BALTIC MARCHING
SEASON IS HERE AGAIN!
WILL ANY OTHER VOICES FROM THE WEST SAY NO?
UPDATE MARCH 16, 2020
Neither Common Sense, COVID 19 nor a Government Ban prevented some SS glorifiers from attending the annual SS glorification day... Some people never learn. The demographic policy adviser to the Baltic nation's prime minister was the highest-ranking official to pay tribute to the legionnaires.
Former Waffen-SS Legionnaire: Collaboration With Nazis Was 'Mistake' Thursday 19 March 2020
Add your voice to this
petition here: http://www.petitions24.com/stop_the_16_march_marches_and_latvians_revising_history
To date Common Sense, Reason and Respect have not stopped the SS glorification march but now an unseen virus that indiscriminately attacks any member of the human race might!
https://tass.com/world/1128993
To date Common Sense, Reason and Respect have not stopped the SS glorification march but now an unseen virus that indiscriminately attacks any member of the human race might!
https://tass.com/world/1128993
Will the
West Remain Silent as Latvia Prepares Again to Glorify its Waffen SS?
by Monica Lowenberg
http://defendinghistory.com/
Since 1998, former Latvian SS have each and every year on the 16th
of March been marching in the capital city of Riga to commemorate their
fallen colleagues whom they perceive as war heroes. The marches have over the
years increased in alarming numbers and have even been publicly condoned by
Latvian officials. In the heart of NATO in Riga, more than 2,500 people,
amongst them Latvian politicians, have been known to annually pay tribute to
Latvians who fought on the side of Nazi Germany in Waffen SS detachments during
World War II. In 2012 the Latvian Prime Minister told local media he did
not think March 16 had “any special significance.” Legionnaires’ Day is used by
radicals on both sides, he said, “to confront each other”! However, we believe
Latvia, the international community, the UK government, the European Union and
NATO should condemn this pro-Nazi event, for which the center of an EU capital
is annually gifted by authorities, in morally clear terms. Waffen SS
veterans are not remotely regarded as legitimate “heroes” by the European
Union, of which Latvia has been a full member since 2004.
Please add your voice to the international petition, see earlier articles and papers available online, and reports on earlier marches in Defending History. A packet of background materials is attached in PDF format .
Time to call a halt…
Stop the 16 March marches and the
twisting of history!
By
Ruth Barnett MBE, Holocaust Educator and Author
16
February 2020
Humanity, the one human race, is denigrated by
those of its members who try to avoid responsibility by covering up, denying and
trying to re-write shameful parts of their history. Nearly all, if not all
countries have some shameful history. It is time for an international 'amnesty'
in which this is recognised and all past shame publicly acknowledged, so that
we can all go forward accepting the truth of the past in order to create a
better future.
Currently the Family of Nations on Planet Earth is
the most dysfunctional family of all time. We have too many leaders at all
levels, who should be role models and guardians of the truth, irresponsibly
putting their greed for power and wealth before the interests of their people.
We need a country like Latvia that suffered and caused suffering in World
War II, to lead the way by heralding the truth instead of glorifying
atrocities.
Ruth Barnett MBE,
Holocaust Educator and Author of:
Person of No Nationality, Jews & Gypsies, Why
War?
Love,
Hate & Indifference, Equality and Inequality
and What
Price for Justice: a Play in Two Acts
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Time to call a halt…
Stop the 16 March marches and the
twisting of history!
By Graeme Atkinson anti-fascist journalist
and internationalist 03.03.2019
Annually since 1998, in the centre of
Riga, on 16 March, processions have been held to honour veterans of the Latvian
Legion of the murderous Nazi Waffen SS for fighting the Allies in WWII.
And, through the media of Latvian
government materials and state propaganda film footage, the role of the Latvian
Legion is still apologised for or excused while the far-right National Alliance
– which sits in the Latvian government – is again loudly demanding that the
date be enshrined as an official national memorial day.
Not new: these events have
received tacit (and sometimes explicit and public) support from state
authorities, including, in 2012, Latvia’s president himself and have
been attended by members of the Latvian Parliament, members of the Riga
City Council and officials of the Latvian defence ministry.
