Bolšteins’s predictions quickly materialized, and a harrowing year of tyranny followed. On the eve of June 14, 1941, an unrelenting sequence of prisoner massacres and Siberian deportations came to a head when over 15,000 “blacklisted” people disappeared, essentially annihilating Riga’s elite in one fell swoop.
A month later, the German Nazis closed in on Latvia and its neighbors, Estonia and Lithuania, “saving” the region from Russian rule. Intent on carrying out their own agenda—eliminating the Jewish and Gypsy populations—they opened the doors of the Corner House to the public, exposing the hall of horrors in the hopes of stoking the fires of revenge and inspiring allegiance to the new regime.
And what the Latvians found was beyond their worst nightmares. While the upper floors were the prim domain of police officers and clerical staff, the basement contained a labyrinth of holding cells and interrogation rooms that led to a firing wall. Subterranean temperatures were kept above a sweltering 30 degrees Celsius (over 85 degrees Farenheit) to incite paralyzing thirst, as prisoners were stuffed 20 to a cell in rooms meant for four inmates. Blinding lights prevented sleep, the fetid stench of overflowing chamber pots made it hard to breathe, and captives were randomly selected for execution to maintain an air of continuous fear.