.html Photo Gallery: Litene army camp, 1937-1938] ] . On 14 June 1941, the remaining officers, while on an alleged training mission, were disarmed, arrested and deported to Norilsk, north of the Arctic Circle in Siberia, where they were sentenced to death or long-term imprisonment.

During the commemoration ceremonies on 14 June 2001 at Litene fraternal cemetery Latvian Defence Minister Girts Valdis Kristovskis unveiled a memorial to Latvian army officers killed in 1941. [http://www.am.gov.lv/en/?id=62 Latvia marks 60 years since Communist regime deportations.] ]

In 1990, excavation was undertaken at the former Latvian Army summer camp in Litene, where in June 1941 officers of the former army of the Republic of Latvia (which by then became the 24th Territorial Corps) were arrested and killed. The excavators uncovered the remains of 11 individuals, evidently officers of the 24th Territorial Corps.

List of Latvian Army officers killed at Litene

* First Lieutenant Fridrichs Feldmanis [http://vip.latnet.lv/LPRA/maslenki.htm "Tragedy of Maslenki - Latvia's Tragedy, June 15, 1940"] ]

Litene tragedy in music and art

* [http://www.activemusician.com/item--HL.49012122 Litene : ballad for 12-voiced chorus] , composed by Peteris Vasks to a text by Uldis Berzins (1993). ISMN M-001-10158-5 EAN 7318590011454

References