Wednesday, 2 March 2016

http://rus.delfi.lv/news/daily/latvia/zaderzhannogo-za-provokacii-blogera-zhurnalista-fillipsa-otpustili.d?id=47191569 with video of Graham Philips, controversial British journalist being arrested after he asked Estonian politician Jaak Madison https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaak_Madison ( a man who in 2015 on his old blog spot defended the economic aspects of the Nazi regime ) if he was not ashamed to be attending a fascist march . Madison was accompanied by Jānis Eglīts who is, part of the National Alliance
and parliamentary secretary to the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Regional Development of the Republic of Latvia, the Minister being Kaspars Gerhards, he is also secretary to the deputy Janis Dombrava. http://varam.gov.lv/eng

Atis Jānis Krūmiņš from Riga Council

However, it should be noted that Rasnacs parliamentary secretary, Jānis Iesalnieks second from left ( in link below, photo taken in 2012) is known to have said in twitter that Breivik is a good boy, and Breivik responded by stating that the National Alliance and Mr.Iesalnieks is in Breivik's Nazi party network https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjDjWGAiDbEu8-mu-oUySx5IIE-XsZ0pEK0ALz3yjbSxdxFuQ_5fl7MxaNpijgi7Zb_2K5iLhDGjETOdsvcA3ur6maI3_BYbDvYXGsqV8l3-lwlJwWML15DOgnJrMmTqKAlQVISwe_9is/s400/2012.03.16_01m.jpg

Tomorrow's Waffen SS Fest in RIGA: A German group reports that some of its members were arrested while entering Latvia (both countries are within the borderless Schengen zone...) with the intention of peacefully protesting the annual Waffen SS event.

Protest from German Group Whose Members Arrested Trying to Enter Latvia for Peaceful Protest...

RIGA—While Veterans of the Latvian legion of the Waffen-SS are allowed to march on tomorrow’s March 16th “Day of Legionnaires,” a group of antifascists from Germany was arrested while trying to enter Latvia to protest peacefully against the public glorification of the Waffen SS.

http://defendinghistory.com/80430-2/80430

NEWS UPDATE RE SCANDAL IN LATVIA 15.03.2016 20.00hrs :

Tomorrow, the SS with clockwork regularity will march down the main street of an EU, NATO, OSCE capital, namely Riga in Latvia. Tomorrow, 16 March 2016, the Latvian SS will be glorified by thousands of Latvians who stubbornly persist in believing that these men, who worked for the most genocidal regime the world has ever known, are freedom fighters rather than mass murderers. 95.6% of Latvia's pre war Jewish population were murdered in 1941 by many of the men who then later joined the 15th and 19th divisions of the SS ( the most brutal one should add) in 1943. Tomorrow these men will be glorified but TODAY sincere and law abiding EU citizens such as Cornelia Kerth , chairwomen of the Association of Persecutees of the Nazi Regime are not permitted to light their plane with Baltic Air from Berlin to Riga and Thomas Willms, Markus Tervooren, Günther Hoppe, Lothar Eberhard and Werner Müller, men with no criminal track record were arrested today at Riga airport, their crime: they peacefully and legally protested against the march in 2014 and have dared to do the same tomorrow, 16 March 2016, two years later.

As a consequence 50 people protested outside the Latvian embassy in Berlin this evening against the measures taken by the Latvian state.
The 5 arrestees have now been deported to the Latvian/Lithuanian border where they will be placed on a bus back to Germany. They will arrive back in Berlin around 10am tomorrow just when the march will be about to start...
facebook contact: https://www.facebook.com/VVNBdA/

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20160315/1036337444/nazi-parade-war-latvia.html

https://linksunten.indymedia.org/en/node/172611

http://www.dielinke-europa.eu/article/10367.lettland-sperrt-antifaschistinnen-aus-und-hofiert-waffen-ss-fans.html

http://www.baltictimes.com/latvian_security_police_step_up_efforts_to_prevent_any_incidents_at_waffen_ss_remembrance_parade_in_riga/

Cornelia Kerth, Chairwoman of Federal VVN-BdA protesting outside the Latvian embassy in Berlin 15 March 2016 after she was prevented from getting on to a flight to Riga from Berlin with Baltic Air yesterday. The VVN-Bda demanded that the 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.

FULL DETAILS RE PROTEST AT BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE

11 March 2016

UK MP GARETH THOMAS WRITES TO LATVIAN AMBASSADOR AND TO BRITISH FOREIGN OFFICE

INTERNATIONAL PETITION , DH And SAM SOKOL IN THE JERUSALEM POST

MEANWHILE, RULING PARTY LATVIAN MP TELLS MEDIA THAT “CLEVER JEWS” ARE “UNDERMINING HIS NATION’S SECURITY”

http://www.timesofisrael.com/top-latvian-mp-smart-jews-working-to-undermine-country/

10 MARCH 2016

PARLIAMENTARIANS AND OTHER ELITES SLATED PARTICIPATE IN THIS YEAR’S WAFFEN SS FEST ON MARCH 16TH IN THE LATVIAN CAPITAL; BUT LAST MINUTE CLIMBDOWN BY NATIONAL ALLIANCE REVERSES DECISION

First published 2 March 2016 by Defending History

LATVIA | NEO-NAZI MARCHES | RIGA WAFFEN SS MARCHES | COLLABORATORS GLORIFIED

by Monica Lowenberg

◊

Preamble

On 16 March 2012, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, head of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel Office, during his visit to Riga to protest against the Waffen SS legionnaires march, stated in an interview to Latvian State television LTV1 that the “Latvian SS Legion was not involved in the crimes of the Holocaust” but also stated, as he has done each and every year since 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.” [16]

NEW SECTION:

ANNUAL WAFFEN SS MARCHES IN CENTRAL RIGA

See You Tube clip with Dr Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, Israel, with a photo reportage covering all three Baltic Neo-Nazi marches in 2014. The reportage is accompanied by an interview with Dr. Efraim Zuroff on Salford City Radio, 24 March 2014 and MEP Richard Howitt’s speech condemning the SS march in Riga, read out on Salford City radio station,17 March 2014.

“The slaughter in the East began from the first day of the German invasion of the Soviet Union. Helped by Lithuanians, Latvian and Ukrainian policemen and auxiliaries, the Einsatzgruppen moved rapidly forward behind the advancing German forces. An eye-witness later recalled how, at the frontier village of Virbalia, Jews ‘were placed alive in anti-tank trenches about two kilometers long and killed by machine guns. Lime was thereupon sprayed upon them and a second row of Jews were made to lie down. They were similarly shot. ‘Six more times, a new line of Jews were driven into the trench. ‘Only the children were not shot. They were caught by the legs, their heads hit against stones and they were thereupon buried alive.”

(from The Holocaust. The Jewish Tragedy by Sir Martin Gilbert published by Collins, London, 1986, p. 155)

♦

“In the Baltic States and Ukraine, Himmler used his ‘Eastern Legions’ as vanguard troops in the German ‘war on bandits’, as well as fighting against the advancing Soviet armies.’ This means that a number of these men fought both as agents of genocide and as ‘freedom fighters’. ‘The debate provoked by the rash of Baltic memorials is a false one. The ‘freedom fighter’ and the killer of civilians may be one and the same.’ ‘Since the recruitment of Schuma battalions and foreign Waffen SS legions or divisions formed part of the same evolving genocidal strategy, it is quite wrong to argue, as Ezergailis and others have, that the combat divisions have no connection with the Holocaust.”

(from Hitler’s Foreign Executioners. Europe’s Dirty Secret by Christopher Hale published by The History Press, Stroud Gloucestershire, 2011, p. 244-245)

◊

2012

ECRI Recommendations:

See Report on Latvia by the ECRI calling a halt to all forms of Nazi glorification February 21, 2012, p27, Point 87:

“ECRI recommends that the Latvian authorities condemn all attempts to commemorate persons who fought in the Waffen SS and collaborated with the Nazis. ECRI further recommends that the authorities ban any gathering or march legitimizing in any way Nazism.”

◊

2013

David Amess Conservative MP in dialogue with Latvian Ambassador Stiprais in London.

◊

2014

“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, British Labour Member of the European Parliament, and spokesperson for the European Parliament Human Rights Sub-Committee, on 13 March 2014)

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, Jewish Manifesto for the 2014 European Elections:

See in particular section 3, and Post-Holocaust Issues section 3.3 on Holocaust revisionism.

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.

Encouraging News

2014 and 2015 it was illegal for any Latvian member of parliament to attend the Legionnaires march and one minister was fired for attending in 2014.

March 16 is not an official commemoration day but unfortunately thousands do attend it.

“At the end of November 2015, the new president of Latvia, Raimonds Vējonis, participated in a solemn meeting at Rumbula where he, unlike his predecessors, publicly admitted that the terrible actions during the Nazi occupation of Latvia were aided, in part, by the participation of Latvian collaborators.”

See on this Roland Binet and a relevant Lsm.lv article.

As in 2014 the VVN /anti fascists from Berlin will be protesting at the 2016 march and protesting outside the Latvian embassy in Berlin 15 March 2016.

Eight days after announcing that ministers from the National Alliance planned in attending the SS Fest in force on the 16 March 2016, on 10 March 2016 the National Alliance, interestingly, decided to revoke their decision http://www.baltictimes.com/latvia___s_national_alliance_ministers_not_to_participate_in_march_16_events_in_riga/

Discouraging News

Bauska: Since 2012, in the Latvian town of Bauska, proudly stands the first memorial to the SS in a European, NATO, OSCE country. It has as yet not been officially removed.

The British Foreign Office repeatedly fails to criticize Baltic state policies and practicies promoting glorification of Nazism. The theme of this year's Holocaust Memorial day was 'Don't Stand By' http://hmd.org.uk/resources/theme-papers/hmd-2016-dont-stand . Surely the heirs of Churchill wish to now take these words to heart?

On the 2 March 2016, and for the first time in two years, Latvian members of parliament stated they would resume attending the SS march this year and according to this article http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/baltic_news/?doc=16204 far more than in the past. See also: http://www.latviannewsservice.lv/en/topic/1905/news/50872469/

On March 16, 2016 The society for the Support of National Soldiers is planning an event by the Freedom Monument from 7 a.m. until 1 p.m. to explain to passersby the Latvian SS Legion’s history and the battles that were fought on March 16, 1944. That event is expected to draw 30 participants. YET The Anti-Nazi Committee of Latvia who would also like to educate passers by regarding what the Latvian SS Legion did and were involved in will be relegated to a park AWAY from the main proceedings.

◊

2015

The Latvian Parliament in 2014 passed a free-speech destroying law threatening up to five years imprisonment for those who might deign to disagree with the state’s interpretation of World War II and the Holocaust.

The same year, the Latvian government abused its EU status to veto a perfectly legitimate Holocaust exhibit at UNESCO in Paris.