Documentary evidence of official
complicity in Latvia’s Day of National Shame is copious but astonishingly the
ghastly charade of memorialising the SS in Riga, a European capital at
the heart of NATO and the EU, goes on, attended by increasing
numbers and attracting right-wing extremists and Hitler fans from across
Europe, including the UK.
Despite the mounting international
input, the rest of Europe just looks on at this unwholesome performance that
lauds the members of a proven criminal organisation. It is surely time that
Latvia, the UK government, the European Union, NATO and the international
community showed some self-respect and pressed for a halt to it.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Robert Singer- World Jewish Congress- 17 March 2019
'All those who glorify Nazis and their collaborators by marching or otherwise are inciting hatred, plain and simple'
'All those who glorify Nazis and their collaborators by marching or otherwise are inciting hatred, plain and simple'
Amy Mills, a spokeswoman for Global Affairs Canada-
20
March 2019
“Canada is strongly opposed to the glorification of Nazism
and all forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, intolerance and
extremism,” Mills said. ”That is why we condemn the parade to commemorate
the Latvian SS Brigade held in Latvia on March 16th.”
Michael Mostyn Chief Executive Officer of
B’nai Brith Canada - 15 March 2019
“We must challenge those who distort historical
records on governments, military units or organizations that fought with,
supported or sympathized with the Nazis during World War II. This includes
government leaders who acquiesce in, or fail to condemn, a process of Nazi
glorification that amounts to Holocaust distortion. This cannot be tolerated.”
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
UK MP GARETH THOMAS WRITES TO LATVIAN AMBASSADOR AND
TO BRITISH FOREIGN OFFICE 11 March 2016
Cornelia Kerth, chair of the VVN-BdA protesting outside the Latvian embassy in Berlin
on 15 March 2016 after having been prevented from boarding a flight to
Riga from Berlin with Baltic Air earlier that same day. The
VVN-BdA demanded that her five fellow protesters, who
had been allowed to leave the country, only to be arrested
on arrival at Riga airport and placed into a Latvian jail, be immediately
released.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
British MEP
Richard Howitt, European Parliament Spokesperson on Human Rights, Issues
Statement on Riga Waffen SS March
Posted
on 13 March 2014 by Defending
History
Richard
Howitt, British Labour Member of the European Parliament, and spokesperson for
the European Parliament Human Rights Sub-Committee today issued the following
text of his statement which will be read out in Riga this Sunday March 16th.
Today brings the seventeenth annual march in Riga, Latvia glorifying
Waffen SS forces from the Nazi era which brought death and destruction to our
continent and which today’s European Union was supposed to consign to history.
I am pleased to hear that the Latvian Government has forbidden Ministers
from attending the march this year, but condemn the Latvian High Court’s
decision of 2013, forcing the Riga Mayor to apologise for all the years of
trying to ban it.
Coming from Britain, I am saddened that the governing Conservative Party
from my country chooses to ally itself in a common European Group with the
Latvian “For Fatherland and Freedom Party,” whose Member of the European
Parliament is on record as supporting this sickening celebration, even
supporting its previous status as a public holiday in the country.
I am also shocked at the report that the British Conservative MEP, who
was head of his European group in 2012, is reported to have personally refused
to sign the petition against the celebration, despite 7,000 people worldwide
having done so.
The party of Government of my country should not sit with a party which
has proposed the Waffen SS troops be renamed “liberation fighters.”
They are a scar on my own country.
What they should remember is that almost all of Latvia’s 70,000 Jews
were murdered during the Holocaust.
Whether local boys were forced to don the SS uniforms or were eager
volunteers, celebration of their actions not only insults the memory of the
victims but also honours Nazism itself.
Today, the British Labour Party stands with all victims of the Second
World War, all who condemn fascism, all who oppose anti-Semitism and other
forms of racism, to express our horror at those who seek to rewrite history in
order to justify those who would spread bitterness, hate and division in a new
century.
