From the history of Liepaja. How Lenin turned into bells / Article / LSM.lv

On the morning of August 23, 1991, the anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Liepaja branch of the Latvian People’s Front held a picket at the Officers’ House of the USSR Baltic Navy. On the same day, on a wave of inspiration, the people demolished the Lenin monument. Later, the overthrown bronze leaders were melted into bells, and all proceeds from their sale are donated to charity.

The Lenin monument, created by the sculptor Albert Terpilovskis, was erected in Liepaja in honor of the centenary of the “leader of the world proletariat” on April 22, 1970. Until then, there was a square in place of the Lenin monument and the square named after him. But even earlier, before the war, there was dense construction here, but Liepāja suffered greatly from the bombing during the Second World War.

Before we begin the story of the events of August 23, 1991 in Liepaja, one must say a word about the mood that was developing in the city at that time.

“1989. We – the Liepaja branch of the Latvian People’s Front – decided to take part in the march on November 7 (on the occasion of the anniversary of the so-called Great Socialist Revolution in October)to show what power it is – the People’s Front, ”Sandra Šēniņa, the head of the Liepāja Museum branch“ Liepāja under Occupation Regimes ”, then an activist of the People’s Front, remembers the events of that time. “Because at that time, all companies had to take part in this demonstration. And everyone walked along the Lenin monument to Zivju Street, but then ours quickly ran back to Kārlis Zāle Square – what was it called then? ” Sandra and I didn’t remember that during the conversation, we had to find it later. In Soviet times, it was the square of June 17.

So, the November 7 demonstration. And here – goes the People’s Front column. In front, a flag bearer with the Latvian flag, girls and boys in folk costumes, people with posters and flags again… One of the photos shows a military orchestra, the other – a bit – people in the podium. “And our column was the biggest then! We showed that “you will have to count on us, we are a force!” I was just in shock then – how many of us are there! How people ran to make it to our column! ” remembers Sandra.

At that time, the People’s Front came into force throughout Latvia, won several elections and, most importantly, won a majority in the Supreme Council in 1990, and thanks to that, a declaration on the restoration of independence was adopted. All this time, Lenin’s monument stood calmly in the square.

On November 16, 1990, according to Sandra Šēniņa, a provocation was organized – a military guard with two armored personnel carriers was assigned next to the monument, but in the Baltic Fleet Officers’ House (now, as it was originally, the Latvian Society House), 40 naval infantry. The newspaper “Liepājas Vārds” wrote at that time that there had been several clashes during which the city’s youth were injured. The most dangerous situation arose on November 18, 1990, when the participants of the torchlight procession to the Northern Cemetery returned to the city center. Someone called to go to the Lenin monument, but the organizers of the march did not allow it – soldiers with weapons stood next to the Officers’ House.

It is strange that the permanent presence of armored vehicles in the city center, which lasted for so long, has not been remembered. On September 7, 1990, Liepājas Vārds wrote that 345 military units were deployed in and around Liepāja. And published a list of ships and ground troops.

On August 23, 1991, the day after the shameful August coup in Moscow failed, the board of the Liepaja branch of the People’s Front had decided to start a picket at the Officers’ House at seven in the morning. “It was the anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. And just the day before the guard was removed from the Lenin monument and we went there. At that moment, the mood was – everything is enough, we want our independent country so that no foreign armor stands in the city center. The decision to demolish the monument was made immediately. Today, something like that is unlikely – look at the photos, how many people! But what if the ropes hadn’t passed and the monument had fallen into the crowd ?! There was no idea of ​​security. Now probably all carefully calculated. But back then, we didn’t really think about it. We just wanted this monument to stop there, ”says Sandra.

“It turned out that the monument weighs 12 tons, so appropriate equipment is needed. We started searching. One company refused, the other… We found a building with an lifting capacity of 18 tons in the Liepāja Construction Trust. “The management seemed to agree, but did not want to take responsibility. In the end, we agreed directly with the crane driver, ”recalls the awakening participant.

“The dismantling of the monument started at six in the evening. The reception was long. Lenin wanted nothing to come down. While we fastened the ropes until we reached the required tension… We thought – we just need to lift and remove. It turned out that it is thoroughly screwed to the pedestal with huge screws, they also had to be removed. But people stood around and chanted – “get down, get down!”, Says Sandra.

The monument was taken to the territory of the asphalt concrete plant.

As early as the second morning, it turned out that he had been left without a finger by someone who had cut it. Almost certainly in memory, because the “non-ferrous metal hunt” began a little later.

What to do with the demolished monument? At first, back in 1992, they wanted to sell it whole. However, at that time all overthrew the monuments and supply far exceeded demand. And then Baroness Valtraut von Tieshausen came on stage – a native of Liepaja, a German-Baltic, her family even before the war he was forced to leave Latvia. She visited Liepāja for the first time in 1990. For many years, the Baroness led the German-Baltic Association in Darmstadt and the Liepaja Friends’ Association, and at the end of the 1980s, contacts began to be established between Darmstadt and Liepaja (in 1993, both became twin cities). Walter von Tiesenhausen has done a lot in the field of charity, helping the elderly, orphans and the disabled in Liepaja. This year, on May 11, the Baroness celebrated her 80th birthday.

“Lenin’s bells” have become her “loudest” idea. It was Walter von Tiesenhausen who suggested that if the monument could not be sold whole, we would melt it into bells. But let’s donate money to charity. “One of Liepaja’s photographers took the baroness to the warehouse where the monument lay. That’s where Mrs. von Tieshausen came up with the idea, ”says Sandra.

The bronze monument was taken to Germany with the personal permission of the then Prime Minister of Latvia Ivars Godmanis. The municipality of Darmstadt and the Ministry of Finance of the Land of Hessen each awarded five thousand marks for the transportation and remelting of the statue.

A total of 500 table bells were cast – each together with the handle is 15 centimeters high. On one side of the handle is the coat of arms of Liepaja, on the other side – Lenin’s profile. Each carefully placed in a wooden box. A certificate is attached to the call, because each has its own unique number. For example, call no. 1 was presented to the then Mayor of Liepaja Uldis Sesks. But in the Liepāja Museum branch “Liepāja under occupation” the author of this article photographed the bell no. 47. Another call is currently busy – it works for exhibits in the exhibition “Life Stories in the Shadow of Red Terror”.

A small deviation – mathematical. And so, the weight of the Lenin monument was mentioned above – 12 tons. Apparently with a pedestal. Because then the figure of the monument itself weighs 6.5 tons. And there is no reason not to trust the pedantic Germans. Divide by 500… One bell weighs 13 kilograms ?! It’s heavy, of course, but not so heavy! Where is the rest of the bronze? No information was found. They do not want to make conjectures, so the question remains open.

The bells began to be poured in 1997, and the Land of Darmstadt and Hessen donated a thousand marks to promote the idea of ​​buying bells for charity. At the beginning, “Lenin’s bells” were sold only in Germany and each cost 500 marks, later it became possible to buy them in Liepaja – for 140 lats each. Baroness Valtraut von Tieshausen has donated all the obtained funds and continues to donate them to the Liepaja authorities for specific charitable purposes – for example, to install showers and toilets in a special boarding school, roof repairs in an orphanage, a small garden next to a nursing home. 260 euros (more information here https://liepaja-glocken.de/). There is also a report on the use of the funds obtained, a total of 25 thousand German marks and 12 thousand euros.

Yes, and the site’s motto is “Lenin is forced to do good things.”

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