ORIGINS OF THE DOCUMENTS AND THEIR WAY TO ARCHIVES

After the occupation and the unlawful annexation of Latvia , its inhabitants were subjected to the geno cide of the communist occupation regime. For the most part it was implemented by the USSR and the LSSR People's Commissariat of the Interior (PCI), later also by the USSR and the LSSR People's Commissariat of State Security (PCSS).

When analysing the documents of the LSSR PCI and PCSS archives, mainly two sources of the State Archives of Latvia (SAL) were used:

• The 1987 Fund "Personal Files of the Persons Deported from Latvia on 14 June 1941" with one description, which comprises 5164 personal files of the deported and arrested persons and a respective card index. 1
• The 1986 Fund "The LSSR KGB Criminal Case Files of the Persons Accused for Particularly Dangerous Anti-Government Crimes (1940-1985)”, with 52 612 criminal case files included in its descriptions
  No. 1 and 2. 2

The registration and maintenance of the investiga tion case files of persons arrested and suspected in 1940-1941 was performed by the PCI First Special Department. It registered, maintained and stored the files of the cases where the proceedings had been completed, as well as registered and main­tained other agency and observation files and materials of the PCI and PCSS. The files of the cases under investigation were kept at the LSSR Prosecutor's Of fice, various prosecutor offices of Transport, town and regional departments of the PCI and PCSS, as well as at the Third Department of the Baltic Special Military District. The documents stored at the First Special Department later became the basis for establishing the LSSR PCI Archives.

When the RSFSR Criminal Code had taken effect in the territory of Latvia in November 1940, the PCI and PCSS staff started the following files about the persons suspected for "anti-soviet crimes":

• Form file where the opera tive staff collected documents verifying or rejecting information about the "anti-soviet activities" of the suspect;
• Agency development file was started if the information about the suspected person's "anti-soviet" activities had proved to be true. This file contained a detailed plan for collecting information and finding witnesses;
• Observational materials were made about persons of certain categories who had been released from the places of imprisonment (for instance, authorities of religious organisa tions, participants of the national resistance movement, persons tried for spying). Such a file was set up also about suspected persons with whom the operative staff had had "educational discussions" and who were ob served whether they did not continue their "anti-so viet activities";
• Registration materials con tained documents similar to those in the form file.

Information collected in the above files and materials for the PCI and PCSS became the basis for initi ating an investigation case . All investigation case files set up from the documents later were transferred to the archives.

When the German-USSR war started, the con­cluded investigation case files, which had been stored at the First Special Department of the LSSR PCI, were taken to the First Special Department of the USSR PCI in Moscow at the end of June 1941. Whereas the investigation cases still in the process of investiga­ tion, as well as the deported persons' registration files were sent to the respective PCI administrations of the regions ( Krasnoyarsk area, Kirov , Molotov, Chkalov, Sverdlovsk , etc . regions) where the arrested and the administratively deported persons from Latvia on 14 June 1941 had been registered.

After World War II, the deported persons' registration files, which had been brought back to Latvia, were gradually transferred to the archives of the LSSR Ministry of the Interior already as the archive registra tion files; it was done particularly actively after 1954.

In the following years, the LSSR Ministry of the Interior was in charge of the deported persons' ar chive registration files, but the LSSR Ministry of State Security and KGB, the successor to its functions, were responsible for the investigation cases (criminal cases)*.

In the second half of the 40's and early 50's - after the specially settled persons did not have to register any longer - also the files compiled in the settle­ ment about the administratively deported (specially settled) persons were gradually sent to the archives of the LSSR Ministry of Interior; in 1988-1989 they were added to the archive registration files of the de­ ported persons. Still, it should be noted that in many files of the persons deported on 14 June 1941 the docu ments are incomplete, part of the files from the ar chives of the USSR Ministry of Interior regional insti tutions have not been sent to Latvia . However, the volume of the documents contained in the archive files is extensive enough to get a comprehensive insight about the process of deportation and its consequences.

