Such masks were tied on to protect the face from frostbite when working outdoors in temperatures as low as -40C (-40F). The mask was made for the political prisoner Karlis Argalis in the Amur region in the 1950s. Survival in extreme situations in prison camps and forced settlement oftentimes depended on the ability to take care of and to protect themselves in even the slightest ways.


Map showing the forced resettlement locations (yellow dots) and the hard labour camps and prisons (blue dots), which were the destination of 15 500 of Latvia's population deported 14 June, 1941. The map used is a USSR Political-Administrative Map issued in Riga October 1940 by the State Publishing House Institute of Cartography.

Map showing the division of Eastern Europe
The Last Decree of Latvian President Karlis Ulmanis
Keys from the Cheka/KGB Building in Riga
A GULAG Face Mask
Territorial Utilisation Plan of Reichskommisariat Ostland
Induction Notice in the "Latvian SS-Volunteer Legion"
Small Latvian Flag from a Refugee Boat
Carbine Used by a Partisan
Surveillance by the KGB
Independence Day Demonstration 1988