23 January 2015

JERUSALEM—The Simon Wiesenthal Center today harshly criticized steps taken by the Latvian delegation to UNESCO which effectively cancelled an exhibition about the Holocaust in Latvia scheduled to open this coming Sunday at UNESCO headquarters in Paris. The sad acquiescence to a far-right veto was rapidly critiqued by the Simon Wiesenthal Center Center’s Israel office director, Dr. Efraim Zuroff who issued this statement:

“This step by the Latvians is part of a systematic effort by the Baltic countries to hide the truth about the extensive collaboration with the Nazis of Balts in the implementation of the Final Solution in their native countries, as well as in Poland and Belarus. Instead of complaining that the exhibition risked damaging her country’s reputation, Latvia’s chief delegate to UNESCO should have welcomed an effort to expose the wartime collaboration of so many Latvians as part of an honest confrontation with her country’s bloody Holocaust past.”

◊

2016?

It seems certain, sadly, that the glorification march of the SS will be going ahead on 16 March 2016 in the very heart of Riga. Potential protesters have recently been harassed by Latvian authorities.

“The openly racist and anti-democratic character of the new government also finds expression in a proposed ban on burkas. Minister of Justice Dzintars Rasnacs from the National Alliance discussed the plans on LNT, a Latvian television channel: “Such a ban will be introduced. The respective draft decision has been already worked out.” He included in this a ban on traditional Islamic dress in all public places. According to Rasnacs, the ban would protect ‘Latvian culture’.”

(Wsws.org)

The National Alliance consists of such member politicians such as Raivis Dzintars. Raivis Dzintars seen in this photo reportage is co-chair of the Latvian far right party which entered the ruling coalition in 2011. In the reportage above one can see Raivis Dzintars smirking as a friend gives a Nazi salute. Dzintars is also a member of the National Association “All For Latvia!” — “For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK.”

Amongst his various parliamentary duties he is, disturbingly, since November 2011, chairman of the civic education subcommittee of the Education, Culture and Science Committee of his nation’s parliament.

In 2013 Raivis Dzintars and Janis Dombrava of National Association “All For Latvia!”— “For Fatherland and Freedom/LNNK” aggressively approached protesters and tried to tear down photographs of atrocities committed by Latvian collaborators in 1941, men who later joined the Latvian Legion in 1943, this too can be seen in the above photo reportage. And yet disturbingly, Janis Dombrava was recently described by the New York Times as being a “lawmaker.“

Add Your Voice to the Petition Against the SS Glorification March in Riga, Latvia:

http://www.petitions24.com/stop_the_16_march_marches_and_latvians_revising_history

NEWS 2016

Disturbing news, after two years of not being allowed to attend the SS march on 16 March in Riga, many politicians under the new regime plan in attending this year

http://www.baltic-course.com/eng/baltic_news/?doc=16204

http://www.latviannewsservice.lv/en/topic/1905/news/50872469/

http://www.leta.lv/eng/home/important/EF6145E5-CE2E-4A7E-A79C-6816346BD679/

http://tass.ru/en/world/860775

http://rushincrash.com/ussr/the-authorities-of-riga-have-allowed-the-procession-ss-legionnaires-in-the-centre-of-the-city/

http://www.jpost.com/Diaspora/Latvian-lawmakers-to-participate-in-annual-SS-march-through-capital-447524

A FEW REMINDERS RE MARCH 16 IN RIGA, LATVIA

WHAT IS MARCH 16TH IN LATVIA?

(Article first published by The Holocaust Educational Trust

· 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.

For 2012 Report on European Commission's Condemnation of Latvian SS parades published 21 February 2012 see

http://defendinghistory.com/european-commission-condemns-latvias-waffen-ss-parades/31490

Monica Lowenberg 23.02.2012

SEE ALSO

· Cameron’s Latvian Liaison, one woman’s petition and one SS march http://defendinghistory.com/cameron latvian-liaison-one-womans-petition-and-one-ss- march-by-monica-lowenberg/51105 by Monica Lowenberg published by DefendingHistory.Com 15.03.2013

· Images from the March 16th 2013 Annual Glorification of Latvian Waffen SS in Riga published by Defending History.com 3 April 2013 by Monica Lowenberg http://defendinghistory.com/riga-march-16-2013-annual-glorification-of-latvian-waffen-ss51949/51949#more-51949

Monica Lowenberg in Dialogue with Latvia’s Ambassador to the UK

Posted on 5 March 2012 by Defending History

D E B A T E

From the 2009 Waffen SS march in Riga. Photo Ilmars Znotins.

Monica Lowenberg is the creator of the international petition against this year’s Waffen SS march scheduled for 16 March 2012 in the heart of Riga, Latvia’s capital city. The petition has to date attracted some six thousand signatures from every part of the planet.

Its author approached the Latvian ambassador to the UK for support.

The ambassadors letter of 1 March 2012 can as PDF be read here). It is followed by the text of Monica Lowenberg’s 5 March reply, supplied to DefendingHistory.com for publication.

Monica Lowenberg to the Latvian Ambassador (5 March 2012)

5 March 2012

Dear Ambassador Eduards Stiprais,

Thank you for your letter of 1 March 2012 explaining why you cannot support the petition, ‘Stop the 16^th March marches in Latvia and Latvians revising history’. I appreciate the time you have taken out of your busy schedule to explain your arguments to me. In the same spirit, I feel it is important to respectfully point out that glorifying any pro-Nazi forces in today’s European Union and NATO alliances is unacceptable, whether the men now being honoured as ‘heroes’ and ‘bowed’ down to by your prime minister, were murderers, criminals, or simply just pro-Nazis.

Latvia needs to be glorifying its real heroes who saved Jews and other civilian victims from the Nazis and their local allies, not a group of men, who amongst them were former Arajs commandos and auxiliary police who played an active role in the mass murders of 90% of Latvia’s prewar Jewish population in 1941-1942, murdering close to 70,000 Jews. Among the murderers were not a few men who later joined the 15th and 19th divisions of the Latvian SS in 1943, the 15^th division being the most decorated of all SS divisions. This is frankly not one of the high points in Latvia’s long and proud history.

As mentioned in my last email to you of the 16 February 2012, it was as a direct consequence of my first visit to Riga last October that I started the petition ‘Stop the 16 March marches in Riga and Latvians revising history!’ as I sincerely believe glorification of pro-Nazi armed forces during World War II has no place in a European Union / NATO / OSCE country.

The petition, launched 20 January 2012, ninety years to the day from the date of birth of my uncle, Paul Theodor Loewenberg, a native of Halle an der Saale, who at age 19 was sent to the Riga Ghetto on the 4 October 1941, is as much an act of commemoration of the victims of Nazism as it is a tribute to the European parliamentarians, including a number from Latvia, who wisely and courageously signed on the 20 January this year 2012, the Seventy Years Declaration, commemorating Wannsee, a declaration which specifically rejects glorification of Latvia’s Waffen SS, along with Estonia’s Waffen SS and the Lithuanian Activist Front (LAF) in Lithuania.

The petition I launched has, in little over a month, gained from around the world over 5,800 votes and the figure is mounting by the hour, indicating that I am not alone in believing that such glorification is terribly wrong. One should also add that the ECRI, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance had already 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’. The ECRI reiterated the same in their most recent report about Latvia released on the 21 February 2012.

As these ‘heroes’ march on the 16 March with Latvian politicians and are given a sermon in church and flowers, when officials and the prime minister argue that these men are not criminals as the SS Latvian legion that these men, killers among them, joined in 1943 (after they and/or colleagues had murdered 80,000 Jews in 1941-1942 on Latvian soil in their capacity as Arajs commandos and auxiliary police), was acquitted of crimes against humanity in the 1950’s by US courts, I ask them and you to consider the following:

1. Many of the worst Latvian killers served in the Latvian Security Police prior to joining the Legion. Honouring such persons is a travesty of justice and a whitewash of their heinous crimes.

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 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.

As these men march from the main Latvian Lutheran Church towards the symbol of Latvian independence — the Freedom Monument in Riga’s central square on 16 March 2012 this year, will any of these men and politicians shed a thought for their Latvian murdered compatriots who happened to be Jewish? Will they remember how 25,000 of them were in the fall of 1941, over two weekends, marched down Riga’s streets from the ghetto to Rumbula, shot and thrown in to pits using the ‘sardine method’? Will they say a prayer for them as part of these proceedings?

As the ambassador for Latvia, a country that is a member of the EU and NATO, I feel it is necessary to ask you once more to regard with respect the conclusion of the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance concerning the 16 March events in Latvia:

‘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.’
With kind regards,

Monica Lowenberg

London

--------------------------------------------

A LITTLE HISTORY

Since 1998, former Latvian SS have every year, on the 16th March, been marching in the capital city of Riga to commemorate and herald their fallen colleagues as war heroes. The marches have over the years increased in alarming numbers and are now even condoned by Latvian officials. On March 16th, 2011 in the heart of NATO, in Riga, more than 2,500 people, amongst them Latvian politicians, paid tribute to Latvians who fought on the side of Nazi Germany in Waffen SS detachments during World War II. The Latvian Prime Minister told local media he did not think March 16th had ,“a special significance.” Legionnaires’ Day is used by radicals on both sides, “to confront each other”. However, this petition believes Latvia, the international community, the UK government, the European Union and Nato should condemn the Nazi event in clearer terms, as Waffen SS veterans are not seen as legitimate “heroes” in any EU member state which Latvia has been granted status since 2004.

•See photo above from

http://www.vosizneias.com/78744/2011/03/16/riga-latvia-latvians-honor-waffen-ss-fighters/

For photo of members of Latvia's Parliament Dzintars Rasnacs (3-L), Raivis Dzintars (C) and other participants during parade close to Freedom Monument in Riga, 16 March 2011 commemorating those who fought in two German Waffen-SS divisions in World War II.

• http://rt.com/politics/latvia-nazi-veterans-march/ 16 March 2011

• You can add your voice to this petition by accessing the links directly below@

http://www.petitions24.com/stop_the_16_march_marches_and_latvians_revising_history

Some statistics

•According to 2010 official statistics The Republic of Latvia, with a population of approximately 2.2 million, is a multiparty parliamentary democracy. Legislative authority is vested in the unicameral Saeima (parliament)

•According to government statistics for the year 2010, Russians comprised 28 percent of the population, Belarusians 4 percent, Ukrainians 3 percent, Poles 2 percent, Lithuanians 1 percent, Jews 0.4 percent, and Roma 0.4 percent.

See http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/topic,4565c2253b,4565c25f467,4da56db3c,0,,,LVA.html

The UN Refugee Agency

•In May 2004 Latvia simultaneously joined NATO and the European Union.

•Already in a press release 16.03.1999 the Simon Wiesenthal centre in Jerusalem condemned the march of the legionaries and stated, ‘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’.

Background to the Latvian Legion and Latvia’s revising of history

•The Latvian legion consists of veterans of the Latvian SS Volunteer legion they claim they fought in German ranks to hold back a greater evil, the Soviet Union. They consider themselves as freedom fighters. Russian, Jewish organisations and even some Latvians believe that the veteran link with the Nazi SS-organisation is a national disgrace. They consider the veterans as Nazi sympathisers.

