Exhibition at the Freedom Monument about war-ravaged Latvian cities / Article

Now and then. Rēzekne, Gulbene, Jelgava, Bauska, Valmiera and Riga. The photographs show the changes and damage caused by warfare 80 years ago. What cities looked like before the Second World War, what they looked like shortly after the war, and what they are like today.

Gulbeni was bombed by aviation, Jelgava and Valmiera were destroyed in battles. Riga and Bauska suffered when the retreating German troops destroyed important infrastructure facilities.

Valdis Kuzmins, a researcher at the Latvian National Defense Academy, pointed out that not only cities have changed since the war, but also people’s lifestyles and society as a whole: “We no longer see small shops in the streets of Rēzekne, but we see one long street. In this way, we want to show that it is a significant change, and we must do everything every day so that such destruction does not return to our cities.

The exhibition was created with the support of the State Research Program, emphasizing Latvia’s 20th-21st century. learning the history of the century.

The exhibition will be on display in Riga for two weeks, but then it will travel from city to city.

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