This year sees the 100 years centenary since the beginning of the First
World War, and people throughout Europe will come together to remember the
horrors of both wars of the twentieth century and celebrate the fact fascism
was defeated and not victorious.
When survivors of Nazi concentration camps in 1945 stood holding signs
saying “never again,” they could not have foreseen what is happening today in
Riga. These are the people we should be commemorating and this is the
message we should remember.
RICHARD HOWITT MEP
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Board
of Deputies of British Jews, Jewish
Manifesto for the 2014 European Elections:
In Europe, the 2008 Prague Declaration caused alarm among many Jewish
communities by conflating crimes under Soviet Communism with Nazi crimes. The
concern here is that some countries have attempted to deflect attention from
the complicity of their wartime governments in the Holocaust, using this as a
cynical attempt to avoid liability for compensation to Jewish victims. The
crimes that Communist governments committed against their people should be
explored and the perpetrators prosecuted, but it is important that countries
acknowledge their role in the Holocaust and do not attempt to dismiss a very
troubled period in their history by reference to what happened under Communism.
At times, a related trope is that many leading Communists were Jews and
so the Jews as a whole are complicit in the crimes of Communism. The rationale
continues that, as such, Jews in general do not deserve sympathy or compensation
for what they suffered during the Holocaust. But the fact that some Jews were
leading Communists did not leave Jews – as a corporate entity – with the wealth of the subjugated people
in the same way that Nazi expropriation of Jewish property remains in the hands
of some states.
Commitment: MEPs should challenge their European colleagues on these narratives that seek to minimize or downplay the Holocaust.
Council of Europe (§ 87)
Report on Latvia by the ECRI calling a
halt to all forms of Nazi glorification February 21, 2012:
In the framework of its statutory activities, ECRI conducts country-by-country monitoring work, which analyses the situation in each of the member States regarding racism and intolerance and draws up suggestions and proposals for dealing with the problems identified. In the report on Latvia published on February 21, 2012 ECRI expresses concern as regards the authorisation of certain public events to commemorate two incidents and the authorities’ reaction in this connection. As concerns the first incident, every year, on 16 March, a gathering commemorating soldiers who fought in a Latvian unit of the Waffen SS is held in the centre of Riga. In this connection, ECRI regrets that, in spring 2010, an administrative district court overruled a decision of the Riga City Council 27 prohibiting this march. Moreover, ECRI is concerned that the speaker of the Latvian Parliament allegedly publicly expressed regret for the formal prohibition of this event and that certain MPs have voted for the restoration of March 16 as day of remembrance.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Simon
Wiesenthal Centre in Jerusalem 16.03.1999
‘Although these units were not
involved in crimes against humanity, many of their soldiers had previously
served in the Latvian security police and had actively participated in the mass
murder of civilians, primarily Jews...The stubborn insistence of Latvia’s SS
Legion veterans to conduct a public march to glorify their role as combatants
on behalf of the Third Reich is a clear indication that many Latvians have
still not internalised the lessons of WWII... not one of the numerous Latvian
killers who collaborated with the Nazis has been brought to justice since Latvia
obtained its independence, far too many Latvians feel free to identify with
those who fought alongside the perpetrators of the Holocaust rather than with
its victims’.
At the Nuremberg trials
of 30 September 1946, it was crystal clear: there were no heroes among the SS;
there were no divisions that were deemed better than others but rather the SS
as a whole was defined as a “criminal organisation.”
Stated
the Nuremberg judgment and worth quoting at length:
“Much
of the evidence and the argument has centred around the question of whether
membership in these organizations was or was not voluntary; in this case, it
seems to the Tribunal to be quite beside the point. For this alleged criminal
organization has one characteristic, a controlling one, which sharply
distinguishes it….When an individual became a member of the SS, for instance,
he did so voluntarily or otherwise, but certainly with the knowledge that he
was joining something. Many of these men have made a mockery of the
soldier’s oath of obedience to military orders. When it suits their defense
they say they had to obey; when, confronted with Hitler’s brutal crimes, which
are shown to have been within their general knowledge, they say they disobeyed.