•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 was 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 was formed in the winter of 1943 however; March 16th 1944 is the day the Legion was founded when Hitler ordered it be established. All Latvian writers agree that the day marks the only time, the two Divisions of the Legion (15th and 19th) were fighting 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.

•It should be noted that nearly 130,000 other Latvians - enlisted to fight against the Axis (Hitler's Germany, Mussolini's Italy and Japan). Most of them fought in the Red Army that liberated their country from Nazism. After the negotiations among the Allies, Latvia, like other Baltic states, was absorbed by the Soviet Union. Professor Vaira Vike-Freiberga sixth president of Latvia from 8 July 1999 – 8 July 2007 has described the men who joined the Red Army as traitors.

•Approximately 62,000 Jews, or 90 percent of Latvia’s pre-war Jewish population, were killed in 1941-42, two years before the formation of the Latvian Waffen SS unit — which some Latvians claim shows the unit could not have played a role in the Holocaust.

•But an unknown number of Latvian Waffen SS soldiers were involved in the murder of Jews as auxiliary police — years before they entered the front-line unit.

See: Einsatz Gruppen Mobile Killing Units

The Trial of Adolph Eichmann -Transcript Excerpt Session No. 29 19 Iyar 5721 (5 May 1961)

References to Latvia, Einsatzgruppen and participation of Latvian nationals

in executions http://rumbula.org/einsatzgruppen_latvia.shtml

Attorney General: I shall come to the German initiative right away. At the end of the paragraph Stahlecker says that, after the partisans had to be disarmed, the internal purging operations ceased in any case. It was much more difficult, he says, to organize purging operations and pogroms in Latvia. It is true that synagogues were burned, and that about 400 Jews were killed, but since the population was soon quietened down, further pogroms could not be organized. "As far as possible, it was documented, both in Kovno and in Riga, by means of films and photographs that the first spontaneous executions of Jews and communists were carried out by Lithuanians and Latvians."

•http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/guywalters/100045516/as-neo-nazis-march-in-riga-tomorrow-its-worth-remembering-the-gruesome-reality-of-the-holocaust-in-latvia/

20 June 2010 Telegraph Guy Walters

'At Bikernieki in southeastern Latvia, the Arājs Commando slaughtered four thousand Jews and a thousand communists between July and September 1941. The killings were carried out by groups of twenty men who would murder ten at a time, the victims simultaneously receiving a shot in the back and a shot in the head. Arājs himself was sometimes on hand to deliver "mercy" shots to those who had not died immediately.

The Arājs Commando also participated in the Rumbula Massacre held six miles south of Riga on November 30 and December 8 1941, during which some 25,000 Jews were killed. It was Arājs and his men who helped clear the Riga ghetto to provide the Einsatzgruppe with its victims, and the actions of the Latvians involved were despicable. Elderly women and babies were casually shot, and by the end of the clearance, one witness recalled how "corpses were scattered all over, rivulets of blood still oozing from the lifeless bodies. They were mostly old people, pregnant women, children, handicapped – all those who couldn’t keep up with the inhuman tempo of the march."

After being marched to Rumbula, the killings began. The Jews were forced into a gauntlet formed by a mixture of Germans and Latvians, who included members of the Arājs Commando. As the Jews progressed down the gauntlet, they were forced to surrender their valuables and remove their clothes and shoes. The final stage of the Jews’ journey was to lie down in one of three large pits, clutching their children and loved ones, and to receive a bullet in the back of the head. Subsequent victims were made to sprawl on top of the dead and those who were still struggling in their death throes; the pit reeked of excrement and brains. With the SS men fuelled by alcohol and hampered by the approaching darkness, their accuracy deteriorated, and many of the Jews died by being suffocated by the corpses that fell on top of them.'

•http://rumbula.org/bikernieki_forest_latvia.shtml

•http://www.deathcamps.org/occupation/riga%20ghetto.html – on Riga ghetto

•http://www.jewsoflatvia.com/thebook.html memoir by Max Kauffman survivor of the Riga ghetto

Some Statistics regarding how many Jews were murdered in Latvia 1941-1942

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

On this see Andrew Ezergailis, The Holocaust in Latvia (Washington DC, 1996) and Leo Dribins, Ēbreji Latvijā (Rīga, 2002).

•From 1950-1980 various Latvian historians found themselves ostracised by a large part of the Latvian émigré community when writing, in particular, about the role of some members of the Arajs commando, members of the Latvian police and their role in the Holocaust. (Approximately 13,000 Jews were murdered by over 1,000 Arajs commando in the summer and fall of 1941.) As a consequence they found themselves having to diminish their crimes rather than expose them openly. One example being Herbert Cukurs who personally killed Jews , as Isaac Kram, a native of Riga testified to in a sworn statement to Yad Vashem investigators:

"In March 1942 when I was living in Ludza Street in the Jewish quarter in Riga, I suddenly saw hundreds of people savagely chased and beaten by Nazi soldiers led by Herbert Cukurs. I was standing close by to him when an old woman, who had been dumped into a truck, began shouting at the top of her voice, beseeching Cukurs to let her be put in another truck where she had spotted her daughter.

Cukurs replied by killing the woman with a single shot fired with his big revolver. A few minutes later he shot and killed a small child, just because he annoyed him standing the street and crying for his mother."

Cukurs was assassinated in Montevideo in February 1965 by a group of Jews, who were led by Anton Kunzle, and one of the Jews who called himself Oswald Taussig, who like Cukurs came from Riga.

http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/ghettos/riga.html

Professor Vaira Vike-Freiberga sixth president of Latvia from 8 July 1999 – 8 July 2007 has stated that Latvia was successively occupied by the Soviets, the Germans and again by the Soviets. The Latvians who joined the SS did it only to find an ally to liberate their country. In short, their crimes were comparable. For that, she has based her reasoning on an interpretation of the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact being the result of the totalitarian nature of the Nazi and Communist regimes. Therefore, today's Germany could not be held responsible for the Nazi crimes but today's Russia would always be responsible for crimes of Stalinism. However, this interpretation does not reflect reality: the Ribbentrop-Molotov Pact is, above all, an extension of the Munich Accords (Germany, France, Italy, and United Kingdom) to determine the areas of influence in the East after the distribution of Czechoslovakia among Germany, Poland and Hungary. In addition, it is necessary to integrate the role of Latvia itself during that period. She has ignored the role of the Red Army in the liberation of Europe from the dun plague (the Fascists wore dun and black shirts), and described as traitors those Latvians who joined the Red Army.

•In January 2005, the Latvian government published a work entitled History of Latvia: 20th Century; the book openly says that it was printed with the financial assistance of the US Embassy and its launching took place during a press conference of the president of the Republic. The book states that the camp of Salaspils, where the Nazis carried out medical experiments with children and 90,000 people were killed, was simply a «corrective working camp» and that the Waffen SS were heroes of the struggle against the Soviet occupying forces.

•On 23 December 2011, Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs met with the Chairman of Latvian Council of Jewish Communities Arkady Suharenko.

During the meeting, the parties discussed the current issues of the Jewish community, the cooperation to date between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Latvian Council of Jewish Communities, as well as plans for the coming year.

'The year 2011 is significant in the history of Latvia’s Jewish community: it marks 450 years of the Jewish community in Latvia and commemorates the beginning of the tragic Holocaust events 70 years ago. In this context, a number of notable events have taken place in Latvia in 2011, including the Fifth World Reunion of Latvian Jewry and the Eighth International Conference Jews in a Changing World. The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia and Jews in Latvia Museum with support from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs have carried out a joint project, titled 'The Tragedy of Latvia. 1941'.

•It should be noted that the exhibition in the Museum of Occupation 'The Tragedy of Latvia', devoted in October 2011 only a couple of stands to the Holocaust, the lack there of suggesting that the Holocaust was not the greatest atrocity that occurred in Latvia. As Vaira Vike-Freiberga, former Latvian president has stated, many Latvians suffered and died in Soviet gulags and their deaths should not be forgotten but the greatest number of killings in Latvian history actually took place during the Nazi regime, circa 25,000 Jews were killed alone over two weekends in Rumbula , by the middle of 1941 the Nazis had killed approximately 10,000 Latvians supposed communist sympathisers and by 1942 nearly 80,000 Jews had been brutally murdered in Latvia.

•In the same museum under a portrait of Gustavs Celmins the museum has named Celmins as the leader of ‘ The National Patriotic Organisation’. However, the reality is that he was the leader of the ‘Perkonkrusts’ an ultra nationalistic anti-Semitic organisation that in 1941 had many members actively kill Jews. Celmins died in 1967 in the USA, he had been professor of Russian at San Antonio Catholic University. In 1944 the Nazis had put him into a concentration camp for being a Latvian nationalist but this does not diminish the role members of his organisation played in the killing of Jews, a fact the Museum of Occupation has omitted.

History to the 16th March marches

•Latvia gained independence from Soviet rule on August 21, 1991

•The first march of the Latvian SS Volunteer Legion took place on March 16 1998 on the initiative of the Nazi association Club 415. ‘Approximately 500 demonstrators , of this the majority war veterans dressed in uniforms from the Latvian legion, participated in a commemoration in the Cathedral of Riga and afterwards marched to the Monument of Freedom, where flowers were laid’. From Baltic Defence review no.3, vol.2000. The debate on the Latvian SS Volunteer legion by Bjarke W.Botcher , post graduate student of east European Studies at the University of Copenhagen

•In 2004 and for the first time in the heart of NATO and the European Union, several hundreds of Waffen SS marched in the centre of the capital Riga. The demonstration, which was authorised by the municipal council of Riga, was protected by security forces, while people who were peacefully protesting against it were brutally repressed and some of them submitted to interrogation.

•March 2010 whilst in Riga, Dr Efraim Zuroff Israel director of the Wiesenthal Centre begged the Latvian authorities to stop the marches and in an article in 2011 pointed out that 600 Latvian intellectuals had signed a petition asking that the government halt the marches, they were not stopped and instead almost condoned. See

http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Op-EdContributors/Article.aspx?id=213523 23.03.2011 Dr Efraim Zuroff Jerusalem Post

http://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/lifestyle-features/47023/where-hitlers-thugs-are-treated-heroes?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter Jewish Chronicle John Nathan 24.03.2011

http://clemensheni.wordpress.com/2010/03/22/riga-viktor-arajs-march-16-the-latvian-legion-and-the-holocaust/ Dr Clemens Heni 22.03.2010

www.operationlastchance.org Operation: Last Chance” is a joint project of the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Targum Shlishi Foundation of Miami, Florida designed to assist governments in bringing Nazi war criminals to justice.

http://www.theage.com.au/world/latvia-torn-as-ss-veterans-march-to-remember-comrades-20100317-qfkc.html#ixzz1jATEKZ8e 18.03.2010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/global/2010/mar/18/latvia-waffen-ss-protest 18.03.2010 Dr Efraim Zuroff Guardian

•On 10 November 2010 Roland Binet wrote an open letter to the president of the European commission Mr Jose Manuel Barroso regarding the Museum of Occupation in Riga, Latvia and the 16 March marches asking the European commission to intervene. See http://defendinghistory.com/museum-of-the-occupation-riga. Full letter pasted at end of this article

•In 2010 the papers reported an increase in anti-Semitism in Latvia and the Chairman of the Latvian Council of Jewish Communities Arkady Suharenko stated on 14.12.2010 The Latvian Jewish Community is shocked and dismayed at the desecration of the Riga Jewish cemetery on December 8, and the desecration of the monument to Janis Lipke and other saviours on December 13. These aggressive manifestations of anti-Semitism seem to indicate that this is not an isolated action by some miscreants but rather a system, a pattern that is of concern to us.

