Memorial publishes the thirty-second film of the project "Gulag Right Here": the first part of the story by Raita Niedra (Shusta) about the life of her family in Latvia before 1940, about the arrest and deportation on June 14, 1941, about life in exile, the death of her mother and the sinking of the barge on which she and other orphanage children were transported along the Yenisei from one orphanage to another. Raita Niedra (Shusta) was born on January 21, 1939 in Latvia. Her parents were landowners, had 60 hectares of land, and were engaged in livestock breeding. Her father, Janis Niedra, was a commander of the Aizsargs, and her mother, Elza Niedra, was also in the ranks of the Aizsargs. Before her marriage, she actively performed in amateur theater, where she met Janis. In 1931, Raita's older brother, Edgars, was born into the family. On June 14, 1941, the family was arrested and deported to Krasnoyarsk Krai. The father was sent to Vyatlag, where he died in January 1942. The family of seven (only women and children) was brought to Krasnoyarsk Krai, dropped off in the taiga and given tools to build a dugout. In 1943, Raita's cousin died of cold and hunger, having contracted meningitis, and later, on July 20, 1943, her mother, Elza Niedra, died. Raita and Edgars were taken from their relatives and placed in an orphanage. Later, under the pretext of sending children from one orphanage to another, Raita, his brother and 50 other orphans were put on a barge and taken to the Yenisei, where the barge began to sink, but ran aground. A few days later, a local resident rescued the children from the locked hold. Raita and her brother managed to return to Dudinka, where their aunt (father's sister) lived. In 1946, Raita's older brother wrote a letter to their maternal grandmother in Latvia, and soon Raita and Edgars were sent from Latvia and returned to their homeland along with thirty Latvian orphans. "Gulag Right Here" is a project of video interviews with people who lived through the repressions of the Soviet period. The heroes of the project are former prisoners of Soviet camps, children of "enemies of the people", children born in camps, kept in "children's barracks" or sent to special orphanages, dispossessed kulaks, representatives of deported peoples, people persecuted for their religious beliefs, members of underground youth organizations, participants in the dissident movement, as well as NKVD officers and their descendants. The goal of the project is to tell about the repressions in the USSR through the specific fate and tragedy of an individual and to find the origins of the catastrophe that is happening to us today. Statements and opinions of the project's heroes do not represent the position of Memorial or reflect the views of the project's authors. Gulag is Right Here Director: Lyudmila Sadovnikova Camera operator: Dmitry Korobov Design: Arkady Gridnev Technical editor: Sergey Samsonov Volunteer coordination: Katerina Sycheva Russian Memorial, NIPC Memorial, 2024 Video time codes: 00:14 - childhood, family, land 05:02 - night raid, forced abduction 12:42 - Khantaika, mother's death 19:20 - orphanage, drowning children