Salaspils Memorial Ensemble, Salaspils
From 1941 to 1945, the Salaspils Memorial Ensemble was built on the site of a National Socialist Germany extended police prison and labor correctional camp (Erweitertes Polizeigefängnis und Arbeitserziehungslager). Deported Jews from Germany, Austria, and Czechoslovakia erected it. The camp housed citizens and military personnel from Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, as well as transit convicts from Latgale, Belarus, and Russia. More than 20,000 people passed through the Salaspils camp throughout its different periods of existence. At least 2,000 to 3,000 individuals perished at the camp as a result of hard labor, disease, malnutrition, and brutal treatment and punishments.
On the camp grounds, one of Europe's largest memorial complexes remembering Nazi victims was inaugurated in 1967. With a 100-meter-long concrete wall, the Salaspils Memorial Ensemble forms a representation of the border between life and death, with the words "Beyond these Gates the Land Groans" engraved on it. "Mother," "The Unbroken," "The Humbled," "Protest," "Red Front," "Solidarity," and "The Oath" are among the seven concrete sculptures. The Salaspils Memorial Ensemble is an important aspect of Latvian culture. At the monument's entrance, an exhibition is being built. Sculptors: G. Asaris, O. Ostenbergs, I. Strautmanis, O. Zakamennijs, J. Zari; architects: G. Asaris, O. Ostenbergs, I. Strautmanis, O. Zakamennijs.
Website: www.salaspilsmemorials.lv/en/index/
Location: Salaspils novads, Salaspils pilsēta, LV-2117, Latvia