On the basis of the law "On Archives" passed by the Republic of Latvia Supreme Soviet on 26 March 1991, the commission which consisted of representa­ tives of the Republic of Latvia Ministry of Interior and the State Archives of Latvia, on 13 May 1996 signed a deed of transfer of the archive registration files of the deported persons and the personal files of the specially deported persons to be stored at the State Archives of Latvia. 3

Pursuant to the deed of transfer, the Republic of Latvia Ministry of the Interior Rehabilitation Department of the Unjustifiably Repressed Citizens transferred the files of 5164 deported persons and the respective card index to the State Archives of Latvia. The SAL 19S7 Fund was formed from the above files, where the per sonal files have been arranged in sequence of their numbers, according to the administratively territorial division of Latvia into regions as of June 1941. Also the card index has been arranged according to the re gional division as in 1941, but within regions — ac cording to alphabetical sequence of family names.

The stock of the documents of investigation cases (criminal cases) once stored in the LSSR MSS (later KGB) archives has been formed in a different way. Two funds have been consolidated in the criminal case fund - the basic fund of criminal cases and the fund of the terminated criminal cases. In the archives of the former LSSR KGB the criminal case fund was established within the time period from 2 February 1947 when various structural units of the MSS and the Min istry of Interior started to transfer the concluded pro ceedings cases 4 to the archives of the MSS of that time - and up to 17 September 1991. Case files of that fund bear the dates starting with autumn 1940 (there are some exceptions).

The basic fund of criminal case files contains cases about people who were held responsible for "particularly dangerous crimes against the state", i. e ., were punished pursuant to Clause 58 of the year 1926 RSFSR Criminal Code and Clauses 59-68, 73, 74,78, 83 and 84 of the year 1961 LSSR Criminal Code. Investigation on the above "crimes" was carried out by subordinate units of the LSSR PCSS (later MSS and KGB).

In 1956, pursuant to the USSR KGB Instruction No. 28-ps of 10 March 1956, the criminal cases of the persons imprisoned in labour camps who had been repressed by the USSR PCI (MSS) Special Meeting, as well as the cases taken out of Latvia in 1941 upon the beginning of the war, were transferred from the USSR KGB Central Archives to be stored at the LSSR KGB archives. Altogether, about 6800 cases were transferred, including the cases which the Third De partment of the Baltic Special Military District had initiated in 1940-1941 against former Latvian Army officers (later Territorial Riflemen Corps No. 24) who had been arrested mostly during the mass arrest action of the Latvian officers, which took place at Gulbene training grounds (Litene and Ostroviesi camps) on 14 June 1941.

Later, up to 1988. the LSSR KGB archives re­ ceived criminal case files, which had to be stored there according to the instructions of that time, from the KGB archives of the USSR republics and autonomous republics and the archives of the USSR KGB area and regional administrations. Among them, there were also the criminal case files Started in 1940-1941, which had not been sent to Latvia before.

In October 1990, also the criminal cases of the per sons arrested during the l4June 1941 deportation, which had been terminated during the stage of preliminary investigation as a result of death of the arrested person, were transferred to the Republic of Latvia Min istry of the Interior archives; altogether, the KGB transferred about 700 such cases to the Ministry of the Interior archives.

In 1954, the terminated criminal case funds - were established in the KGB archives of the USSR repub lics - also in the LSSR KGB archives. The criminal cases terminated in the event of absence or corpus delicti or due to lack of evidence, as well as the crimi nal cases of those who had died prior to the court proceedings, had to be kept in these funds.

The terminated criminal case fund (now — description No. 2 of SAL 1986 fund) had been compiled since 17 December 1954. Criminal cases from the criminal case basic fund were transferred to the fund of termi nated criminal cases, registering them in a new jour nal with a special index "IT' (from Russian - terminated or stopped) and making a mark in the registration journal of the criminal case basic fund.

From 17 December 1954 until December 1955 more than 1200 cases were transferred from the criminal case basic fund to the terminated criminal case fund, but in 1956 - another 800 cases; nearly all of them were the case files of the persons arrested and sen tenced in 1941. Later the terminated criminal case fund was supplemented with the criminal cases which - in the event of absence of corpus delicti or due to lack of evidence - were terminated by decisions of the USSR Supreme Soviet Military Council, courts martial of military districts and Criminal Case Court Panels of the Supreme Courts of the USSR republics.

