Salaspils

Sitting in the train from Riga station we drive out of the city and stop at several tiny abandoned train stations and I wonder where I’m going to end up today. Then Darzina appears on the old display board above the door and the ticket lady who can consider this car as the "hers" makes it clear that I have to get out here.

I try to figure out which way I have to walk when departing the train but she just shakes her head "no" – very friendly but it doens’t help me. I climb out of the train and then I stand on the platform; the train door closes automatically and I notice that I am the only one who has got off!

When the train disappears from my sight, I see that there is no one on the platform too – just an empty large guardhouse with empty (beer) bottles and other junk and see the place where I’m now stand on a bare wall whcih means I’m at the right station. I am standing in the middle of a large pine forest and need to ask my destination.  

I see a man walking with a big dog across the street and I try to overtake him and ask. This works and I ask at a "safe" distance from the barking dog how I can find the memorial and the former camp. A bit later I walk down the asphalt path, into the forest and I see some branches of other forest trails. I walk past some soccer fields and feel the first mosquitoes which are making a move to stab me.

Hopelessly lost and disoriented I see some houses down the road and ask again a man where the concentration camp is located. He sends me back into the forest where I just came out. Then I see in the distance a big white memorial but no direct path that will take me there. I decide to walk throug the wet high grass to arrive at the complex. 

The former camp is a large open area with four huge concrete monuments on the lawn in the middle. Around it is a kind of path laid with gravel and around it are a number of concrete piles in the grass. These are located here in places where most likely barracks of the camp Salaspils have stood before. In some there are cuddly bears and other toys placed.

There are also rose bushes planned. Behind the four memorials is a large concrete building, built so that it looks like it has fallen or tipped over. On the one hand there are some glass showcases with drawings in an open space that form an image that horrible things have occured here.

By means of a staircase that starts in a black concrete bunker you walk upstairs where you have a good view over the former camp complex. Unfortunately, there is no museum or any other information available about the camp, the grounds or its inhabitants or guards. The sun has been redeemed and after my walk on the concrete slabs around the camp it starts to rain. When I have arrived at a concrete black box where strangely enough music comes out, it starts to rinse and I have to hide in the concrete building.

It’s the perfect weather to visit this former German concentration camp due to the rain and the gray skies. I’m alone with maybe 10 other people. 

Kurtenhof

Suddenly thunder and lightning and the rain seem to get a bit less. But just when I went outside to read a plaque that was built in a hidden corner under the trees, it starts raining again and I have to take shelter again.

When I leave the old camp site on the right path, I notice that I was almost there when I approached the railway - a small sign had been sufficient. I walk back to the station and read (had I not seen before) in the old dilapidated bunker that serves as a guardhouse on a piece of paper that the train only comes in about one and a half hours.

Of course I can look for a bus but I have not bought a return ticket for nothing and I decide to sit down and wait. Once again, hard rain and I'm glad get some cover here, even if it is not the best place in the country.