Legends

Legends about the origin of the name Malnava:

•              When, between 1782 and 1799, the peasants left the manor in search of better living conditions, they nicknamed their lord the “black lord” (in Latgalian, “malns”), and that is how the name Malnava came to be.

•              Once upon a time, a lord who spoke Latvian poorly went around visiting all the peasant homes and concluded that they all had flour. On the way, upon entering a poor cottage, he sensed that there would be no flour here. Wanting to tell the housewife to grind the grain, the lord said: "Mal!" (in Latvian, “Grind!”) But the housewife replied: "Nava!" (in Latvian, “Haven`t!”) And so, putting the two together, the name Malnava was born.

•              Once upon a time, a lord was traveling to this place (the manor). The road was so long and far, as if to the edge of the world (in Latvian, “Malu”), but there is no (in Latvian, “Nava”) edge to the world here.

Hitler’s Visit to Malnava

According to the stories of local residents, Adolf Hitler visited Malnava on July 21, 1941, during World War II. The war chronicle preserved in the archives also attests to Hitler’s visit to the Eastern Front. Hitler and his entourage arrived in two Junkers aircraft, escorted by nine Messerschmitt fighters. The visit lasted only a few hours and is captured both in German frontline newsreels and in the memories of Malnava residents. 

Hitler may have been interested in visiting the headquarters, primarily to discuss plans for future operations—namely, the attack on Leningrad—as well as for propaganda purposes. This was a very advantageous location, as Malnava is situated near the Warsaw–Leningrad (now St. Petersburg) railway line, just a few kilometers from the Russian border.

Today, guides leading tours of the manor and its park recount Hitler’s visit and the circumstances surrounding it. While it is highly likely that the Führer was in Malnava, there is no conclusive historical evidence. 

More information (in Latvian):
Malnavas muiža – vieta Latvijā, kur viesojās Ādolfs Hitlers
Vai Hitlers bijis Malnavā un uzturējies bunkurā muižas parkā?

A World War II bunker in the Malnava Manor Park

Located approximately 70 meters from the Malnava Manor building, this air-raid shelter was built in early 1944 (three years after Hitler’s visit, not for the purposes of Hitler’s visit, as some sources claim), when Soviet aviation began to dominate the skies in the latter half of the war. At that time, German troops were in the process of retreating.

At the gates of Malnava Manor, you can scan a QR code and listen to an audio story about the German Führer’s visit to Malnava and the history of the bunkers. The audio story is available in Latvian and English.