In 1965, pursuant to an order issued by Vladimir Semichastny, Chairman of the USSR KGB, the consolidated archives for storing the terminated criminal case funds of the Latvian SSR, Lithuanian SSR and Estonian SSR KGB were established at the Ulyanovsk region administration of the USSR KGB. The terminated criminal cases which had to be stored at the LSSR KGB archives, from other KGB structures were sent to Riga, where they were registered according to a stipulated procedure and then sent to the consoli dated archives of the Ulyanovsk region KGB adminis tration for further storage.

Pursuant to the Republic of Latvia Supreme Soviet Decision of 24 August 1991 "On Termination of Ac­tivities of the USSR State Security Institutions in the Republic of Latvia", in autumn 1991 the Republic of Latvia Office of the Prosecutor General temporarily took over the storage of the LSSR KGB criminal case fund in order to continue the rehabilitation process.

Since December 1989, the terminated criminal cases were no longer sent to the Ulyanovsk region KGB administration archives, but on 6 August 1992, pursuant to a mutual agreement between the MSS of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Latvia Government, the case files from the Ulyanovsk region were transferred to the State Archives of Latvia. Pursuant to an agreement concluded between the SAL and the Republic of Latvia Office of the Prosecutor General on 11 August 1992, those case files were also temporarily transferred for storage to the Office of the Prosecutor General.

According to the law "On Archives" passed by the Republic of Latvia Supreme Soviet on 26 March 1991, on 31 May 1996 the Republic of Latvia Office of the Prosecutor General transferred all criminal cases (a total of 52, 612 criminal cases) and a respective card index to be stored at the State Archives of Latvia. 9

At present there are three descriptions in the SAL 1986 fund, based on its historical origins: Description No. 1 contains the files of the criminal case basic fund; Description No. 2 contains the files of the terminated criminal case fund (in distinction from other descriptions, the letter "Π" of the Russian alphabet appears before the numbers on the covers of its files); Descrip tion No. 3 contains 48 registration journals (22 - of the basic fund, 13 - of the terminated criminal case fund and the 13 old registration journals). In the fund descriptions, cases have been arranged in an ascend ing sequence of their numbers, whereas the card index of the criminal cases, which is subject to the fund, has been formed according to the alphabet. The process of describing the cases of this fund still continues.

The criminal case files, archive registration files of the deported persons and the personal files of the specially settled persons may be used according to the effective legislation of the Republic of Latvia, inter alia, the "Information Transparency Law", passed by the Republic of Latvia Saeima on 29 October 1998, and the "Law on the Data Protection of Natural Persons" passed on 23 March 2000.

A researcher or a relative who would like to acquaint oneself with the archive files, should know the name, surname, patronymic and date of birth of the person accused of a KGB criminal case - that would make it easier to find the particular case files.

When working at the commemorative book Aizvestie (The Deported), from the archive files the SAL staff have mainly used data related to the shooting of the imprisoned person or other facts of repression.

DOCUMENTS OF ARCHIVES FILES OF THE LATVIAN PEOPLE DEPORTED ON 14 JUNE 1941

As sources of history, the documents created by the LSSR PCI and PCSS, later MSS and KGB, have not yet been studied adequately. Historians, for instance

Rudīte Vīksne, Kārlis Kangeris, Jānis Riekstiņš, Indulis Ronis, Tālivaldis Vilciņš,

have ex pressed contradictory views about them and have in general written little about the documents. The creation of the archive files and their docu ments of the book Aizvestie , was affected by several conditions: firstly, the specific status of the repressive authorities (PCI, PCSS, MSS, KGB); secondly, the specific character of the operations of the above institutions — regime of secrecy; thirdly, the way of record keeping which differed from the usual or traditional one; fourthly, the biased purpose — to prosecute "the enemies of the soviet power".