See

http://www.jews.lv/en/announcement/chairman-latvian-council-jewish-communities-arkady-suharenko

•March 16, 2011 Riga, Latvia - More than 2,500 people paid tribute to Latvians who fought on the side of Nazi Germany in Waffen SS detachments during World War II.

It was stated that 2011 would be the year that Latvia would commemorate 450 years of Jewish life in Latvia and 70 years since the Riga ghetto yet the Museum of Occupation in Riga only devoted a couple of stands to the Holocaust.

•In response to the marches The Latvian Prime Minister told local media he did not think March 16 had, “a special significance.” Legionnaires’ Day is used by radicals on both sides, “to confront each other,” he noted.

http://rt.com/politics/latvia-nazi-veterans-march/ 16 March 2011

•January 2012 on the radio in Latvia three organisations have already declared their wish to have marches take place on March 16 2012:

1. All Latvia ‘Daugavas Vanagi’

2. ‘Daugavas Vanagi’ affiliation in the town of Limbazi

3. Igor Shishkin organisation ‘Club of Gustavs Celmins’ (Gustavs Celmins leader of the ‘Perkonkrusts’ an ultra nationalistic anti-Semitic organisation that in 1941 had many members actively kill Jews.)

To Conclude

The fact that Latvian politicians and historians have still not considered in more depth the dreadful fate of their Jewish compatriots suggests that Latvians have still not come to terms with their past . They have failed to acknowledge the active involvement of over 1,000 Arajs commandos in the guarding, robbing and brutal mass murder of 13,000 Jews in the summer and fall of 1941 alone. And lest we forget the murder of 90 percent of Latvia’s pre-war Jewish population, 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 When Latvian politicians and historians in an EU country and in the heart of NATO defend in 2012 the 16th March marches, when they herald Latvian SS men as freedom fighters and heroes, they fail to recognise that some of these ‘heroes’ were actually Arajs commandos and mass murderers who in 1943 joined 15th and 19th SS detachments . When Latvian politicians and historians state that they did not war against the democratic allies Britain and USA but only against the Soviet occupants they forget one unforgettable and important fact- the western allies fought with the USSR against the Nazis. Therefore, when Latvian SS killed Soviet soldiers they in turn allowed Nazis on the western front to kill British and American soldiers and in turn allowed Auschwitz and other concentration camps to continue their heinous crimes against humanity.

Other Points For Latvian Apologists to Consider:

As much as it is necessary for those who feel they have suffered under various occupations to be heard, it is historically false and morally reprehensible at best to:

1. Equate Nazi crimes with Communist

2. Create an argument where collaborators are likened to the victims they willingly and brutally murdered particularly

3. When the topic is thousands of "nationalist heroes" who did the actual KILLING of an ethnic minority in their midst --- all the men, women and children of that minority --- for then the current campaign of double-talk to equate this genocide with various other crimes becomes even more reprehensible and completely unbecoming to nations that are, or want to be, bona fide members of and partners in Western civilisation, and its European Union and NATO alliances.

Baltic people and Ukrainians who collaborated with the Nazis are not victims, they were collaborators , collaborators who worked for the most genocidal regime the world has ever known. A regime that murdered on an industrial scale millions of innocent civilians, who were targeted because they happened to be Roma and Sinti and Jewish. The vast majority of the Jews murdered had no connections to high ranking Communist leaders some of whom were Jewish, many did not even know who Stalin was.

The stubborn insistence of, in particular, the Lithuanian and Latvian governments to honour TODAY via marches and monuments for the Latvian SS, name plaques and streets after collaborators are acts that only highlight their complete unwillingness to accept that their ‘heroes’, their liberators from the Soviets, were also collaborators of the worst kind.

And if none of the above points can still convince the Latvian apologist , question the following:

When the 15th and 19th divisions of the Waffen SS fought against the Red Army, not so far away from Leningrad, around 1,5000,000 innocent men, women and children died of hunger due to a Nazi blockade.

Should such a day be commemorated by anyone?

Monica Lowenberg MA, BA Hons 20.01.2012

(In the course of her DPhil studies at Sussex University and academic work at the Wiener Library, London, UK Monica has been published in the UK and Germany in Exile Studies. Publications have included Die Kindertransporte 1938/1939 Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag and The Education of the Cologne Jawne Gymnasium Children and the Berlin ORT School Boys in Germany and England Between 1933 and 1939 Rodopi)

My thanks to Dr Aleksandrs Feigmanis Historian in Riga, Latvia for devoting many hours informing myself of what is currently taking place in Latvia today and for proof reading this document, without him this document and petition would never have come about. I am also indebted to Dorothee Lottmann Kaeseler of the Aktives Museum in Wiesbaden, Germany and Dr Efraim Zuroff, director of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Israel Office for the invaluable information they have given me. Dr Barry Gardiner MP for Brent North for supporting the petition, ‘Stop the 16th March marches in Riga and Latvians Revising History!’ and for being prepared to submit an Early day Motion to the House of Commons to coincide with the date of 16 March to draw attention to the issue.

In remembrance of the innocent voices who were brutally silenced and my uncle Paul Lowenberg 20.01.1922 who at the age of 19 was sent to the Riga ghetto on the 4 October 1941.

-------------------------------------------------

PROTEST BY THE VVN BERLIN

Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes –
Bund der Antifaschistinnen und Antifaschisten (VVN-BdA) e.V.
BundesvereinigungPresseerklärung vom 8. März 2016

Keine Ehrung der lettischen Waffen-SS

Am 16. März wird es in der lettischen Hauptstadt Riga - wie jedes Jahr seit 1991 - wiederum zu einem Gottesdienst, einem Umzug und einer fahnengesäumten Kundgebung am Freiheitsdenkmal zu Ehren der lettischen Einheiten der Waffen-SS kommen.
Diese Veranstaltung ist der unrühmliche Höhepunkt verschiedener Kundgebungen, mit denen in den baltischen Republiken nationalistischer, antisemitischer und antikommunistischer Kollaborateure der deutschen Besatzungsmacht gedacht wird und die zur nationalen Legitimation herangezogen werden. Es wird im Zuge dessen weitgehend ignoriert, verdrängt oder geleugnet, dass es sich im Kern um Todesschwadronen handelte, die im Verbund mit den Deutschen Massenmorde durchführten, denen zehntausende Menschen zum Opfer fielen.
Internationaler Druck hat immerhin erreicht, dass der „Tag der Legionäre“ seit 1998 nicht mehr nationaler Feiertag ist und dass die Regierung ihre Mitglieder verpflichtet hat, nicht mehr an ihm teil zu nehmen. Die auch an der aktuellen Regierung beteiligte Partei „Nationale Allianz“ war allerdings 2014 sogar bereit einen Minister zu verlieren, der trotz des Regierungsbeschlusses teilgenommen hatte.

Dessen ungeachtet erfreut sich die beklemmende Veranstaltung nach wie vor breiter gesellschaftlicher und de facto staatlicher Unterstützung. Man rechnet mit mehreren tausend Teilnehmenden, die sich nicht auf einen harten neonazistischen Kern beschränkt.

Erheblicher Repression sehen sich die wenigen Letten ausgesetzt, die diesem Spektakel etwas entgegensetzen wollen. Telefonüberwachung, Reisebeschränkungen, Behördenschikanen, Polizeiwillkür, staatliche Einflussnahme auf Hotels und Veranstaltungsunternehmen werden jedes Jahr insbesondere gegen „Lettland ohne Nazismus“ angewendet und sollen sie zur Aufgabe zwingen. In diesem Jahr war es den Antifaschisten gelungen, den Veranstaltungsort vor der Gegenseite zu beantragen. Daraufhin wurden sie von der Polizei vorgeladen, weil sie angeblich ihre eigene Unterschrift gefälscht hätten!

Der „Ehrenmarsch“ ist eine unerhörte Provokation für die Angehörigen der Opfer der lettischen Polizei und SS-Verbände und für die jüdische, russischsprachige und andere Minderheiten im Land. Er steht nicht nur im Gegensatz zu den Grundwerten der Europäischen Union, deren Vorzüge der lettische Staat andererseits gerne entgegennimmt, sondern ist auch eine Provokation gegenüber der Russischen Föderation und damit eine Gefahr für den Frieden in Europa.

Auf Einladung der Initiative „Lettland ohne Nazismus“ nehmen am 16. März in Riga internationale Politiker, Wissenschaftlicher, Journalisten, Antifaschistinnen und Antifaschisten an Aktivitäten gegen den Ehrenmarsch teil. Auch eine Delegation der VVN-BdA wird sich erneut wieder an einer Gegenkundgebung beteiligen.
Bereits am 15. März wird es in Berlin um 18 Uhr vor der Botschaft Lettlands in der Reinerzstr. 40/41 eine Protestkundgebung „Auch in Lettland: Gegen das SS-Gedenken – Kampf den historischen Kontinuitäten“ der „Antifaschistischen Koordination Westberlin“ geben.

Wir fordern:

· Schluss mit der Ehrung von NS-Kollaborateuren und Mördern!

· Anerkennen der baltischen Beteiligung am nazistischen Völkermord!

· Freiheit für „Lettland ohne Nazismus“!

· Wir rufen auf zur Protestkundgebung am 15. März in Berlin vor der lettischen Botschaft!

Beteiligt euch an der Antifa-Kundgebung gegen das SS-Gedenken!

15.03. | 18 Uhr | Botschaft Lettlands | Reinerzstr. 40/41 | S-Hohenzollerndamm

Hier der Aufruf unserer Freund*innen der VVN-BdA : klick

http://www.vvn-bda.de/keine-ehrung-der-lettischen-waffen-ss/

Protest outside the Latvian Embassy, Berlin, 15 March 2016

All photos taken Tuesday, March 15, 2016, 6:00 to 7:00 pm in
front of the Latvian Embassy in Berlin, Reinerzstr. 40/41 14193 Berlin.

Photographer: W. Girod

Cornelia Kerth, Chairwoman of Federal VVN-BdA speaking to the protesters outside the Latvian embassy 15 March 2016

About 50 people came together to protest against the commemoration march for SS-Legionnaires in Riga

Florian Gutsche (left), one of the organisers of the protest

One of the protesters wore signs that read: 'Male and Female bikers against Nazis, stupidity and hate! No more war! No more genocide! No! Not again! No Waffen-SS commemoration in Riga! No new Nazis! Anywhere!'