The truth is that they actively participated in all these crimes, or sat silent
and acquiescent, witnessing the commission of crimes on a scale larger and more
shocking than the world has ever had the misfortune to know. This must be said.”
For Further Information See:
Selected News Coverage from 2019
See previous blog spot
entries for full coverage
On September 27 2019, Latvia's minister of defence, Dr
Artis Pabriks, delivered a speech in More parish to commemorate the More
battle of September 1944. He stated that "Latvian legionnaires
are a pride of the Latvian nation and of the state." Moreover,
this quote was chosen as the title of an article on the ministry's website
in Latvian and now removed, https://www.mod.gov.lv/lv/zinas/pabriks-
latvijas-legionari-ir-latviesu-tautas-un-valsts-lepnums . It should be noted the ministry did not proclaim this on their English-language website.
latvijas-legionari-ir-latviesu-tautas-un-valsts-lepnums . It should be noted the ministry did not proclaim this on their English-language website.
The Waffen SS Latvian Legion was a collaborationist unit, partly volunteer, partly conscripted.
See the report in Russian at a state-owned news portal LSM.lv:https://rus.lsm.lv/statja/novosti/politika/legioneri--gordost-latishskogo-naroda-i-gosudarstva--ministr-oboroni.a333451/
Mr Pabriks, a political scientist, has long been infamous for having said in 2013, "We are welcoming German boots on the ground here in Latvia ever since 1940." Later, he explained that this was meant to refer to NATO troops.
See https://nra.lv/latvija/101794-pabriks-izteikumu-par-gaiditajiem-vacu-zabakiem-domajis-saistiba-ar-nato-macibam.htm
In 2013, Pabriks represented the conservative "Unity" party. His current party, "Development"/"For!” is considered "liberal" by Latvia's standards.
In response to Pabriks’ comments, Dr Efraim Zuroff of
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre condemned on October 7 2019 the
Latvian defence minister's comments.
"Given the
fact that the Legion fought for a victory of the Third Reich, the most
genocidal regime in history, and that among those serving in it were active
participants in the mass murder of Latvian Jewry, as well as of German and
Austrian Jews deported by the Nazis to Riga, such comments are
incomprehensible, let alone deeply offensive, coming from a senior minister of
a country with full membership in the European Union and NATO," said
the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Efraim Zuroff
in response.
December 3, 2019 by David Pugliese
March 24, 2019 by Scott Taylor
Latvian supporters of the SS Legion make the point that many members of these two combat divisions — 120,000 personnel in total — were forcibly conscripted by the Germans. That is a historical fact, which is not in dispute.
However, I will argue that if you were forced to wear an SS uniform against your will during the Second World War, it is unlikely that you would dig it out of your closet to proudly wear it down the streets of Riga 45 years later.'
Latvian supporters of the SS Legion make the point that many members of these two combat divisions — 120,000 personnel in total — were forcibly conscripted by the Germans. That is a historical fact, which is not in dispute.
However, I will argue that if you were forced to wear an SS uniform against your will during the Second World War, it is unlikely that you would dig it out of your closet to proudly wear it down the streets of Riga 45 years later.'
https://www.hilltimes.com/2020/02/05/holocaust-revisionism-is-just-as-bad-as-denying-the-atrocity/233695
February 5, 2020 by Scott Taylor
https://www.hilltimes.com/2020/03/04/latvia-should-take-a-stronger-stance-against-alleged-holocaust-participants/238017 March 4, 2020 by Scott Taylor
BALTIC MARCHING
SEASON IS HERE AGAIN!
WILL ANY OTHER VOICES FROM THE WEST SAY NO?