When describing the documents of the LSSR PCI and PCSS of 1940-1941, at first the investigation cases (criminal cases) should be mentioned. Struc tural units of the PCI and PCSS could initiate the cases if there was an adequate amount of discrimi nating materials collected about the persons suspected for "anti-soviet activities". The cases were started on the basis of the agency or operative information, col lected by the operative field staff.

Criminal cases contain documents, which had to be inserted in the file in a definite sequence according to the directions on the inner cover of the file.

1. List of documents in the case file list of the persons accused in the criminal case.

In the investigation cases of 1940-1941, the above documents were drawn up by the responsible opera tive officer who received the case for record keep ing. Quite often the lists of documents in the case files are incomplete – mainly they are documents related to the suspected person's arrest, interrogation and other actions until the prosecution (in separate cases - until the sentence).

2. Materials for arrest and search (decision on the selection of the security measures, warrant of arrest, questionnaire form on the arrested person, certification on criminal record, fingerprint chart, envelope with photos, search warrant, document on search, re ceipt or document on the things and documents seized during the search, description of property, sometimes also a document on sealing the apartment).

The execution of documents differs for the cases started by May 1941, when the record keeping proce dure was strictly complied with, and the cases started in the few weeks prior to the 14 June mass deportation. The documents of the cases prepared right before 14 June often lack the necessary details: signatures of officials, indications of the time the document was drawn up, seals, signatures of the arrested persons on the reverse side of the warrant of arrest, etc . That makes one think that on the eve of the mass deportation, the latter group of documents was created in great haste and carelessly. Besides, the persons to be deported were of the category of persons to be repressed, therefore there was no need for the traditional collection of discrediting materials and careful execution of documents.

3. Investigation materials (minutes of the interrogation of the accused person, testimonies of witnesses, protocols of confrontation procedure, decision on the charge, decision on the change or modification of the security measures).

This group of documents also possesses the same features as the materials of the previous one — group No. 2. Obviously in the last weeks prior to the 14 June deportation the LSSR PCSS operative field staff had neither time nor necessity to execute the interrogation minutes and other documents according to the requirements.

Of the above documents, as a source of history, the interrogation minutes of the imprisoned persons in 1940-1941 should be assessed most critically; normally there are several of them in the criminal cases.

There is considerable difference between the min utes taken by 14 June 1941 in Latvia (they are more extensive and complete), and those written already in the USSR Gulag's camps and prisons by the op­ erative field staff, which quite often had a formal significance only - their purpose was to obtain persons' confession in "crimes against the soviet power" as soon as possible, without delving into the real conditions of the case. The latter - the minutes taken after 14 June in the places of imprisonment - are short, quite often with incorrectly spelled names of the imprisoned persons and the witnesses, incorrect names of the Latvian institutions and place-names. The things told by the imprisoned persons were in terpreted by cliché: their activities during the time of independent Latvia had been "bourgeois", "fascist-like", "anti-soviet", etc. The signatures of the inter rogated persons under the interrogation minutes quite often are unclear, their handwriting is shaky, which makes one think that the interrogators had physically influenced them. Sometimes, according to the hand writing, it can be suspected that the minutes were signed by the same person who had performed the interrogation and taken the minutes.

4. Documents (deeds, certifications issued by state authorities, and other official materials).

The documents of this group are usually short and, although not always, bearing all the necessary details, name of the institution, signatures of the heads, seals, etc. Also the operative field staff themselves, making use of the documents of the institu tions, have written certifications.

5. Materials of the completion of investigation (document on presenting the investigation materials, medical certification of the accused person, indict ment).

The indictment was written by the same operative officer or investigator who had interrogated the accused person. The indict ment was signed by the chief of the investigation group, and approved by the head of the PCI (PCSS) and the public prosecutor of the area or region where the re spective place of imprisonment (prison or camp) was situated. Sometimes the indictment was approved by the military prosecutor. Quite often the indictments drafted in 1941 lack some of the necessary signatures of the responsible persons, seals and other relevant details. The cases which were sent for review at the USSR PCI Special Meeting, contained many such pro cedural breaches. Nevertheless, that did not prevent repressions against the imprisoned persons.

