Soviet Radio-Electronics School, Latvia

The Soviet Radio-Electronics School was once an important training academy for military engineers training to join the Soviet Latvia Army. It has been abandoned since the early 1990s, when Latvia asserted independence from the Soviet Union.

This large building has an impressive main entrance stairway and pink-walled assembly room, both very photogenic. The crumbly moulded plaster work of the corridors and foyers are a decayed treat. There are Soviet traces around every corner; papers and posters from the late 1980s and early 1990s with Cyrillic text. At the end of a hall a mural-decorated alcove, where a bust of Lenin once stood. One interesting find was a fragment of a poster, titled “Features of commodity money relation under socialism”, along with the state quality mark of the CCCP (USSR).

I visited this location during the 2019 Baltics Tour.

History Of The Soviet Radio-electronics School

Latvia was once a federated republic within the Soviet Union; at this time it was called the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic (Latvian SSR). After the Soviet annexation of Latvia in 1939, the Soviet Red Army set up military bases over the next few years.

This Soviet Radio-Electronics School was built in the 1960s to train engineers and scientists for the Latvian SSR Armed Forces. At this time Latvia was becoming one of the technology and industry hubs of the Soviet Baltic area. This school provided the highest level of education, training the union’s future military personnel.

The End Of the Latvian SSR, and closure of the school

Soviet control of Latvia began to destabilise in the late 1980s, the people began to protest for greater autonomy from the USSR. In 1990, Latvia declared the Soviet annexation void and in breach of Latvian law. 1990 to1991 saw a transition period as Latvia progressively re-asserted its independence. Full independence was achieved in 1991, in the aftermath of a failed Soviet coup. A subsequent landslide majority vote for independence in a referendum, ended the transition period. Latvia, along with Lithuania and Estonia, ceased to be part of the USSR only four months before the collapse of the Soviet Union itself.

The Soviet Radio-Electronics School closed soon after restoration of Latvia’s independence. The buildings were stripped of equipment, and left abandoned.