Saldus Municipality
Curonian territory since 20th century BC. The Kursenieki are nearly extinct—most fled or were expelled after WWII. Courland Pocket: last German territory to fall (May 8, 1945).
Saldus sits where Curonians have lived for nearly 4,000 years—archaeological evidence dates habitation to the 20th century BC. This Baltic tribe gave their name to Courland (Kurzeme) and resisted Christianization until 1266, when the Livonian Order and Archbishop of Riga finally partitioned their territory.
The Kursenieki, a related group, carried Curonian culture along the Curonian Spit until WWII. When the Red Army advanced, most fled; those who remained were expelled by the Soviets and replaced with Russians and Lithuanians. The Kursenieki are now nearly extinct—a Baltic ethnic group erased in a generation.
Saldus itself ended the war in the Courland Pocket, where German forces held out until May 8, 1945—the last German-controlled territory in Europe outside Czechoslovakia. Soviet forces entered that day, beginning an occupation that lasted until 1991.
The district was created during Soviet occupation (1949) and reorganized after independence. Today Saldus is the largest town in its municipality, an administrative center for southern Courland. By 2026, the question is whether Curonian heritage can be commercialized for tourism or remains a scholarly footnote—four millennia of continuous habitation reduced to exhibits.