Criminal case files contain medical certifications inserted before or after the indictment. The medical certifications were normally issued by the doctor of the place of imprisonment, and most often they stated that "according to the opinion of the doctors' commis sion of the place of imprisonment, the imprisoned per son is in good health and fit for work.'' Sometimes it is indicated in the certifications that the imprisoned person is a handicapped person of group No. 1 or No. 2, or that he/she is fit for "light work".

6. Material evidence

In the investigation cases (criminal cases) of 1940- 1941, quite often the documents of the time of independent Latvia, confiscated at the moment of arrest, were used as material evidence of the “criminal anti-soviet activities" against the arrested person. For the mem bers of Aizsargi organisation, their Aizsargi question naire forms and certificates were used for that pur pose; for the militaries - their military service certifi­cates; for the officials - their service certificates; also award certificates and diplomas. The cases often con tain passports of independent Latvia and other personal documents.

The documents were not always placed in separate envelopes, as provided for by the instructions on the procedure of document placement in the criminal case files — for the most part, they have been bound into the case files (except for the passports and certificates which are always in envelopes).

Besides the documents stipulated by the instruc tion, criminal case files may contain other documen tary materials as well.

• Documents of the accused person are applications, requests related to the course of investigation, regime (to allow to visit a doctor, to give warmer clothes or personal belongings from the warehouse, to deliver a parcel, etc.).
• Documents of the proceedings are the minutes of court session preparatory meetings, minutes of court sessions, verdicts, excerpts thereof, appeal claims, ex cerpts from the decisions of the Special Meeting.

Minutes of court sessions and verdicts are found only in the criminal cases of those persons who were tried. For the most part, the files contain excerpts from the decisions of the out-of-court institution - the Spe cial Meeting, stipulating the person's name, family name, patronymic, date and place of birth, as well as the contents of the decision. The decisions of the Special Meeting bear (although not always) a service note of the registration department of the place of impris­ onment on the execution of the verdict - it indicates the term of sentence to be served, the time and place of the camp; in the cases of capital punishment, some times the time of its execution has been mentioned.

• If the imprisoned person died, a document on death was drawn up. Usually it was written by the doctor of the place of imprisonment (prison or camp), indicating the imprisoned persons name, family name, patronymic, date of birth, appearance and diagnosis or cause of death. The certification was signed by the head of the place of imprisonment or his assistant, head of the respective department and a representative of the medical staff (doctor, nurse, doctor's assistant).

The documents on death are usually very similar as to the way of description and contents, but the way of their execution differs. For the imprisoned persons who had died in the hospitals, infirmaries and medical aid points of the places of imprisonment (prisons or camps), this document usually is pedantically accu rate: the exact hour and minute of death has been indi cated, signatures and full names and surnames of all officials, as well as the signature and seal of the doctor of the infirmary or hospital - the person who drew up the document - are in place; it has also been indicated in which cemetery the deceased was buried. The documents on death, drawn up in camps, are more inaccurate; quite often they lack the cause of death or diagnosis, or it is only stated that the impris oned person has died and has been buried. Sometim es those documents also lack some of the signatures of the relevant officials.

Usually the document on death was drawn up in four copies: the first (the original) and the second cop­ies were sent to the registration department of the place of imprisonment (the first copy was inserted in the imprisoned person's file), the third copy — to the re spective department of the place of imprisonment (camp), the fourth copy - to the medical institution of the place of imprisonment.

• The document on burial of the imprisoned person is rarely found in the criminal case file of the imprisoned persons (mainly it is in the personal files of the imprisoned, which serve as an nexes to the criminal cases).

The document on shooting of the imprisoned persons is usually in the personal files.

If several persons were charged, according to the instructions, in the investigation cases (criminal cases) the documents indicated in Items 1-4 were systematised about each accused person separately. The documents usually were bound together only after the indictment had been written. The instructions stipulated that it is not advisable to bind more man 300 pages in one case file volume; if the amount of documents exceeded the above number, several file volumes were created.