'SS is marching again in Riga. Criminals against humanity, mass murderers get out of Europe!" Sign by Kontakte-kontakty, an association that works for historical awareness surrounding German crimes in the occupied parts of the former Soviet Union. In 1998 the association created an exhibition called "Shoah in Latvia" which explored the lives of Shoah survivors in the East, a topic completely ignored by German politics until that time. For the past 25 years Kontakte-kontakty now concerns itself with the "forgotten victims of National Socialism" ie soviet prisoners of war and forced laborers who have never received compensation for their suffering nor for their work.

http://www.kontakte-kontakty.de

tageszeitung junge welt

Gegründet 1947

- Mittwoch, 16. März 2016, Nr. 64

Aus: Ausgabe vom 16.03.2016, Seite 1 / Titel

Riga macht sich nazifein

Lettische Regierung bereitet sich auf SS-Gedenkmarsch vor – und nimmt deutsche Antifaschisten in Abschiebehaft

Von Frank Brendle

Further article by Frank Brendle in English here: http://defendinghistory.com/80430-2/80430

Internationaler Widerstand: Protest gegen einen Aufzug von ehemaligen SS-Angehörigen am 16. März 2014 in Riga

Die lettische Regierung legt sich mächtig ins Zeug, um die Straßen von Riga für den am heutigen Mittwoch stattfindenden jährlichen Marsch zu Ehren der Waffen-SS vor Protest gegen die Ewiggestrigen zu bewahren. Deutsche Antifaschisten, die sich an einer Demonstration gegen den Aufmarsch beteiligen wollten, wurden am gestrigen Dienstag bei der Einreise in das baltische Land festgenommen. »Die Behörden versuchen alles, um unseren Protest zu behindern«, berichtete Joseph Koren von der Organisation »Lettland ohne Nazismus« im Gespräch mit junge Welt. Koren hatte die Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes – Bund der Antifaschisten (VVN-BdA) eingeladen, die Proteste in Lettland zu unterstützen.

Gestern früh wurde der Bundesvorsitzenden der VVN-BdA, Cornelia Kerth, am Hamburger Flughafen das Einsteigen in die Maschine von Air Baltic verweigert. Sie stehe auf einer »schwarzen Liste« der lettischen Einwanderungsbehörde, wurde ihr beschieden. Fünf Berliner Antifaschisten hatten es hingegen bis nach Riga geschafft, wo sie bei der Einreisekontrolle festgehalten und in einen Verhörraum gebracht wurden. Unter ihnen befinden sich neben dem VVN-BdA-Bundesgeschäftsführer auch einfache Mitglieder des Verbandes.

Als Grund gaben die Behörden an, von den Antifaschisten ginge eine »Gefahr für die öffentliche Sicherheit und Ordnung« aus. Dabei waren die Proteste gegen den SS-Marsch stets friedlich gewesen. Allerdings hatten alle fünf Betroffenen schon vor zwei Jahren an ähnlichen Demonstrationen teilgenommen. Damals waren sie mit dem Bus angereist und an der Grenze mehrere Stunden lang aufgehalten worden. Heute finden sich ihre Daten auf der Liste der »unerwünschten Ausländer« wieder. »Man hat uns vor die Wahl gestellt, entweder noch heute zurückzufliegen oder bis zur Abschiebung in ein Internierungslager für illegale Migranten gesperrt zu werden«, berichtete einer der Teilnehmer gegenüber junge Welt am Telefon. Alle fünf Internierten hätten sich entschlossen, das Angebot der »freiwilligen« Rückreise auszuschlagen. »Dafür droht uns dann lebenslanges Einreiseverbot nach Lettland, aber das wollen wir politisch durchkämpfen«, hieß es. Bis jW-Redaktionsschluss bestand noch Telefonkontakt zu den Betroffenen.

Der Nazimarsch findet stets am 16. März statt, am Jahrestag einer Schlacht der lettischen Waffen-SS-Freiwilligen gegen die Rote Armee. Bis vor wenigen Jahren liefen noch regelmäßig Minister der lettischen Regierung mit. Das wurde auf internationalen Druck hin zwar eingestellt, einfache Abgeordnete der nationalistischen Regierungspartei »Alles für Lettland« haben aber auch für dieses Jahr ihre Teilnahme angekündigt. In der von Geschichtsrevisionismus und antirussischer Propaganda geprägten lettischen Gesellschaft werden die Faschisten weithin als vermeintliche »Freiheitskämpfer gegen den Bolschewismus« betrachtet.

In einer Presseerklärung wies die VVN-BdA darauf hin, dass die Letten, die Proteste gegen den SS-Marsch organisieren, erheblicher Repression ausgesetzt seien. Auch Josef Koren von »Lettland ohne Nazismus« berichtet von Überwachungen und Schikanen durch Behörden. Deswegen setzt er auf eine Internationalisierung des Protests.

Die Linke-Politikerinnen Ulla Jelpke und Sabine Lösing warfen der Regierung in Riga vor, sich schützend »vor die ewig gestrigen Anhänger der Waffen-SS« zu stellen. Dem Land täten sie damit keinen Gefallen: »Lettland erweist sich so als Staat, der Nazis hofiert.«

An die Vertretung Lettlands in Berlin
die Deutsche Bundesregierung
die Repräsentanten der Europäischen Union

Berlin, 16.03.2016

Erklärung der FIR zu den rechtswidrigen Maßnahmen der
lettischen Regierung gegenüber deutschen Antifaschisten

Mit Überraschung und Empörung mussten wir heute von deutschen und
lettischen Antifaschisten
erfahren, dass die Regierung Lettlands – gegen alle Regel der
Europäischen Union – Bürgern der
Bundesrepublik Deutschland, denen keinerlei Rechtsvergehen vorgeworfen
werden konnte, die Einreise
in das Land untersagte. Einer Frau wurde bereits in Berlin – auf
Anweisung der lettischen Regierung –
der Zutritt zu einer regulären Maschine von Baltic Air verweigert, fünf
Deutsche wurden auf dem
Flughafen von Riga in Internierungshaft genommen – in der Einrichtung
für illegal anreisende
Flüchtlinge. Ziel dieser Personen war die Teilnahme an einer genehmigten
Protestkundgebung gegen
den geplanten Aufmarsch ehemaliger Angehöriger lettischer SS-Verbände
und ihrer Sympathisanten.
Die Internationale Föderation der Widerstandskämpfer (FIR) – Bund der
Antifaschisten verurteilt dieses
Verhalten der lettischen Regierung aus folgenden Gründen:

1. Es ist nicht zu tolerieren, dass sich die lettische Regierung über
die Normen des freien
Personenverkehrs innerhalb der EU glaubt hinwegsetzen zu können. Wir
erwarten von den Gremien
der Europäischen Union und der Vertretung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
in Lettland deutliche
Protestnoten.

2. Es ist nicht zu tolerieren, dass die lettische Regierung offenkundig
alles dafür tut, dass
ehemalige SS-Verbrecher und ihre Verbände, sowie deren Sympathisanten
ungehindert in Riga
aufmarschieren dürfen. Wir erwarten von der Europäischen Union, dass sie
die lettische Regierung
deutlich an ihre Verpflichtung erinnert, keinerlei
Geschichtsrevisionismus und Verherrlichung der
faschistischen Verbrechen zuzulassen. Die Teilnehmenden der
Internationalen Konferenz gegen
Antisemitismus in Berlin müssten – wenn sie es mit ihrem Anliegen
ehrlich meinen – deutliche Worte
gegen das Verhalten der lettischen Regierung finden.

3. Es ist nicht zu tolerieren, dass die lettische Regierung einen
friedlichen und demokratischen
Protest, der sich in den gesetzlichen Rahmen der lettischen Verordnungen
bewegt, durch solche
Maßnahmen unterdrückt und – durch die Inhaftierung der Teilnehmenden –
sogar kriminalisiert. Wir
erwarten vom deutschen Außenministerium, dass sie unverzüglich Kontakt
zur lettischen Regierung
aufnimmt und die Freilassung der Bürger der BRD veranlasst.

Wir erklären uns solidarisch mit den lettischen Antifaschisten, die seit
mehreren Jahren den Protest
gegen das SS-Treffen organisieren, und stehen hinter allen
Antifaschisten und Demokraten aus den
verschiedenen europäischen Ländern, die diese Aktion unterstützen wollen.

gez. Dr. Ulrich Schneider, Generalsekretär der FIR

-----------------------------------------------------

VVN An die Medien 16.03.2016 16.42

Gedenkmarsch der Veteranen der lettischen Legion der Waffen-SS in Riga:

Deutsche Antifaschisten abgeschoben – der Skandal bleibt!

Nachdem fünf Mitglieder der VVN-BdA mehrere Stunden auf dem Flughafen von Riga festgehalten worden waren, weil sie sich an den Protesten gegen den Ehrenmarsch für die Waffen-SS beteiligen wollten, wurden sie schließlich mit unbekanntem Ziel in einem Gefangenentransportwagen zeitweise unter Blaulicht fortgeschafft. Gegen Abend fanden sie sich an der litauischen Grenze wieder, wo die Polizei einen Fernreisebus anhielt. In diesen hinein verfrachtet, trafen sie 20 Stunden später wieder in Berlin ein.

Währenddessen konnten andere Mitglieder der VVN-BdA trotzdem in Riga unter intensiver Polizeibegleitung gemeinsam mit unseren lettischen Freunden von „Lettland ohne Nazismus“ und dem Direktor des Simon-Wiesenthal-Zentrums New York, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, sichtbar in der Nähe des Freiheits-Monumentes demonstrieren. Der Protest fand große Beachtung und stieß auf Interesse bei der Presse.

Die massiven Schikanen im Vorfeld waren ebenso wirkungslos geblieben wie die Einschüchterungsversuche der Immigrationspolizei im Hotel unserer Delegation.

Der Marsch der SS-Veteranen und ihrer Anhänger formierte sich nach dem Besuch eines Gottesdienstes in der St. Peters Kirche, angeführt durch den Pastor. Etwa 1.000 Veteranen und Anhänger – darunter auch sichtbar organisierte Gruppen von Neofaschisten – marschierten zum Freiheits-Monument. Der Marsch sei "gruselig" gewesen, hieß es in einem ersten Kommentar aus Riga.

Der Protest war sichtbar durch Fahnen, Transparente und Schilder mit der Aufschrift „Keine Glorifizierung des Holocaust“ in lettischer und englischer Sprache.

Außerdem wurden Fotos von Massakern an der jüdischen Bevölkerung Lettlands durch das zur lettischen Legion der Waffen-SS gehörende Kommande Viktor Arajs gezeigt. Dazu wurden Hunderte Namen von jüdischen Opfern aus Riga verlesen. Das war jedoch nur so lange möglich bis der Marsch in Hörweite kam, dann mussten die Lautsprecher auf Anweisung der Polizei ausgeschaltet werden.

Während die lettischen Behörden dafür sorgen, dass die Veteranen der Waffen-SS durch keine Erinnerung an ihre Opfer gestört durch Riga paradieren können, werden protestierende Antifaschistinnen und Antifaschisten kriminalisiert und schikaniert und ihre Arbeit in skandalösem Ausmaß behindert.

