Deportation Memorial Railcar – Museum

On 14 June 1941 and 25 March 1949, the Soviet occupation regime carried out mass deportations of the Latvian population, forcibly removing tens of thousands of people from Latvia, including children, the elderly, and pregnant women. Only a few were able to take warm clothing and food with them. Many died on the way to Siberia; others were forced to begin a new, harsh life in a distant and unfamiliar land…

In remembrance of these tragic events, a memorial stone and a four-axle railcar – the Deportation Memorial Museum – have been installed near Skrunda Railway Station, from where 2,916 innocent residents were deported. This is the first railcar museum in Latvia featuring a permanent exhibition, displaying photographs of those deported from Skrunda Station, letters, memoirs, documents, and various handmade items created by the deportees themselves.

Skrunda Station served as a collection point for people sentenced to deportation and was one of three district stations where residents from both the Skrunda and Kuldīga areas were brought before being deported.

According to railway workers themselves, the railcar has significant historical value. It was built in the 1950s, and it was in railcars of this exact type—originally intended for transporting livestock—that Latvian residents were deported.

To visit the railcar museum, visitors may obtain the key from the attendant at Skrunda Railway Station and return it there after the visit.