All investigation cases (criminal cases) bore the service notes "strictly confidential" , "confidential" and "to be stored forever" in the right hand upper cor­ ner of the front cover of the file.

Parallel to the investigation case (criminal case), the responsible PCI or PCSS employee who received the case for record keeping introduced also an obser vation file . Copies of the key procedural documents were compiled there, and it served as a registration document, in order for the public prosecutor to perform the supervision of the preliminary investigation. This file contains corre spondence between various institutions about the accused person and transfer of the investigation cases, mailing, requests for information, etc. If the accused person was repressed by the Special Meeting, case documents were not sent to the public prosecutor, and the case usually was kept at the respective registration department of the PCI or PCSS. Not all observation cases of the criminal cases of the SAL 1986 fund have survived.

The PCI or PCSS investigator who started to investigate the particular case, also wrote cards in four copies for the investigation case card index: the first copy was meant for the investigation authority, the second one - for the First Special Department of me PCI (PCSS), the third one - to be placed in the case file, the fourth one - for the prosecutor's office.

If in the camp the accused person was tried repeatedly, a new card had to be prepared for each new sentence.

The criminal cases of the SAL 1986 fund quite often have various types of files or materials about the accused person, attached as annexes. Most often one may come across the personal file of the imprisoned person . Those files about the accused persons were created at the places of their imprisonment — prisons and Gulag camps.

Like criminal cases, the front cover of the personal file of the imprisoned person bears the imprisoned person's family name, name, patronymic, dates of the case initiation and conclusion, as well as the case number of the imprisoned person. Sometimes also the name of the institution which approved the verdict, the beginning and final dates of the term of the sen tence, as well as the clause of the criminal code which served as the basis for the imprisoned person's sen tence are indicated on the cover.

Some documents in the personal file of the imprisoned, e. g ., decision on the selection of the security measures, warrant of arrest and other key documents, files, still the personal file of the imprisoned person is thinner, and the documents in it are mainly related to the imprisoned person's presence at the place of imprisonment.

The personal file of the imprisoned person con tains the following: the questionnaire form or the reg istration card of the imprisoned person, with his/her photo and signature certifying that the information presented in the questionnaire is true. The questionnaire consists of 21-25 questions about the person's social origins, nationality, education, language skills, military service, in various armies, job, family members, criminal record of the family members, relatives, etc . The ques tionnaire ends with a signature of an employee of the registration department of the place of imprisonment.

Then the above is followed by a fingerprint chart, a card reflecting the person's indicators with respect to work (work days, performance of output daily quo tas, etc .), the person's case form (data about the imprisoned person's course through the stages of crimi nal proceedings process), medical certifications, certi fications, excerpts from minutes of court sessions, courts martial, the court and military councils, the Spe cial Meeting, etc., a. document on the sentence execu tion ( e . g ., shooting), a document on the imprisoned person's death, a document on the imprisoned per son's burial, a document on the imprisoned person's release, or documents of other type, related to the re spective person's presence at the place of imprisonment.

It should be noted that not all investigation cases (criminal cases) have such annexes. Actually those files should not have been there, since pursuant to the USSR PCI and PCSS instructions, they had to be kept in the archives of the respective USSR Gulag prison or camp administrations, which were in charge of each particular place of imprisonment. Therefore it is diffi cult to explain why personal files of the imprisoned still have been placed in the criminal cases. The per sonal files of the imprisoned are valuable as research material, since they contain precise dates of death of the imprisoned persons, as well as other information, which is not indicated in the investigation cases (crimi nal cases). Also for the commemorative book Aizvestie , the most precise information about the death of the deported and sentenced persons was obtained from those documents.

The structures of the investigation cases (criminal cases) and archive registration files (and their docu ments) of the persons deported from Latvia on 14 June 1941 differ partly.