Add your voice to this
petition here: http://www.petitions24.com/stop_the_16_march_marches_and_latvians_revising_history
Photo
to the Left
Monica Lowenberg in
silent protest at the legionnaires march 16 March 2012, Riga Latvia PHOTO:
COURTESY OF DEFENDING HISTORY.COM
Centre Photo
From
left to right Monica Lowenberg (UK), Helmut
Scholz, (Germany, MEP), Joel Rubinfeld,
president of the European Jewish Parliament (Belgium), Efraim
Zuroff, Director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center (Israel), Tatjana
Ždanoka (Tatyana Zhdanok), EP deputy (Latvia), Janis Kuzins, Chairman
of the Board for Associated Diversified Trade Unions ( Latvia) , Joseph
Koren, president of the association "Latvia without
Nazism" (Latvia), Hermann
Dvorzak, leader of the European Social Forum (Austria),
laying down a wreath to the victims of Nazism 16 March 2012 , Riga
Latvia PHOTO: COURTESY OF DEFENDING HISTORY.COM
Photo to the Right
Volker Beck gives a
speech of support to protesters at the Latvian Embassy in Berlin on the eve of
the 2017 annual Waffen SS march in central Riga to his left Dr Hans
Coppi, VVN Berlin PHOTO: LOTHAR EBERHARDT.
WHAT IS MARCH
16TH IN LATVIA? by Monica Lowenberg
First
published as
Latvia’s difficult legacy What
is March 16th? by Monica Lowenberg published
by the Holocaust Educational Trust and Second Generation Network, Voices April 2012
Each year since 1998, former Latvian SS veterans have, on the 16th March, been marching in the centre of the capital city of Riga, accompanied by supporters of all generations, to commemorate and herald their fallen colleagues as war ‘heroes’. The marches have over the years increased in alarming numbers and have frequently been, and continue to be supported by Latvian officials.
On March 16th, 2011 in the heart of NATO, in an EU country, in Riga,
more than 2,500 people, (75%
of them under the age of 30), gathered to pay tribute to Latvians who fought on the side of Nazi Germany in
Waffen SS detachments during World War II. Amongst
them a large number of neo-Nazi activists from Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania,
Germany, Norway and Denmark and Latvian officials and MEP members. Over
the years the marches have been attended by the Latvian Chief-of-Staff,
Secretary of Defense, members of the Seim and current and former ministers and
officials. They herald the Latvian SS veterans as war heroes and freedom
fighters as they claim they fought in German ranks to hold back a greater evil,
the Soviet Union. Many Latvians believe that the Latvian Waffen SS
legion could not have played a role in the Holocaust as it was not officially
formed until 1943 when nearly all of Latvian Jewry had already been murdered.
However, a substantial amount of evidence including a series of personal
accounts and confirmation received from the trial of German Nazi Adolph
Eichmann, supports that unknown numbers of Latvian Waffen SS soldiers had
indeed been previously involved in the murder of Jews as auxiliary police
between 1941 and 1942. 90 percent of Latvia’s pre-war Jewish
population, were killed in 1941-42, only one in ten survived. Approximately
67,000 Jews were living in Latvia at the time of the Nazi invasion in July
1941. Approximately 62,000 of them were killed during the Nazi occupation.
About 30,000 Jews were killed already by mid-August 1941. The main agents of
this murder were small German military units joined by the so-called Arājs
Commando and assisted by Latvian auxiliary police, which consisted mainly of
volunteers. In late 1941 approximately an additional 30,000 Latvian Jews were
killed in a carefully organised execution also aided by Latvian police and
Arājs Commando in Rumbula forest, just outside the capital city of Rīga. After
this, about 25,000 European Jews were brought to the Riga Ghetto by train and
at least half of them were murdered by mid-1942.
Shamefully
forgotten is the fact that not one of the numerous Latvian killers who
collaborated with the Nazis has been brought to justice since Latvia obtained
its independence. Killers who prior to joining the legion in 1943
had been part of 16 auxiliary police (SD) battalions that had previously taken
an active part in the liquidating of ghettos in Latvia, Belarus and Poland, as
well as in the destruction of civilian villages in Belarus and Russia’s Pskov
region. Killers who before joining the legion had been in
the ‘Arajs Team’ led by Viktor Arajs, comprising of up to 1,500 Latvian men,
known worldwide as the active performers of the Holocaust in Europe,
executioners of Latvian, Vilna, Warsaw and many Byelorussian ghettos.
