CONDITIONS IN RIGA AND LATVIA IN GENERAL

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00810A000600160010-7
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 3
• Document Creation Date: December 15, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 27, 2003
• Sequence Number: 10
• Publication Date: August 17, 1953
• Content Type: REPORT

Approved For Release 2003/12/02 : CIA-RDP80-0081OA000600160010-7
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
INFORMATION REPORT
SKCRET
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COUNTRY USSR (Latvian SSR)
SUBJECT
DATE OF INFO.
PLACE ACQUIRED
Qonditions in Riga and Latvia in
General
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This Document contains information affecting the Na-
tional Defense of the United etates;,within the mean-
ing of Title 18, Sections 793 and 794. of the U.B. Code, as
amended. I4 transmission or revelation of its contents
to or receipt by, an unauthorised person is prohibited
by law. The reproduction of this form is prohibited.
,,.
REPORT NO.
DATE DISTR.
NO. OF PAGES
REQUIREMENT NO.
REFERENCES
THE SOURCE EVALUATIONS IN THIS REPORT ARE DEFINITIVE.
THE APPRAISAL OF CONTENT IS TENTATIVE.
(FOR KEY SEE REVERSE)
25X11,
a
e
Job=
25X1 at;, %.'a ,a ,_ ormerly AitZaarg. iela. hl
ri~as iela. Riga seemed a cleaner
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streets one saw , more neatly1dressed people thaA1,, .n 1948-49, and even some ear
pensive fur's.
c~av~ zn .. v aAa, J. of tinan In L948-'s9. The gardens seemed better kept and
there were more flowers in the gardens and squares. The street leading to
Mesa Park, Kokneses prospekts, had flowers on j1' sides of the street, and for
illumination. there were arc-lamps which were iiOt there in 1948-49 On the
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17 August 1953
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In Rigain 1947-49 most streets had the old names.. only one
40mmuaist-sounding name 8arkngs
m4
i
l f
2.
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shift the grain with
s eve s, an also to unload the grain from railroad cars. It was done on a
'24-hour basis in 8-hour shifta_
Acceptance for the second shift depended on the brigadier.
ere were always many people offering their services, since it was seasonal
work and paid well. Among the workers there were Soviets and Latvians, mostly
women. Physically it,was possible.to bear the work since during the night the
brigadier was ~ot always present and the workers were able to sleep for a while.
Por eight hour work aid
per shift 33.50 to 160 rules;
3. In several parts of Riga. lived mostly Soviets,as in Mezaparks and in the central
part of the town. Old people on pensions,, single women, anu women with children-
generally occupied one-or two-room apartments, sometimes in cellars. However,
STATE J X .:ARMY
NAVY x lAIR FBI AEC
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II
they always were separate apartments with a separate entrance. The monthly
rent paid for a one-room apartment was 22 rubles around. Pernavas. isle. In
another case, a two-room apartment in Tallinas iela cost 50 rubles per month.
The apartments were crowded 7 a mother, two grown-up children and a small child
.were living in one room and a kitchen. In a two-room apartment lived a married
woman with her husband, her sisters and her grandfather. A.three-room apart-
ment was occupied. by a joiner, his, wife, and three children,with a total family
income above 2000 rubles per month. In several one-and two-room apartments
there were bathrooms. After the large-scale deportations in the fall of 1948
or spring of 1949,many houses and apartments had been sealed and locked. Those
belonged to people who had been deported. Source visited the one-family houses
in Meta parks. In Riga there were boarding-houses for farmers visiting town
called jebraucama vista,and the usual price ws- 5 rubles per night. It Was
necessary to present oneas documents to obtain lodging in such a house.
4:.