The archive registration files of the deported persons begin with the statement on the "criminal anti- soviet activities" of the head of the family, decision on the choice of the security measure, warrant of arrest, document on search, receipt or document on the things and documents seized during the search, sometimes also the questionnaire form of the arrested person and minutes of interrogation. Usually a decision on deportation of the family members of the "enemy of the nation" or "traitor" follows. Thus the first section of the file to a great extent is the same as in the investigation cases (criminal cases).

Then follows a certification on the family of the arrested person - it states the number of family members, their age and place of residence, as well as relationship to the arrested person. Those documents usually were prepared by the operative staff of the PCSS regional department and approved by the head of the department.

Then follow files on each particular person who has reached the age of 16, which in 1941 were for­mally titled as "Personal File of a Person Deported into Settlement" . The covers of the files created in the second part of the 40's bear the title "Personal File of a Specially Settled Person" . Those files were created already in the deportation, at the regional special commandant's offices, about all persons who had reached the age of 16. Younger children were registered in their mother's file. The files contain the questionnaire form of the persons deported into settlement (later - specially settled persons) , indicating who, when and for what term the particular person was deported. Usually the question naire has one standard phrase that "the person has been deported to [the name of the area or region and district follows] on the basis of the Latvian SSR PCSS decision". The questionnaire (usually that of the mother) also indicates the number of family members and their names. The questionnaire was signed by the PCI employee who filled it in, and the deported per son."

Usually the deported person was issued a registra tion certificate with a certain number and note that this person had to arrive at the special commandant's office of the respective region on a definite date each month. As the deported persons quite often resided in the settlement for a rather long time period, some times these files comprise several registration certificates with the relevant signatures.

Furthermore, the personal files contain various kinds of documents of obligations which stipulate that the person has been administratively deported from the LSSR for an uncertain time period (sometimes there is a note - 20 years) without the right to leave the place of deportation without authorisation, and that the person has to register with the special commandant's office at a prescribed time on regular basis. The deported person had to sign these obligations. Then follows a control schedule where the deported person's time of registration with the special commandant's office has been marked, and the de ported person has signed. The head of the special com mandant's office determined the time of registration there; usually it had to be done either weekly or once or twice a month.

One can also find in the files the so called '"wolfs passports" or "certificates replacing passports" , issued in the post-war years, with the signatures of the responsible employee of the special commandant's office and dates, certifying the deported person's registration with the special commandant's office.

The files contain also the documents of obliga tions issued in post-war years on the fact that the person has been deported into special settlement "forever".

There are very many petitions written by the de ported persons and their relatives to the supreme authorities of the USSR and LSSR of that time, requesting to allow the deported person to return to the homeland. Quite often autobiographies are enclosed with these requests, reflecting the true living condi tions of the deported persons at their places of settlement. Decisions of the PCI area and regional administrations about granting or rejection of the petitions of the above persons are also placed in the files. For the rejected requests, the causes of rejection have not been indicated; sometimes there are the following resolutions on the documents - "Return is undesir able", "Not useful", or simply "To reject".

In the deported persons' personal files, there are documents of obligations testifying to the release from the settlement, stipulating that the person has been allowed to return to Latvia. The documents of obligations indicate that the deported person has been notified, and that is confirmed by the deported person's signature.

And finally, the file is concluded by correspondence on various issues, related to the deported per son's and his/her family members presence in the settlement. If the person had left the place of settle­ment without authorisation, the file contains corre­spondence and other documents of institutions of the internal affairs about the search of the person.

Also a decision prepared by the responsible of ficer of the regional institution of the internal affairs on transferring the personal file to the archives, i.e ., to the archives of the respective area or regional ad­ ministration of the Ministry of the Interior, was placed at the end of the personal file.

At the very end of the file, the documents of years 1988-1991 can be found: petitions of the former de ported persons or their family members to the LSSR (later Republic of Latvia) Ministry of the Interior on their rehabilitation; certifications of the Ministry of the Interior that the administrative deportation of the par ticular person and his/her family members shall be acknowledged, unjustified and illegal, and that the above persons be fully rehabilitated; also the dupli cates of rehabilitation documents.

Ainars Bambals
Deputy Head
Department of Historical Political Documents, State Archives of Latvia