During
World War II, the Nazis created 37 divisions of Waffen Schutzstaffel (Waffen
SS) of which only 12 were comprised exclusively by Germans. Most of the members
of the divisions were recruited among the so-called «Aryan» populations of the
occupied or annexed countries. Although the Latvians were not all considered
«Aryan», they were massively recruited. Out of 900,000 Waffen SS, almost
150,000 were Latvians thus being the largest foreign contingent while their
country, Latvia, only had two million inhabitants. The Latvians were mainly
placed in the 15th Infantry Division, which became the most decorated
non-German Waffen SS unit. It was the 15th infantry division
who entrenched themselves in Berlin and engaged in the last military actions of
the Third Reich.
The
Latvian legion formed in the winter of 1943 was ,under Hitler’s
orders ,formally established on March 16th 1944 There
is consensus amongst all Latvian historians that the day marks the only time,
the two Divisions of the Legion (15th and 19th)
fought together against the Red Army. Therefore, by making the 16th
March a day to remember war dead, Latvians, (despite
Latvian official protestations to the contrary), are making the
day when Latvian volunteers fought in the 15th and
19th divisions of the SS an act of commemoration. As
Israeli/Jewish critics have commented even if one takes the stance that the
Latvian legionnaires were not criminals and that they were forced to fight for
the Nazis, to commemorate the Legion is far from being a positive act
and a far cry from a policy to GLORIFY them. Glorification of
pro-Nazi armed forces during World War II has no place in a European Union /
NATO / OSCE country.
Despite
condemnation from the international community and reports from the European
Commission against Racism and Intolerance that in 2008 explicitly stated, ‘All
attempts to commemorate persons who fought in the Waffen SS and collaborate
with the Nazis should be condemned. Any gathering or march
legitimising in any way Nazism should be banned’, in January this year,
many Latvian policymakers expressed their respect and admiration of former SS
veterans. Political party “Visu Latviyyay!” announced that it is preparing a
bill declaring the veterans of the SS Legion as national liberation movement
fighters. Under the bill, former SS soldiers in Latvia will enjoy many benefits
and advantages, in contrast to the veterans of the Allied forces who fought
against Nazism.
Some Facts to Consider
It is a sad and important fact to remember that a substantial number of the same Latvian Waffen SS (the “legionnaires”) had, prior to joining the Latvian SS legion, been members of the worst Jew killing machine the world has ever known, killing with the Nazis in the summer-autumn of 1941 some 75, 000 Jews. To honour such men, no matter how many were involved, is a travesty of justice. The legionnaires who were mobilised into the Latvian Legion, against their free will, are in some respects victims but as the video clips of this year’s march which I protested at (see links below) reveal, their descendants do not perceive them as such as they desecrated the wreath to the victims of Nazism and hissed anti-Semitic statements.
Aside from any EU regulations that strictly forbid days that commemorate and glorify Nazism, (see Report on Latvia by the ECRI (European Commission Against Racism and Intolerance published 21 February 2012) for let us not forget Latvia is since 2004 a member of the EU, NATO and OSCE , apologists and supporters of the march would be wise, on seeing the You tube clips and the international petition site that I set up in January 2012 against the SS marches http://www.petitions24.com/stop_the_16_march_marches_and_latvians_revising_history littered with anti-Semitic, homophobic and xenophobic sentiments, to concede that days that commemorate Nazism and any associations with Nazism will simultaneously generate anti-Semitic, homophobic and xenophobic sentiments. All the flowers in the world will not dismiss this and the above mentioned tragic facts.
As Dr Efraim Zuroff stated in The Guardian already in 2009 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/oct/14/conservatives-poland-right-wing ‘The results speak for themselves. Although there were numerous Nazi war criminals who could still be brought to trial, not a single one was ever punished in the Baltics, which had the worst record of local collaboration, and only two have been punished in democratic Eastern Europe. Although various leaders issued public apologies (usually in Israel, almost never at home), they failed to deliver in terms of prosecution, restitution, education and documentation. Even worse, Holocaust-related issues became the main cause of renewed local anti-Semitism, which threatened the minuscule remnant Jewish communities in these countries.
