While the 15-minute film provides an brief introduction to those horrific events, it also relates a lesser-known tale about what happened in and around the small town on Lielvārde, where, uniquely, no-one was deported.
Charismatic local kolkhoz boss Edgars Kauliņš has become the center of various legends about this phenomenon, which the film delves into revealing a mixture of fact, fiction and wishful thinking.
According to LTV "The Keys" series tells of the most important or "key" events, personalities and turning points in the history of the Latvian state from 1918 to the present. The purpose is to reveal each selected event from an unusual point of view, as if "unlocking the door" to lesser known and therefore particularly intriguing facts.
"Such an exploratory approach, bypassing the usual stereotypes of presenting history, will allow viewers to perceive what is known to others and to better understand what has happened in the context of today's experience," says LTV.
Throughout the year, Latvian history will be told in 'mixed order' - events will not be sequenced year by year, but viewed in the exact month in which they occurred
The show is made by VFS Films, a long-time partner of Latvian Television and it is hosted by Mārtiņš Ķibilds, a distinguished cultural journalist who sadly passed away late last year.