Auch 2017 werden wir deshalb wieder an der Seite unserer lettischen Freunde in Riga demonstrieren und fordern:

· Schluss mit der Ehrung von NS-Kollaborateuren und Mördern!

· Anerkennen der baltischen Beteiligung am nazistischen Völkermord!

· Freiheit für „Lettland ohne Nazismus“!

Translation by Florian Gutsche

Commemoration of the veterans of the latvian Waffen-SS legion in Riga:
German Antifascists deported - the scandal remains!

After 5 members of the Association of the Persecutes of Naziregime - Federation of Antifascists were held in custody in the airport of Riga for several hours, because they wanted to participate in the protest against the commemoration of the Waffen-SS, they were put into a prison transporter which carried them to an unknown target - temporarily with turned on police siren. In the evening they arrived at the latvian-lithuanian border, where the police stopped a international line bus and seated them there. 20 hours later they arrived in Berlin.

Meanwhile other members of the Association of Persecutes of Naziregime - Federation of Antifascists were still able to achieve visible protest, close to the Liberation-Monument, with our friends from "Latvia without Nazism" and the director of the Simon-Wiesenthal-Centre New York, Dr. Efraim Zurof. However, despite a huge mobilisation of police forces the antifascist protest was widely noticed and the media showed major interest.

The previously massive repression were as ineffective as the attempted intimmidations by the immigration police in the hotel.

The march of the SS-Veterans and their supporters constituted itself after the visit of a prayer in the S.Peters Cathedral and was led by the pastor. Approximately 1000 veterans and supporters - among them obviously organised groups of neofascists - marched to the Liberation-Monument. A first comment from Riga described the march as creepy/scary.

The protest was visible due to flags, banners and signs and posters with the slogan: "No Glorification of the Holocaust" in latvian and english language.

Also pictures from massacres on the jewish population were shown, that have been commited by the commando Viktor Arajs which was part ofthe latvian SS-Legions. Related to that houndreds of names of jewish victims from Riga were read aloud. Still this was only possible until the march came close enough to hear it, from that point on the loudspeakers had to be turned off.

While the latvian public authorities do everything to enable veterans of the Waffen-SS to walk though the city of Riga without being disturbed, protesting Antifascists are criminalised and are hindered in their work outrageously.

Therefore we will demonstrate in 2017 at the side of our latvian friends in Riga again and demand:

An end to public commemorations of the Waffen SS.

Formal recognition of the massive Baltic cooperation with Nazi genocide.

Freedom for “Latvia without Nazism” and other anti-Nazi organizations in Latvia.

Tuesday, 16 February 2016

Baltic Marching Season has begun!

First Stop Kaunas, Lithuania

Images from the February 16th 2016 Neo-Nazi March in Kaunas, Lithuania

Posted on 16 February 2016 by Defending History

KAUNAS MARCHES | NEO-NAZI MARCHES | ANTISEMITISM

◊

KAUNAS—For the fifth year running, the Defending History team was the only monitor on site to observe and record the neo-Nazi march in the center of Kaunas, from start to finish, on February 16th, the anniversary of Lithuania’s 1918 declaration of independence. Yet again, the center of Kaunas, the interwar capital and modern Lithuania’s second city, was gifted by the city’s authorities to the neo-Nazis for their event, which drew hundreds, and was kept orderly by a highly professional, and by now experienced, police and state security presence (which, as ever, took every care to keep the Defending History team secure throughout the day).

This year’s theme was a front-of-march “We Know Our Nation’s Heroes” banner featuring six figures who share the following unsettling common denominator: all were alleged Nazi collaborators and/or Holocaust perpetrators (from left): Adolfas Ramanauskas-Vanagas, Jonas Noreika, Povilas Plechavičius, Kazys Škirpa, Antanas Baltūsis-Žvejas, and Juozas Ambrazevičius-Brazaitis. It is as if the marchers are celebrating the murder of the 30,000 Jewish citizens of Kaunas, the more than 95% of the over 200,000 strong Lithuanian Jewish population on the eve of the Holocaust, and the resulting “cleansing” of Lithuania’s Jewish minority.

◊

MEDIA REPORTS: 15min.lt; Lrytas.lt; Kaunas.kasviksta.lt; Efraim Zuroff’s Jerusalem Post op-ed on the eve of the march; Defending History’s pre-march report.

As ever, variants on the swastika and other fascist symbols were freely displayed with no interventions or comment by the police and other security forces.

◊

One of the handmade signs on display:

◊

There were just three counter-protesters, one from Kaunas and two from Panevėžys, whose sign reads: “Lithuania — Not the Third Reich”.

◊

The Defending History monitoring team comprised Evaldas Balčiūnas who came from Šiauliai; Ruta Ostrovskaya who made the trip from Birštonas; and from Vilnius — Milan Chersonski, Dovid Katz, and Julius Norwilla. The Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Dr. Efraim Zuroff and Rūta Vanagaitė, co-authors of a major new book on the Lithuanian Holocaust, attended the opening event at Ramybės Park in central Kaunas.

Second Stop:

Tallinn, Estonia February 24

Third Stop

Vilnius, Lithuania March 11

Fourth Stop

Riga, Latvia March 16

Already in a press release 16.03.1999 the Simon Wiesenthal centre in Jerusalem condemned the march of the legionaries and
stated, ‘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’.

A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY FOR BALTIC LEADERS TO SIMPLY SAY NO TO GLORIFICATION OF HOLOCAUST COLLABORATORS.

WILL THEY?

Already in 2012 The ECRI said the Nazi marches should be banned see:

Report on Latvia by the ECRI (European Commission Against Racism and
Intolerance published 21 February 2012)

However, in February 2016 it comes to light that

Latvian authorities have resumed persecutions of antifascists!

EurAsia Daily Feb 18, 2016

https://en.eadaily.com/news/2016/02/18/human-rights-defender-latvian-authorities-have-resumed-persecutions-of-antifascists

PETITIONS AGAINST THESE MARCHES CAN BE SIGNED HERE:

1. Petitioning HE President Dalia Grybauskaitė , President of Lithuania

Abandon defamation of Holocaust survivors and glorification of Holocaust perpetrators

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/abandon-defamation-of-holocaust-survivors-and-glorification-of-holocaust-perpetrators

To help people find out more about the situation in Lithuania see: http://defendinghistory.com/?p=47128

http://defendinghistory.com/december-2012-london-conference-and-protest-box-coverage-to-24-dec/47637 links to You Tube clips and articles and letters

2. Stop the 16 March marches in Riga, Latvia! Add your voice to this petition here: http://www.petitions24.com/stop_the_16_march_marches_and_latvians_revising_history

YOU TUBE CLIPS OF PREVIOUS MARCHES

3.1 Monday 8 July 2013, 'Jewish Hour' on Salford City Radio 94.4FM

Interview with Monica Lowenberg speaking about her trip to Latvia and the annual SS marches that take place in the capital of Riga.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTCjdF_TNzA

3.2 Nazi Heroes- Waffen SS hailed in Latvia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ-DNbz3wmA 16 March 2012

VIEWS: over 109,000 as of April 2014

3.3 You Tube clip with Dr Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Israel

Photo reportage covering all three Baltic Neo-Nazi marches this year. The reportage is accompanied by an interview with Dr Efraim Zuroff on Salford City Radio, 24 March 2014 and MEP Richard Howitt's speech condemning the SS march in Riga, read out on Salford City radio station,17 March 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MySjaQFO8Q0

Invitation to protest with the VVN against the annual SS glorification march Riga, Latvia 16 March 2016

Full details below in German

Reise zur Demo in Riga gegen Ehrung der Waffen-SS / 16. März 2015 VVN Berlin

...

Ihr Lieben alle,
untenstehende Mail leite ich gerne an euch weiter.
Kommt mit nach Riga!
Alljährlich am 16. März "ehren" hunderte Menschen in Riga in Lettland
die „Lettische Legion“, also die Angehörigen der 14. und 19.
Waffen-SS-Division. Dagegen protestieren nur wenige dutzend Menschen,
unter ihnen teils Angehörige von Jüdinnen und Juden, die im Holocaust
ermordet wurden. Organisiert werden die Proteste u.A. von „Lettland ohne
Nazismus“ (Latvija bez Nazism, LBN).
In Lettland ist der "Tag der Legionäre" und damit die Verherrlichung
der Waffen-SS. faktisch ein Nationalfeiertag
2014 hat die VVN-BdA und die Die Internationale Föderation der
Widerstandskämpfer (FIR) - Bund der Antifaschisten die Proteste
unterstützt. Aus Deutschland, Ungarn, Polen, Schweden und Israel kam
weitere Unterstützung.
Ein Bericht über unseren letzten "Ausflug" nach Riga ist hier zu finden:
https://www.antifainfoblatt.de/…/internationale-proteste-ge…
Ein Pressespiegel hier:http://oberndorfgedenken.de/riga%20waffen%20ss.pdf
Für weitere Informationen. Schreibt uns oder ruft uns an.
+49 (0)30-55579083-2 oder (0)
Bitte leitet die Mail an Interessierte weiter!
Besten Gruß, Terra,
Berliner VVN-BdA e.V.
Liebe Freundinnen und Freunde,
vor zwei Jahren ist die VVN-BdA mit einem Bus von Berlin aus nach Riga
gefahren, um dort gegen die Ehrung der Waffen-SS am "Tag der Legion" zu
demonstrieren. Das war ein politisch sehr erfolgreicher Protest. 2015
konnten wir dies leider nicht wiederholen, da unsere Partner vor Ort es
so schwer hatten, dass sie keine internationale Aktion durchführen
konnten. In diesem Jahr wird es jedoch weder eine Demo geben, an der wir
uns beteiligen können. Die Anreise wird diesmal individuell erfolgen. In
Riga treffen wir uns in einem noch zu benennenden Hotel und werden von
dort aus unsere Unternehmung starten. Der Protesttag ist der 16. März
(ein Mittwoch). Die Anreise sollte am 15. März erfolgen und die Abreise
am 17. März. Ein Flug kostet derzeit ca. 80 €. Wir können pro Teilnehmer
einen Reisezuschuss von 50 € gewähren. Für die Unterbringung sorgen
unsere lettischen Freunde. Wichtig ist, dass ihr möglichst bald bucht,
da die Tarife mit näherndem Termin deutlich steigen. Meldet euch
außerdem bitte bei uns an, damit wir für die Unterkunft planen können
und überhaupt wissen wieviele wir sein werden.
Viele Grüße,
Thomas Willms
Vereinigung der Verfolgten des Naziregimes – Bund der Antifaschistinnen
und Antifaschisten (VVN-BdA) e.V.
Bundesvereinigung Magdalenenstr. 19,
10365 Berlin
Tel.: +49 (0)30-55579083-2,
Fax: +49 (0)30-55579083-9
E-Mail:bundesbuero@vvn-bda.de www.vvn-bda.de

Thursday, 19 February 2015

The Baltic Marching Season Has Begun!

