Not unlike the one in Riga, although on a much smaller scale, this museum traces the bloody history of both the Soviet and Nazi occupation of Latvia and the direct effect on Liepāja. Exhibits illustrate how the Soviets ‘held elections’ which included only one party, the communist party, and how attempts by local Latvians to create an opposition ballot only led to a swift death. It also shows the genocide committed against the Jewish population, the deportations of Latvians to Siberia and, later, the creation of the independence movement in the 1980s. Sadly the exhibits aren’t available yet in English. Soviet gulag survivors meet upstairs.