Memorial to mass deportations at the Tornakalns train station in Riga

Pictures and text by Mark R. Hatlie

These pictures were taken in Riga during the first week of September, 2007. The train station is the first station across the Daugava river from the main train station.

	This is the station as seen from a nearby bridge. The Dom church across the river is visible in the background.
	The railroad car is next to the station building.
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	1941 marks the year of the first deportations.
	The plaques are in Latvian, English and Russian. It reads, "In such railroad cars more than 16,000 residents were deported to distant regions of the USSR on June 14th, 1941. Guilty of this crime is the communist regime. Its executors were the members of the state security apparatus and their supporters. This railroad car has been placed here as a memorial to the deportees by the Latvian Occupation Museum in cooperation with Latvian Railways.".
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	The other part of the memorial complex is visible from the railroad cars. The stones are visible between the trees behind the low, green hill.
	It is in the traffic circle in front of the station.
	"In memory of the victims of communist terror" (Komunistiska terora upuru pieminai).
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