“A splendid opportunity for Baltic leaders to just speak up”

Efraim Zuroff’s op-ed on all four marches calls on Brussels to take a stand

CITY-CENTRE NEO-NAZI MARCHES THAT GLORIFIED WARTIME HITLER COLLABORATORS TOOK PLACE IN ALL THREE BALTIC STATES; ESTONIAN & LITHUANIAN EVENTS WERE ON NATIONS’ INDEPENDENCE DAY HOLIDAYS

ESTONIA: TALLINN, FEBRUARY 24TH

LATVIA: RIGA, currently holding the rotating presidency of the European council held an SS march on MARCH 16TH 2015 . The international community, the UK government, the European Union and NATO should condemn the Nazi event in clearer terms, as Waffen SS veterans are not seen as legitimate “heroes” in any EU member state which Latvia has been granted status since 2004. (see Report on Latvia by the ECRI (European Commission Against Racism and
Intolerance published 21 February 2012)

One man's journey to the heartland of fascism by Efraim Zuroff published I24 news 29 March 2015

INTERNATIONAL PETITION NEARS 7,000

http://www.petitions24.com/stop_the_16_march_marches_and_latvians_revising_history

An open Letter from Monica Lowenberg to Denis MacShane published in the New Statesman, March 2012 http://www.newstatesman.com/blogs/the-staggers/2012/03/latvia-riga-waffen-european

Cameron’s Latvian Liaison, one woman’s petition and one SS march
http://defendinghistory.com/cameron latvian-liaison-one-womans-petition-and-one-ss- march-by-monica-lowenberg/51105 by Monica Lowenberg published by DefendingHistory.Com 15.03.2013

Riga, March 16 2015

A selection of newspapers worldwide that covered the SS march today in Riga:

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150316/1019544451.html

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150313/1019441185.html

http://sputniknews.com/europe/20150315/1019530784.html

Berliner Zeitung

Merkur Online

Wiesenthal centre

The Wall Street Journal

The Telegraph

Die Zeit

ZW.LT

China Development Gateway

Reveille-Toi with a good interview with Efraim Zuroff

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCUfORLodOY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bvp4pPiDu-o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nbwn323X4t4

Good photo reportage and video of the march

http://www.delfi.lv/news/national/politics/antifasisti-nodezinfice-brivibas-pieminekla-apkartni-legionaru-pieminas-pasakumi-beidzas-mierigi.d?id=45694098

And if anyone doubts whether this march is a neo Nazi event have a look at this, they came all the way from Birmingham and two former SS legionnaires even accompanied them with schnapps and pickles

http://birminghamnationalist2.blogspot.co.uk/2015/03/legionaires-march-riga-2015.html

http://defendinghistory.com/category/latvia

Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Dr. Efraim Zuroff leads a silent, peaceful protest of Just 2 (SWC and Defending History)

But his words at event are reported around the globe (including ABC News, Arutz Sheva, London Daily Mail, Der Spiegel, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Yahoo News). SWC’s statement. http://defendinghistory.com/

The Jewish Chronicle

http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=12275&r=1

LITHUANIA: KAUNAS, FEB. 16TH AND VILNIUS, MARCH 11TH

The Nazi Hunter: Lithuanian Jew-haters gave me a heart attack - but that won't stop me exposing them

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/nazi-hunter-lithuanian-jew-haters-gave-me-heart-attack-that-wont-stop-me-exposing-them-1488571

Nazi Hunter: Nuremberg-esque march no way to celebrate Estonian independence

http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/nazi-hunter-even-putin-would-condemn-nuremberg-esque-parades-estonia-1490259

http://defendinghistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Efraim-Zuroff-to-Vilnius-mayor-on-March-11th-2015-neo-Nazi-march.pdf

Efraim Zuroff Leads Kaunas Protest

Posted on 18 February 2015 by Defending History

Defending History’s Team of 12 Monitors & Protests Kaunas Independence Day Neo-Nazi March on Feb. 16th

Monitoring team was a partnering project of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel office and the Vilnius-based Defending History team.

Dozen protesters (vs. a march of up to 500) included five members of Lithuanian Jewish community (in private capacity), but no sign of any Bagels or other antisemitism (or human rights) monitors.

Media Coverage:

AFTER THE EVENT: JTA; Newsru.com; 15min.lt; Alfa.lt; Balsas.lt; Delfi.lt; Enlacejudío.com; Faktai.lt; FB; Forward; Info.smi; Interfax; International Business Times; Israel Nachrichten; Jerusalem Post; JP (2); Kauno diena; Lrt.lt; Lrytas.lt; Obzor; Newsru.co.il; News02elf; Radiojai.com.ar; RT; Shalom Life; Simon Wiesenthal Center; Times of Israel (French edition).

RUN-UP TO THE EVENT: i24; Defending History (+ DH correspondence with mayor’s office; + SWC’s letter to the mayor).

PHOTO COLLECTIONS: Julius Norwilla; 15min.lt; Delfi.lt; Kauno diena; Facebook.

VIDEOS: Lrytas.tv; Lrt.lt.

NEO-NAZI & FAR-RIGHT REACTION: LDiena.lt; Nationalist Youth Union; Stormfront; Vyrud.livejournal; Zeppelinus 1 + Zeppelinus 2.

1,500 Neo-Nazis and Far-Right Extremists Again Given Vilnius’s Main Boulevard on Nation’s March 11th Independence Day; They Parade from Cathedral Square to Nation’s Parliament

STATEMENTS FROM PRECEDING DAYS

http://defendinghistory.com/

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2015/03/12/jews-in-baltics-fear-creep-anti-semitism/?intcmp=trending

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 antisemitism 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

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.

Dialogues with Latvian ambassadors in London and Berlin since 2012

2012:

Monica Lowenberg in dialogue with Latvia’s ambassador in London, March 2012 Ambassador Stiprais

2013

David Amess Conservative MP in dialogue with Latvian Ambassador Stiprais in London http://defendinghistory.com/latvian-ambassador-to-the-uk-comments-on-march-16th-waffen-ss-march-in-riga/50988

2014

Meeting with Latvian Ambassador Teikman in London

Alex Brummer (Vice president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews), alongside Public Affairs International Officer Joseph Moses and Deputy Alex Faiman met with the Latvian Ambassador. The meeting was held in a positive atmosphere. Discussions began surrounding the Jewish Community’s EU Manifesto, with the Ambassador intrigued by the document. They also raised concerns surrounding the annual 16th March SS march through Riga. Ambassador Teikman is assured us that there would be no government officials taking part and that the government condemned Nazi ideology. There was general agreement on the importance of Holocaust education.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews , Jewish Manifesto for the 2014 European Elections

For a copy of the Manifesto please click here.

See in particular section 3, Post Holocaust issues sections 3.3 Holocaust revisionism

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 minimise or downplay the Holocaust.

and section 3.2 on restitution
In Croatia and Latvia, the relevant legislation has been delayed. In Romania, the processing of claims and payments has been extremely slow. Recent legislation risks further delays and reductions in
compensation payments. In Hungary, discussions continue about restitution for heirless and hitherto unclaimed property formerly owned by Jews. Poland has one of the worst records on restitution of
private property. It back-tracked on some of the commitments it made at the 2009 Terezin Conference, and was the only one of the 47 countries not to send a delegate to the 2012 Prague Conference.
The great injustice about the delays in restitution payments mean that some of the Holocaust’s victims will pass away without ever seeing their property returned.
Commitment: MEPs should use the moral authority of their position to call for a just and speedy conclusion to the issue of restitution across Europe and to press the institutions of the European Union to do the same

New documentary on The Riga Ghetto out soon

http://www.phoenix-medienakademie.com/riga-survive/

15 February 2015

Four Baltic marches, one dangerous racist trend

http://www.i24news.tv/en/opinion/61221-150215-four-baltic-marches-one-dangerous-racist-trend

You can sign petitions against these marches here:

1. Petitioning HE President Dalia Grybauskaitė , President of Lithuania

Abandon defamation of Holocaust survivors and glorification of Holocaust perpetrators

http://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/abandon-defamation-of-holocaust-survivors-and-glorification-of-holocaust-perpetrators

To find out more about the situation in Lithuania see: http://defendinghistory.com/?p=47128

http://defendinghistory.com/december-2012-london-conference-and-protest-box-coverage-to-24-dec/47637 links to You Tube clips and articles and letters

2. Stop the 16 March marches in Riga, Latvia!
1. Add your voice to this petition here: http://www.petitions24.com/stop_the_16_march_marches_and_latvians_revising_history

3. For more information regarding previous marches see following interviews and you tube clips:

3.1 Monday 8 July 2013, 'Jewish Hour' on Salford City Radio 94.4FM

Interview with Monica Lowenberg speaking about her trip to Latvia and the annual SS marches that take place in the capital of Riga.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dTCjdF_TNzA

3.2 Nazi Heroes- Waffen SS hailed in Latvia 2012

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZ-DNbz3wmA 16 March 2012

VIEWS: over 120,000 as of February 2015

3.3 You Tube clip with Dr Efraim Zuroff of the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Israel 2014

Photo reportage covering all three Baltic Neo-Nazi marches last year. The reportage is accompanied by an interview with Dr Efraim Zuroff on Salford City Radio, 24 March 2014 and MEP Richard Howitt's speech condemning the SS march in Riga, read out on Salford City radio station,17 March 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MySjaQFO8Q0

The Photo shoots Hague would rather forget

first published by Hope not Hate 5 April 2013

By Monica Lowenberg Not every day that one sees William Hague courting photo shoots with Hollywood A lister Angelina Jolie, who is also a noted human rights activist. ‘Human rights’ is the buzz word this week. When I got up Saturday morning and found a letter from Hague’s office, in response to mine about British silence in the face of EU partner Latvia’s honouring the Hitlerist Waffen SS with official support, it looked promising.

In February, I had asked PM Cameron to write a simple letter to the Latvian president Andris Berzins who has proclaimed publicly that Latvian SS veterans should be ‘bowed down to’. I asked Cameron, an heir of Churchill, to ask for a halt to the glorification of SS veterans in an EU and NATO country. This glorification includes annual state-blessed marches in the centre of the capital city that are riddled with pro-Nazi sentiment.

The SS veterans are seen by a growing number of Latvian nationalists as ‘freedom fighters’ who fought against the Soviet Union. Of course we should all condemn Soviet evils separately, but that is not the point here.

