Mid-Atlantic Gardening: Greettings from Latvia!!!, 1 by Gitagal

Gitagal wrote:
This is now the next day-----------------We are back in Riga and have stopped at another poignant place on our way to visit our other side of the Family--My Aunt and Uncles relatives. We just consider them ALL OUR relatives and v.v.

This stop was at a railroad station. Why? Because here, in rememberence of that horrible night on June 14, 1941, when 1000's and 1000' of men, women and children were taken from their homes in the middle of the night--put into cattle cars--and taken to Siberia (see my previous picture of the plaque in the Occupation Museum that explains what happened) in these kind of RR cars.
They have made this RR Station a small, commemorative Park.
Here is a picture of the RR car--for REAL! This is what the people spent 3 weeks or more in on the trip.

Many young and old died along the way.....Many men, with families left behind, jumped the cars and tried to make their way back home on foot--hiding in the woods for weeks and subsisting on leaves from trees for food. Had they been spotted, they would have been shot to death on the spot!
My Uncle was one of these men. He DID survive and make his way back to his wife (My Aunt--my Mom's sister) and family. Maybe he had to--as on that horrible night, his first-born son was born. What a legacy!!!!

Here's a picture of the RR car....