Defying foreign power

Hello! This site uses cookies.

By continuing to use this site, you consent to the use of cookies. You can remove your consent at any given time by changing your browser settings and deleting saved cookies. Learn more in our Privacy policy.

Donate to Museum

Each donation helps to ensure the Museum's activities, allowing it to function and provide information for people from all over the world.

The Museum is grateful to each donor and invites everyone to contribute.

Online banking PayPal Targeted Fund raising for "Defying Foreign Power"

Let's build the monument "Defying Foreign Power"!

The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia invites you to take part in the public initiative to build the Defying Foreign Power monument in the centre of Riga. The monument will honour participants of the National Resistance Movement from the occupation era, and remind Latvians and foreigners alike of the importance of protecting their country.

Similarly to the Freedom Monument in Riga, the Defying Foreign Power monument also requires donations in order to affirm a collective consensus. The Museum has therefore started collecting donations for this project and continues to do so. By signing a Memorandum of Cooperation, the Museum has agreed with the Riga City Council to work together on creating and installing the monument, as well as improving the surrounding area.

History and context

The Defying Foreign Power monument is to be erected at the exact spot where, on the morning of 5 December 1963, the 22-year-old student Bruno Javoišs raised the flag of independent Latvia atop an icy radio tower opposite the Main Militia Administration building. This story represents the entire National Resistance Movement in occupied Latvia, where countless people affirmed their beliefs and refused to allow the concept of an independent Latvia to disappear.

“I had heard that a red-white-red flag had been raised here and there in Kurzeme and Vidzeme, either in a church tower or high up in a tree. But this was only marginal. It was probably discussed briefly, but then everything quietened down again. The flag had to be raised here, in the centre of Riga, right before the eyes of all the Latvian SSR authorities. This was to ensure that nobody could claim that they hadn't seen or heard about it, or that they didn't know." Bruno Javoišs, "My Flag Story".

1 / 2

What is the plan?

The red-white-red flag in architectural form will be erected at 1 Radio Street in the historical centre of Riga. The monument will be created by the sculptor Kristaps Gulbis. The concept for the facility and project management was developed by SIA ARHIS Arhitekti – Raimonds Saulītis, Elīna Tumanova, Andris Kronbergs, Mārtiņš Ziemanis.

The plan is for the monument to blend into the existing environment, enabling the trees to survive and carry on telling their story of history. It is important that this part of the park will be improved, and the Riga City Council is committed to doing so. Using landscaping materials, the rearranged area will be in harmony with the future needs of the city. It will also display information about all project donors.

Togehter we can!

Let's donate so the monument stands!

Bruno Javoišs never asked anyone if they could have done the same. However, when he returned from a labour camp in Mordovian ASSR, he said that he would do it again, but next time he would wear better shoes. Together, we can build a monument to honour all members of the Soviet occupation resistance movement, and to remind both the Latvian people and foreigners of the importance of protecting their country.