Today’s letter from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office tells me: ‘I understand that this is an emotive issue for all those involved. I am pleased to note that this year’s events passed off safely. The history of the Latvian Legion is complex and one which historians are best placed fully to understand. The UK believes that the abolition of Legionnaires Day is essentially a matter for the Latvian Government and I hope that you understand that this is not a matter in which the UK government has any locus to become involved’. Letter dated 27th March 2013, signed by Dave Naylor, Northern and Central Europe Team, Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Bearing in mind that Mr Naylor’s boss had had since 2009 rather close contact with the Latvian government, to the extent that he was prepared to support them to the hilt, it does seem strange that three years on when Latvia’s ugly past rears its head they are unable to intervene. What on earth is the British government afraid of? Or maybe getting into bed with SS lovers is not an ‘emotive’ or hot enough topic for senior Tories? Was standing up to Hitler and his cronies an abject waste of time by Britain and her allies? Back on October 1st 2009 Hague said of then foreign secretary David Milliband:

‘David Miliband's smears are disgraceful and represent a failure of his duty to promote Britain's interests as foreign secretary…He has just insulted the Latvian Government, most of whose member parties have attended the commemoration of Latvia's war dead.’ Hague virulently retorted when Miliband correctly characterised the British Conservatives alliance with Latvian MEP Robert Zile as ‘not leadership but pandering, not judgement but dogma, not patriotic defence of national interest but the white flag of surrender to euro-extremists in his own party." Merkel ,Sarkozy and even true blue conservative Yorkshire MEP Edward Macmillan Scott , who was duly sacked for daring to state that ‘Cameron was flirting with respectable fascism’, were all equally incensed at Cameron’s Latvian liaison. But Hague, Callanan, Hannan and Pickles continued to state with almost religious fervour that the Latvian SS veterans ‘were only following orders’. A special kind of blindness had and does clearly afflict them, one that the Latvian PR team, full of hack historians (from east and west alike!) paid to sanitise and distort Latvia’s ugly past work day and night at,have given them.

’Let me reiterate, wrote Latvian Ambassador Stiprais to concerned conservative MP David Amess less than one month ago: ‘Latvia has always condemned the crimes

committed during World War II – the crimes of Nazism and Stalinism. Latvia is committed to the values of democratic and open society and we will endeavour to facilitate true consolidation of the people and countries who suffered under totalitarian regimes during World War II.’ TRANSLATION: In other words we will revise history, we will not deny the Holocaust but we will dismiss it nevertheless, we will do so by making a false symmetry and equalisation between the crimes of Communism and Nazis. We will ensure that the world sees us as victims of two genocides, Nazism and Communism. Really Ambassador Stiprais, where was it written that Stalin intended to kill all Latvians? When did he try to do that? Different evils deserve different commemorations, not the glorification of fascism. Latvia, like Lithuania, Estonia, has been among the staunchest supporters of the 2008 Prague Declaration that would write the Holocaust out of history with its far-right red-equals-brown demands.

Ambassador Stiprais and other Latvian apologists need to be reminded that the Allies consisted of American and British troops and yes, Soviet troops who enabled the world to be free of the greatest genocidal force the world has ever known. Waffen SS lovers seem to have forgotten that if Hitler had been victorious it would have, ironically, 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 (and other regional) peoples after the planned-for victory. There would have been no Latvia to become independent in 1991 or Monument of Freedom for Latvian apologists to lay wreaths down to for Latvian SS veterans who collaborated with Hitler. On the eastern front, it was only the Soviets fighting Hitler, enabling the Allies to free Europe.

Incidentally this year’s march was not as peaceful as the FCO would maintain: riot police were active, anti-fascists such as Joel Rubinfeld co-president of the Jewish parliament in Brussels were dragged away, four people were detained by police and after giving an interview with a TV news network, Yaniz Kuzins, chairman of Latvian alliance against Nazism and Riga city council member, was physically assaulted by a neo Nazi. Many others were roughed up and harassed.

The attendees some as young as three, walked alongside neo-Nazis such as Ričardas Čekutis from neighbouring Lithuania, laying flowers at the monument of freedom in central Riga, an EU capital, and strew flowers across a photo of notorious Latvian Nazi collaborator Robert Ancāns whilst the wreaths to the victims of Nazism were once again desecrated by Latvian youth. Whether Hague accepts this fact or not it is incumbent upon the international community, the UK government, the European Union and NATO to condemn today all Nazi events in clear terms if they sincerely wish to curb the rise of neo Nazism and right extremism currently sweeping Europe.

As Mr Hague contemplates his joint campaign with Jolie for international action against mass rape in conflicts, and the ‘hope and dream that it's known that if you abuse the women, if you rape the women, you will be held accountable for your actions’, Hague will hopefully become aware that politics is about taking responsibility, about taking action not saying some resurgent evil should be left to historians to debate. The banalisation of the Holocaust, its reduction to just another historical event is a huge danger and the fact that the British conservatives, are linked with Latvians who glorify the Waffen SS makes a complete mockery of Jolie’s good work but also of the huge sacrifice millions of people across the world made to fight Nazism. I am certain that Jolie is absolutely clear on the following fact that one cannot be committed to human rights and adulate Hitler’s forces at the same time. It is scandalous and shameful that Mr Hague is not.

As photo shoots are currently on the FCO’s mind it is perhaps appropriate to end with an image.

The photo below is of a group of naked Jewish women and girls walking to their place of execution on a beach near Liepaja, Latvia. Their fate? A mass pit where they were piled up alive and then mowed down by the fire of rifles or a machine gun salvo. They were victims of a regime that raped and pillaged before MURDERING ALL, those whom it raped and those who it did not. Should that regime, and its local henchmen and fighters such as the Waffen SS today be glorified to the tune of "None of our business" from Mr Hague’s Foreign Office?

The above massacre was perpetrated by the Einsatzgruppe A and aided by Latvian antisemitic and pro-Nazi militias who willingly participated. Around 95% of Latvian Jewry was murdered by the Nazis and their enthusiastic volunteer Latvian collaborators, many of whom later joined the 15th and 19th divisions of the Waffen SS.

Freedom fighters for whom, Mr. Hague?

Wednesday, 2 March 2016

Ten Steps Back, One Step Forward- The Pantomime Has Started!

2016

15 March 2016

Scandalous Development in Riga, Latvia- Orwellian Times Indeed

11 March 2016

UK MP GARETH THOMAS WRITES TO LATVIAN AMBASSADOR AND TO BRITISH FOREIGN OFFICE

INTERNATIONAL PETITION , DH And SAM SOKOL IN THE JERUSALEM POST

10 MARCH 2016

PARLIAMENTARIANS AND OTHER ELITES SLATED PARTICIPATE IN THIS YEAR’S WAFFEN SS FEST ON MARCH 16TH IN THE LATVIAN CAPITAL; BUT LAST MINUTE CLIMBDOWN BY NATIONAL ALLIANCE REVERSES DECISION

A Chronology of Latvia’s Pantomime of March 16th Horror: 2012—2016

First published 2 March 2016 by Defending History

LATVIA | NEO-NAZI MARCHES | RIGA WAFFEN SS MARCHES | COLLABORATORS GLORIFIED

by Monica Lowenberg

◊

Preamble

NEW SECTION:

◊

2012

◊

2013

◊

2014

◊

2015

◊

2016?

Add Your Voice to the Petition Against the SS Glorification March in Riga, Latvia:

NEWS 2016

Monica Lowenberg in Dialogue with Latvia’s Ambassador to the UK

D E B A T E

A LITTLE HISTORY

Some statistics

Background to the Latvian Legion and Latvia’s revising of history

History to the 16th March marches

To Conclude

Other Points For Latvian Apologists to Consider:

PROTEST BY THE VVN BERLIN

1. Es ist nicht zu tolerieren, dass sich die lettische Regierung über die Normen des freien Personenverkehrs innerhalb der EU glaubt hinwegsetzen zu können. Wir erwarten von den Gremien der Europäischen Union und der Vertretung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland in Lettland deutliche Protestnoten.

Tuesday, 16 February 2016

Baltic Marching Season has begun!

First Stop Kaunas, Lithuania

Images from the February 16th 2016 Neo-Nazi March in Kaunas, Lithuania

KAUNAS MARCHES | NEO-NAZI MARCHES | ANTISEMITISM

◊

◊

MEDIA REPORTS: 15min.lt; Lrytas.lt; Kaunas.kasviksta.lt; Efraim Zuroff’s Jerusalem Post op-ed on the eve of the march; Defending History’s pre-march report.

◊

◊

Second Stop:

Third Stop

Fourth Stop

A PERFECT OPPORTUNITY FOR BALTIC LEADERS TO SIMPLY SAY NO TO GLORIFICATION OF HOLOCAUST COLLABORATORS.

WILL THEY?

PETITIONS AGAINST THESE MARCHES CAN BE SIGNED HERE:

YOU TUBE CLIPS OF PREVIOUS MARCHES

Invitation to protest with the VVN against the annual SS glorification march Riga, Latvia 16 March 2016

Thursday, 19 February 2015

The Baltic Marching Season Has Begun!

“A splendid opportunity for Baltic leaders to just speak up”

CITY-CENTRE NEO-NAZI MARCHES THAT GLORIFIED WARTIME HITLER COLLABORATORS TOOK PLACE IN ALL THREE BALTIC STATES; ESTONIAN & LITHUANIAN EVENTS WERE ON NATIONS’ INDEPENDENCE DAY HOLIDAYS

ESTONIA: TALLINN, FEBRUARY 24TH

INTERNATIONAL PETITION NEARS 7,000

Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Dr. Efraim Zuroff leads a silent, peaceful protest of Just 2 (SWC and Defending History)

But his words at event are reported around the globe (including ABC News, Arutz Sheva, London Daily Mail, Der Spiegel, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, Yahoo News). SWC’s statement. http://defendinghistory.com/

LITHUANIA: KAUNAS, FEB. 16TH AND VILNIUS, MARCH 11TH

Defending History’s Team of 12 Monitors & Protests Kaunas Independence Day Neo-Nazi March on Feb. 16th

Monitoring team was a partnering project of the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s Israel office and the Vilnius-based Defending History team.

Dozen protesters (vs. a march of up to 500) included five members of Lithuanian Jewish community (in private capacity), but no sign of any Bagels or other antisemitism (or human rights) monitors.

Media Coverage:

RUN-UP TO THE EVENT: i24; Defending History (+ DH correspondence with mayor’s office; + SWC’s letter to the mayor).

PHOTO COLLECTIONS: Julius Norwilla; 15min.lt; Delfi.lt; Kauno diena; Facebook.

VIDEOS: Lrytas.tv; Lrt.lt.

NEO-NAZI & FAR-RIGHT REACTION: LDiena.lt; Nationalist Youth Union; Stormfront; Vyrud.livejournal; Zeppelinus 1 + Zeppelinus 2.

1,500 Neo-Nazis and Far-Right Extremists Again Given Vilnius’s Main Boulevard on Nation’s March 11th Independence Day; They Parade from Cathedral Square to Nation’s Parliament

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.

New documentary on The Riga Ghetto out soon http://www.phoenix-medienakademie.com/riga-survive/

15 February 2015Four Baltic marches, one dangerous racist trend

1. Es ist nicht zu tolerieren, dass sich die lettische Regierung über
die Normen des freien
Personenverkehrs innerhalb der EU glaubt hinwegsetzen zu können. Wir
erwarten von den Gremien
der Europäischen Union und der Vertretung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
in Lettland deutliche
Protestnoten.

New documentary on The Riga Ghetto out soon

http://www.phoenix-medienakademie.com/riga-survive/

15 February 2015

Four Baltic marches, one dangerous racist trend