Occupation Museum of Latvia

The Occupation Museum of Latvia (Latvijas Okupācijas muzejs) is at Latviešu strēlnieku laukums 1 in Riga's Old Town, Latvia, in a modern black building that replaced the Soviet-era Museum of the Latvian Red Riflemen. The institution was founded in 1993, soon after independence was restored, by Latvians in exile and in Latvia to document the period from 1940 to 1991, when the country was occupied first by the Soviet Union, then by Nazi Germany and again by the Soviet Union. The museum's collection includes documents, photographs, personal belongings, film and testimony. The exhibition follows a broadly chronological path, beginning with the Soviet occupation of 1940 to 1941 and the mass deportation of 14 June 1941, moving through the German occupation and the Holocaust in Latvia, and then the second Soviet occupation, the Stalinist deportations of March 1949, the partisan resistance and life under the communist system. It ends with the independence movement and the restoration of independence in 1991. Among the best-known exhibits are a reconstructed Siberian prison camp hut, prisoner letters, objects made by deportees and items from the KGB. The museum uses an immersive approach in places, with film footage and recorded stories from survivors, while also relying on original artefacts. The museum building is a stark glass and black structure erected in the 1970s as a Soviet-era memorial museum, and it was renovated for its new use. Because the museum operates with support from donations, admission is free, though a contribution is welcomed. A newer extension and further renovation projects have been discussed, but the building currently remains the same. The museum offers audio guides in several languages and guided tours by arrangement. It has become a main stop for visitors learning about 20th-century Latvian history, and it stands next to the Latvian Riflemen Monument.