Saeima of the Republic of Latvia

Interviewer.

I’ve noticed a coincidence – on 18 August the elections took place, you were elected as a member of the Supreme Council, and on 19 August the Putsch began.

A. Berķis.

So I arrived. I hadn’t heard anything about it in the morning. I got ready and wondered what I should do now. I thought that I should go to the radio building first. I wondered what I had to do now as a member of the Supreme Council. Well, I thought I would go to the radio first and to the Supreme Council afterwards. I came to the radio building, and at the door I was told: “Aivars, a coup has begun!” I thought: “That’s great! I’ve been elected as a member of the Supreme Council, and I won’t even have to work!” Well, then I went to the Supreme Council, and there it all broke loose... people looked quite concerned there... I was calmed down by the fact that the Supreme Council had voted for the... Well, a decision had been taken that this did not concern us; that was the idea, basically... Let them do whatever they want in a foreign country, but we have to follow our orders. Immediately... Even I thought that it was very brave of Gorbunovs [Chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia]. But what choice did he have?

Interviewer.

And what happened to the radio broadcasts when it all began?

A. Berķis.

And then we went again, but then all the news and everything was fine. The news service was located at the building of the Supreme Council, and that’s where it all came from. And I went to the Supreme Council and spent some time there, but nobody paid much attention to me... You remember the first day yourself – it was pretty chaotic. What could you do? And at 7 p.m. I was supposed to be at the Farmers’ Union board meeting. Then Pēteris Krūgaļaužs, who was the deputy chairman of the Farmers’ Union, came from the Saeima and said: “What are you doing sitting here? They’ll come for you any minute now!” And then we saw it on television... We were sitting on the 22^nd floor of the Farmers’ Union high-rise building; the whole city was beneath us. We watched from our window as they were taking over... as helicopters were landing on...

Interviewer.

… the television building in Zaķusala.

A. Berķis.

Zaķusala, exactly. And then we began dividing... We thought that the Farmers’ Union is quite a fascistic organisation according to its heritage and its views, so we’d better... Then I decided who should hide what (we had quite a collection of files); I told everyone to wait outside and called them in one by one...

Interviewer.

What a conspirator!

A. Berķis.

Yes, but nobody knew who got what. And I said: “Don’t tell me where you’re hiding your part because if they start interrogating me – you never know!”

Interviewer.

I see...

A. Berķis.

I divided the files into three parts and gave them to three people. One of them was a woman from Kaucminde, Aina Bruņiniece [member of the Latvian Farmer’s Union], a woman whom I trusted to keep silent in case of interrogation, no matter what. Then Secretary General [of the Latvian Farmer’s Union] Antonijs Zunda and I sat down together and composed a letter to the Swedes – since our sister party was the Centre Party of Sweden... So then we wrote this letter to Sweden, which was to be taken to the Swedish representative office the next day. And then I went home... kind of, but I was walking across the Dome Square – I didn’t have to be at the radio building, but the crowd, some 50 people... well, not a crowd exactly, but many people had gathered there and were waiting to see what would happen. And they asked me: “Why isn’t the radio working the way it did during the Barricades, when there was a balcony with loudspeakers, and everybody knew what was going on, but this time there’s nothing? Well, tribune of the nation, go and take care of this!”

Interviewer.

You entered the radio building in the evening...

A. Berķis.

That was around... the television building had already been captured... that was around 9 p.m. I entered the radio building, went inside. The women were being sent home; they all had to go home, and I wondered who was to stay for the night shift now... And I saw that the situation required me to stay. I simply couldn’t leave.

Luckily, I gave my tape recorder to Daina Ostrovska [Latvian Radio programme director], along with all those documents so that she could take it home. I felt at ease; nothing was holding me back now.

So we stayed. After a while, Bude himself arrived, Imants Bude of the Popular Front, and told us that people had been shot in front of the main building of the police department, opposite the Central Market.

Interviewer.

But that wasn’t true, was it?

A. Berķis.

Salmiņš and Varpahovskis.

Interviewer.

Oh, right.

A. Berķis.

They were members of the Writers’ Union. Their minibus had been driving by, and OMON just put 35 bullet holes in it... How on earth... Salmiņš was killed on the spot, and Varpahovskis was injured.

Somebody came and said: “Would someone come along, please?” I went along. We drove there. OMON troops were standing there, and so was that bus riddled with bullets. But Varpahovskis was already in the ambulance. Then I got into the ambulance; we didn’t speak... He was unable to speak, I just... Then I asked others how they were, and I watched. I also thought of talking to OMON. I thought that all the journalists around the world do things like that. But Imants said... He said: “Don’t go anywhere! They had already hit me on the back with the butt of a machine gun; those guys are not to be trifled with.” And that was the first time I truly realised that those guys were really not to be trifled with because they only followed orders, and they would shoot. They wouldn’t waste time thinking; this wasn’t January! At that point it dawned on me that it wasn’t January any more and that this was a completely different situation.