For some reason, these issues, which should have been highly significant in determining the candidacy of these countries for European Union and NATO membership, were apparently not taken into account. Suddenly, these countries have the legitimacy of those memberships without having fully internalised the concomitant values. Miliband is correct in pointing out the obvious flaws of the Conservatives' new allies. But they are only the tip of the eastern European right wing, which is determined to rewrite the history of the Second World War in a way that no self-respecting European should accept. By joining forces with parties such as Fatherland and Freedom and Law and Justice, the Conservatives are granting important legitimacy to a false narrative that seeks to whitewash war crimes and erase the heroic victory of those who saved the world from Hitler and the Nazis.’
Latvian nationalists and apologists who argue that the legionnaires should be seen as distinct from the German SS, as one they were acquitted of crimes by the American courts in the 1950’s and two they guarded at the Nuremberg trials, forget two very important points:
- 95.6% of Latvia's pre-war Jewish population was murdered in 1941 and 1942 by German Nazis and Latvian Arajs commandos and auxiliary police, many of whom subsequently, in 1943 and 1944 freely joined the Latvian SS Legion, the 15th and 19th divisions, the 15th becoming the most decorated out of all SS divisions. It is true that the Latvian Legion per se did not murder, virtually all of their Latvian compatriots; who happened to be Jewish, but a substantial number of them prior to joining the legion had been mass murderers of the worst kind. (The main core of the Waffen SS legion Lettland was created in 1943 from 16 battalions of Latvian police which in 1941-1942 participated in the Holocaust in not only Latvia but also Russia, Belorussia and in the executions in the Warsaw ghetto.)
- With regards to the Latvian Legion guarding at the Nuremberg trials the reality is that only a third of them did so, in the exterior ring not because they were innocent of crimes but because they spoke good German! Other rings were composed of Americans, allied troops and police. One should also question the following, Ivan Demyanyuk, also like the Latvian legionnaires, worked for the Americans immediately after the war, does this mean he is not a criminal?
Other facts to consider are the following:
1. The legionnaires participated in the defense of the Reich’s Chancellery in Berlin in April-May 1945, right next to Hitler defending him from Soviet attacks. Now, if that is not collaboration what is?
2. The Legion fought under the Nazi high command for a victory of the Third Reich. They do not deserve to be honoured for fighting for a victory of the most genocidal regime in human history. Ironically, such a victory would have been a disaster for Latvia since the Nazis had no intention or plan to grant Latvia independence. Historians know very well of the Nazis’ plans to do away with the Latvian (among other Baltic) peoples after the planned-for victory. There would have been no Latvia to become independent in 1991.
3. About one-third of those who served in the Legion were volunteers, many of them those who had served in Latvian Security Police units which had actively participated in the mass murder of Jews in Latvia and in Belarus, such as the infamous Arajs Commando mass murder squad.
4. When Latvian SS killed Soviet soldiers they in turn allowed Nazis on the western front to kill more British and American soldiers and in turn allowed Auschwitz and other concentration camps to continue their heinous crimes against humanity. During the years of the Latvian Holocaust, the Soviet Union was in alliance with Great Britain, the United States and other Western democracies, whose ranks Latvia has now joined.
5. Democratic Latvia should not glorify those willing to give up their lives for a victory of the Third Reich. The Latvian Righteous Gentiles would make much better role models for today’s young people in Latvia and for future generations.
6. The ultranationalists who support the march are the ones who are seeking to rewrite the historic narrative of the Holocaust in Latvia in order to hide or downgrade the crimes of local Nazi collaborators and promote the canard of equivalency between Communist and Nazi crimes.
7. Ceremonies in churches and cemeteries are also forms of honouring the deceased (whether they deserve it or not). Witness the masses held in Zagreb and Split, Croatia, last December in honour of the Croatian mass murderer and leader of the Ustashe Ante Pavelic.
