Dark Secrets of the Corner House

About 2 blocks from our apartment here in Riga, is a large unassuming building that blends perfectly with all other surrounding buildings. It’s the “Exhibition- History of KGB Operations in Latvia” or known by locals as the “Corner House”. Today, we attended an English speaking tour to see the inside this building.

The KGB, or Russian State Security occupied this building as their Headquarters from the 1940’s. This was after the invasion by Russia into the Baltic States and controlled by Communist Soviet Union. The building is a prison and used to interrogate and torture citizens that were suspected of anti-communist beliefs or activities. KGB agents arrested persons, often at night, and brought them to this building through a back door.

Once inside, all were identified, fingerprinted, and strip searched while buttons, zippers, and clasps were removed from clothes to eliminate all escape or suicide plans.

In the original interrogation room; beatings were common to illicit confessions. A person would be coerced to name friends, associates, or family members which could result in more arrests. All were forced to sign a confession of their anti-communist views which brought harsh punishment. If they did not sign then cruel and inhumane acts of submission and intimidation was forced upon them.

After a long 4-12 hour interrogation, the inmate was shoved into a basement cell with up to 20 other prisoners. A bucket in the corner was provided for excrement. Temperatures inside the cell could be sweltering hot as a form of torture. Bright lights were constantly lit to inhibit sleeping and be under consistent observance by guards outside the cells.

The kitchen served thin soup, stale or rotten food with no concern for the well-being of the prisoners. It was a living hell hole for those who were captured and suspect of speaking ill of the communist or having a friend who was anti-communist. Inside the building, you were considered an enemy of the state and treated like a traitor.

Prisoners who signed a confession were either sent to the Gulags, Soviet labor camps, to work decade long sentences with hope to escape or were executed and shot in the back of the head. The execution room was located next to the garage for easy disposal.  Hundreds of bullet holes are still visible in the walls where men, women and children were shot in the head.

Late at night, dead bodies were tossed into the back of a truck and driven to the outskirts of town and dumped in the thick forest. Other bodies were exhumed from the backyard of this house of terror. These atrocities and horrific acts of inhumane violence occurred in this very building. 

After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, the building has been vacant until recent years when it was turned into the KGB Museum to remind people of Latvia’s tragic past.

A visit to the KGB museum is a good way to re-boot our appreciation for our liberties and freedoms.

International Womens Group

Most my life I have never considered myself as a “social person” and have avoided social gatherings with people I don’t know. But serving these humanitarian missions is bringing out a part of me to help the work go forward. Recently, searching online I discovered an International Women’s Club here in Riga, Latvia. I didn’t know what to expect and hoped to meet someone who would speak English.

Upon arriving, I was pleasantly surprised to find this group of twenty women all who spoke English very fluently. One was the wife of a Turkish Ambassador who arrived five months ago. Another was an older woman who has attended these meeting for years. She asked what I was doing in Latvia and I explained we are serving a humanitarian mission for our Church. When she thought of the name of our church she explained she recalls working alongside our young missionaries who volunteer at a soup kitchen in a large old brick cathedral in old town.

Another woman I met was from the local Salvation Army office (Kathleen). When I asked if she had ever heard about our Church she replied oh yes – the Salvation Army and LDS Church worked together on a very large humanitarian project in a nearby country. A friend of Kathleen was a woman named Amanda who works at Lighthouse Transitional Care who help foster children transition into living on their own. Amanda stated she was born and raised in Texas, but had now lived in Latvia many years. Penny has lived all over Europe. When someone asked where our church is located I couldn’t pronounce the street name, so I started to spell it, immediately they knew where the church was. They helped me learn how to pronounce the street name.

I was able to share with them the current projects we are working with and the humanitarian efforts in the Baltics. The Church helps fund thousands of projects across the world including Riga.

After I returned home, it occurred to me how beneficial attending this meeting was. I represent the Church and share the support we do for other charity organizations, even right here in Latvia. I was able to exchange business cards with a couple women and look forward to the next meeting.

Maybe, another few humanitarian projects will come forth from my being present and willing to step out of my comfort zone to attend a women’s meeting.

I Love Spring Flowers

After a long harsh winter, Latvia finally comes alive with colorful spring flowers, budding trees, and singing birds. Every day a new variety of color and beauty brings a breath of life into the city. All these flowers sprout up from the ground everywhere you look. 

My experience in Las Vegas is that spring flowers come from the nursery and are planted where we want them. It’s beautiful to see all the planted flowers around our neighborhood, but few come up from the ground on their own. The dry arid temperatures of the desert are too harsh for delicate spring flowers to bloom.

We just visited a tulip farm where all the colorful flowers were emerging. Many rows of bulbs and seeds from last year are now blossoming and it was beautiful. I walked rows of tulips in red, orange, yellow, pink, and white and a variety of other multi-colored flowers.

A few flowers were just budding, others were opening up and yet others had been open wide and sagging over. A few had reached the end of cycle, so cut and discarded. This reminded me of the stages of our lives as we all grow through the cycle of life from seeds in the ground to full bloom. In my mind, I am still in full bloom.  

Spring flowers just make me feel better.