Interviewer.

So you spent some time waiting...

A. Berķis.

Yes. We were sitting there and waiting, and nothing was happening. They announced that the Popular Front headquarters had been taken over. Yet nobody took us over.

Interviewer.

You were just broadcasting and describing the events, and...

A. Berķis.

Yes, just sitting there... Actually, the tragic thing was that we had nothing to tell. We had nothing to tell because no news was coming in. Well, we took out the instructions we had for emergencies. So we were reading them aloud from time to time and walking and talking to each other and nothing...

Then the taxi which had been assigned to take the women home returned, and the taxi driver said: “Well, it’s not that bad. There’s nothing out of the ordinary in the streets.” I said: “Wait! Let’s drive through Riga once more and have a look, shall we?” I got into the bus, and we drove, and then those armoured personnel carriers... or what were they – tanks?...

Interviewer.

On the bridges.

A. Berķis.

They were gathered... Yes, they were standing there. At first we drove across the Deglava Bridge, then out of the city to Berģi. Before Berģi there was a tank at the side of the road; there were soldiers or OMON troops... no, those were probably soldiers...

Interviewer.                                     

Those were soldiers.

A. Berķis.

Yes. They were sitting in the gun turret, and so... And we turned back, drove past the bullet-ridden bus and to the television building. Quite a long ride.

Interviewer.

So, at what time... getting back to the point, at what time did OMON...?

A. Berķis.

And then at 2 a.m. I got back. I told them what had happened. Then some people from the crowd outside, those who were still there, came in. a woman brought me coffee, and I was asked to come outside. And that was the last of it. But the mood was rather grim because there was a feeling of hopelessness as if something was about to happen this time. And as I was talking outside, I said that it wouldn’t last long. I said: “This situation could go on for some three or four months. The economy will definitely collapse; the country cannot be saved like this. So be strong! Don’t betray one another! Stay together! Don’t sell yourselves!” Well, something like that. Those were the words that came to mind.

And then... Nothing was happening. We said: “They’ll want to know the exact time; they won’t shut down the radio.” And then I climbed upstairs to the... our editorial office was on the 5^th floor, at the very top. I went there and thought that I should write a bigger piece for the broadcast tomorrow morning. I got down to writing and felt drowsy. Fighting off sleep, I tried to write somehow. Suddenly... Then there was a shot; it was 4:47 a.m. I wrote down the time...

Interviewer.

So there was a shot, right?

A. Berķis.

There were shots. I’ve written that they were shooting from large-calibre machine guns, although I’ve never heard a large-calibre machine gun fired. But that was... probably the effect of the echo, or maybe those shots came from the yard... they were piercing.

Then I ran downstairs to the studio. Then there was Roze, news announcer, who said: “To the studio – quick!” The Russian news announcer and I rushed into the studio. I said: “Well, then, our final hour has come. I hear footsteps on the stairs. Be strong!” And the Russian news announcer said the same thing in Russian. And then I felt fear. I thought that typically, when they take over a building, they... I had read that they usually cleared their way with machine-gun fire. And, of course, they are anxious themselves. I said: “Guys, it would be safer to wait on the stairs. Let them see we’re here.” Then we went out on the stairs, and they came – they were commandos. They were confident; they had no fear. They said: “What are you doing here, gentlemen?” I told them: “What took you so long? We’ve been waiting for you all night!” He said: “Pack your things. What are you waiting for? We’ve shut you down a long time ago.” Then I felt better because I realised that they didn’t know a thing. Before that I had thought that the KGB knew everything... and that those men knew everything, but when they said that we had been shut down, I understood that they didn’t know anything yet because we were still broadcasting from all the distant radio towers. The entire night. Our signal was shut off in Riga only when radio tower in Ulbroka was taken. And we hadn’t been cut off from the broadcasting network because that was yet another system. And then they came... they said... pack your things... and...

Interviewer.

And forced you outside...

A. Berķis.

...they made us go home... and I went outside and saw our men lined up at the wall. And, still acting brave, I understood that I... And in a confident voice I said something like: “It’s no big deal.” Well, as I was punched in the jaw, my glasses fell off. I’m helpless without my glasses... That was my greatest fear because one did not own extra pairs of glasses back in those days. I picked up my glasses and put them into my pocket to keep them safe. Then they put me up against the wall. We all stood there... except for Ozols and the two news guys who weren’t there. The rest of us, the twelve people who had been inside, we were lined up against the wall. So then they shoved us around...

Interviewer.

Made fun of you...

