• Latvia
    2007 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses

    • DEPORTATIONS TO SIBERIA

      In Latvia, as in other Soviet-occupied lands, the new government began to pursue its goal of shaping all cultural and political institutions according to Soviet models. The Communists also collectivized, or combined, privately owned farms and put them in the hands of the State. In conjunction with this campaign, several waves of deportations, climaxing in 1949, resulted in some 100,000 Latvians being deported to northern Russia, including Siberia. Two years later, the Communists focused on Jehovah’s Witnesses, deporting thousands from occupied lands, including at least 20 of the approximately 30 publishers still in Latvia.

      Although unbaptized, Valija Lange, from Ventspils, was one of those whom the KGB (Soviet State Security Committee) arrested during raids in September 1950. In a late-night interrogation in Riga, she was asked: “Why do you as a citizen of the Soviet Union operate against the State?” Valija answered calmly and respectfully, “My only motives are to serve Jehovah God, to understand his teachings, and to share them with others.”

      Along with those of 19 Witnesses, Valija’s name was on a document dated October 31, 1950. All listed were sentenced to ten years of hard labor in Siberia, and their property was confiscated. Some were allowed to go home only to be charged again. For example, Paulīne Serova was sent back to Siberia for another four years after the authorities discovered that she was receiving Bible literature in the mail.

      In the camps, the brothers continued preaching and making disciples, one of the latter being Jānis Garšk̗is. Baptized in 1956 and now living in Ventspils, he says, “I am thankful that God allowed me to be sent to a work camp, otherwise I would not have learned the truth.” What a fine attitude!

      Tekla Onckule, a native Latvian, was accused of political agitation and sent to Siberia. In the remote city of Omsk, she heard the truth from exiled Witnesses. “I will never forget my baptism,” says Tekla. “It took place late at night in an ice-cold river. I was shaking all over from the cold, but I was very happy.” In 1954, Tekla married Aleksei Tkach, who was baptized in 1948 in Moldavia (now Moldova) and later deported to Siberia. In 1969, this couple along with a handful of other Witnesses returned to Latvia. Sadly, most of the other Latvian deportees had perished in the camps.