25X1 at the Central Market. In
25X1 1945 paid 60 kopeks for a glass of tea with sugar, and 950 1,76 rubles
25X1 for a bowl of soup. In 1950 and 19511 -1 - I
25X1 prices were generally lower than in 1948-49, but butter still cost 2. rubles
25X1' per kilogram.,
5. Clothing could be purchased on the market, where there were special stalls for
clothing. These stalls were run by Jews. In 1948 there were also Latvians in
these stalls, but more and more Jews came and the Latvians disappeared from
this business. People in Riga were generally well clothed, and in 1951 the
general picture was even better than in 1948-49. In 1948 furs were seldom seen,
but in 1951 there were many women wearing fur coats, and even expensive coats
were not a rarity. These were mostly worn by Soviet women. Generally the
prices in 1950-51 were lower than in 1948-49.
6. The railroad tickets at the Riga railroad station could be obtained at the
ticket offices in the hail of the Rigas Jurmala station and outside of the
hall from the street in the same offices. There were no difficulties in ob-
taining a ticket and no travel order was requested. Long-distance.tickets
could be obtained in the office'in Marijas Street not far from the main rail-
25X1 road station. A, ticket Ito Tartu, Estoniayin
August 1950..cost 80 rubles for 1 fares on the fast train. There were two
fast trains from Rigag one to Tallinn and the other to Vilnius. These trains
were diesels, and the, carriages were connected. The color was silver-gray and
the Germans called these trains Zeno. They were more expensive than the usual
trains. The train for Tallinn departed Riga at 1215. and took four hours to reach
Tartu. It stopped only in Oesis and'Valka. The train back from Tallinn or
Tartu arrived in Riga at 2245'; the duration of the trip from Tartu to Riga
was four hours.
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7, another became ill 'in the:.winter of 1948/49
an was e-r en. The landlady telephoned to some hospital,~and the woman
was taken by ambulance to a hospital across the Daugava, in the area served by
streetcar No. B. She was examined and X-rayed, and then sent to another hospital.
During the first examination spots were discovered on her lungs, and finally she
was admitted to a tuberculosis sanatorium. It was on the outskirts of Riga, and
reached by bus. This sanatorium consisted of wooden barracks, and the woman
was in a ward where there were six beds. The doctor in charge was a Soviet pro-
fessor. He was very kind and treated the woman with all possible care. She
,received many injections and was also treated with oxygen.` She spent.four
months there and then was released as cured. In the corridor opposite the ward
there was a radio loudspeaker,. and around it other patients gathered, and sang.
There were Soviets and Latvians as patients, and probably only the one German.
She was treated well and had to pay nothing for any of the hospital treatment.
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and 0 she went to the local hospital and
bab
e
y,
cting a
exp
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was admitted to the maternity ward without any objection or order from a doctor.
25X1 She spent ten days in the hospital, as did all patients having no oomplioations,
and was treated the seine way as Lithuanians and Soviets. After she was released,
her baby got pneumonia and was hospitalized for four months. According to
2 5X1 regulations, the mother had to stay with the baby, andi_was well treated.
She had to pay nothing for either one of the hospitalization periods, and even
the medicine *as free. Lithuanians and Soviets had to pay nothing while in the
hospital, but had to bv4y the medicine. The medical dare was up-to "date and
generally good. The personnel was Lithuanian, except one doctor who wa a Soviet
2 5X1 Woman. There were two other doctors in the maternity ward, both women.
received from the hospital a certificate concernint the birth of the child and
did not bother to go for registration elsewhere. After a while, militia sent
her an invitation to go to the Registrar's Office, but she still did'not bother to
d t k her to the Registrar's Office
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do that. Then one day militiamen came an o0
for registration of the child.
visitin ' farms between Yelgava
and Jonisld.s, Lithuania.
e
a man came along and started to talk or
heard that she was a German from East Prussia, the man stated that he was also
a German from East Prussia. He was about 28 years of age and had been a captain
in the German army, but had escaped from a PW camp in Leningrad years ago and
fled to Latvia, where he contacted partisans and joined them. He said that many
Latvians pretend to be Communists or Communist supporters and did so only to be able
to help the partisans. He said that in the towns there were many supporters of
partisans among the students, within the militia, and even the MVD. In October
t he nn+~+~ harvest near the railroad
i
1948 II went from Riga. to help w
wen Ri a and Yel ava
partisans had been seen n e
vicinity recently.
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