A. Berķis.

Made fun of us, indeed... One of them wanted to show off his sharp knife, so he started cutting... The driver was the youngest one; they chose whom to pick on, so they cut off several strands of his hair and said: “We’re going to cut off your ear...” Just like that... Then they proceeded to check our documents. I pulled out my documents and saw the identification card of the Citizens’ Congress... I shoved it back immediately. The next one was the identification card of the Popular Front Council... I hid that as well. In the end, I pulled out my identification card from the radio building... But there was a note that I was a... producer or something like that... They didn’t understand these things. Juris Roze turned out to be the biggest boss since he was the news announcers’ shift manager. So he was abused for being the one in charge. And they said: “Well, they are just pawns; let’s send them home...” And we still didn’t know whether they would shoot us... An armoured personnel carrier was parked outside, and we were afraid that they would start shooting from it... And so we went away.

But they were... They were mad, literally, because they... me too, when they attacked me... A man was two steps away from me. His eyes were the eyes of a madman as if he had spent the whole night drinking and was looking for a brawl, although I couldn’t smell any alcohol on him. And then he started shouting: “Who fired the gun from the roof? Who fired the gun from the roof?” And that is yet another mystery because it later turned out that a person had been shot near the radio building, and the others had seen him being taken away in a car.

Interviewer.

One of them?

A. Berķis.

Yes, it turned out to be one of them. Later, a rumour spread that it was Aivars Berķis who was shot dead.

Interviewer.

Yes, there was such a rumour...

A. Berķis.

Yes, that Aivars Berķis was shot dead, and it seemed quite logical, but there was a mix up with Beķeris [editor of the TV programme Labvakar] from the television...

Interviewer.

Yes, yes... But were you present at the Saeima [Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia] vote on 21 August?

A. Berķis.

And then I... As I was saying... it was 19 August. And that was the morning of 20 August. And then I was walking past the Monument of Freedom, and I had to go to the Saeima... Helicopters were flying above the Saeima building at that moment. And I thought: “Well, I’m in trouble; I have to go to the Supreme Council, and I’ll get caught again.” But still I had to go. I went to the Supreme Council. Well, you remember what happened there. All day long...

And then we were given our assignments as to where each of us had to go to talk to the people. One of us had to go to the Monument of Freedom; another was staying by the radio building... or opposite the building because it had already been captured. Yet another person was to stay by the Supreme Council building, and so on. And I was to stay at the Supreme Council. And that explained... Then they told us that sleeping at home wasn’t safe. So my wife and I went to sleep at our son’s place in Pārdaugava area of Riga.

Then 21 August came, and several times I... They composed the document and all... And we voted on it... But the document wasn’t ready yet... As far as I remember, we voted on a draft document.

Interviewer.

No, it was almost ready... They just added an extra sentence later...

A. Berķis.

Well, something like that. And then I saw... they were coming out through the gates. The people were there, and they wanted to know everything, but you couldn’t reach them... There were five of them around you... Afterwards, Anna Seile [member of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia] wrote that she was nearly crushed by the crowd. But I saw a cameraman standing on top of the wall, on the barricades, the barricade wall, filming the scene. I thought: “Well, it must be a good spot since the cameraman is there, so why should I be afraid if he is not?” I climbed up on the wall and started telling them what was going on in the Supreme Council.

Interviewer.

We all remember that... yes...

A. Berķis.

Yes, everyone remembers the moment, but I’m telling you how I got there. Since the cameraman was there already...

Interviewer.

So what happened when OMON left?

A. Berķis.

When the armoured personnel carriers left, we felt more confident. I called Kārlis Grīnbergs [former journalist at Latvian Radio] again. I said: “Kārlis, we were the last ones to be taken over, so we should be the first ones to return.” So then I called... I called the... or I came there myself, and then they called for the major, the one responsible for commandos... since they were commandos, not the OMON troops. Then there was a guard by the wall, and old ladies were shaming him... and so on... And then we said that we wanted to stay there throughout the night, return there and stay so that everything would be under control. Well, they were anxious themselves, so they agreed to our going there. But then it was officially arranged that we would come and take over the building completely, and then it was official...

Interviewer.

They had probably received an order.

A. Berķis.

Well, yes. They received an order. And then we came; that was around 8 or 9 p.m.... we turned up, and they officially left the building, accompanied by swearing, went to their bus, and when they were gone, we entered. It’s a pity we let them go like that since we didn’t know that they had demolished the radio building. The music editorial office was damaged the most. Everything was strewn across the floor, broken... Well, it was completely ruined... The studio equipment was the only thing they had left untouched. They were saving it for their own needs. But they had tried to break open all the safes and drawers; all the doors were knocked down. They had basically destroyed the entire radio building; all the phones were smashed. Some tape recorders still remained. By the way, Juris Podnieks [film director] was filming our entrance, but I don’t know what happened to the video. Juris Podnieks was the one who came along, and all those rooms... And then, as we reached the studio, we too... It was probably Māra Krontāle or Māra Eglīte – I’ve forgotten which one of the news announcers was with me – we got to the microphone...