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Latvian Nazi unit commemorated

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The wounds of World War II are still deeply felt in the Baltics. That was evident in Latvia today where veterans gathered to commemorate a 1944 battle. They placed flowers at a momument honoring troops who had died defending Latvia against Stalin’s Soviet invaders. Meanwhile, police kept protesters at bay. The annual ceremony angers some in Latvia because the troops being commemorated fought in two Waffen SS divisions on the side of Nazi Germany. The BBC’s Damien McGuiness is in Latvia’s capital Riga. (Photo: German Bundesarchiv)

• BBC coverage
• Country profile: Latvia

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MARCO WERMAN:  I’m Marco Werman, and this is The World.  The wounds of World War II are still deeply felt in the Baltics.  That was evident in Latvia today.  Veterans there gathered to commemorate a 1944 battle.  They placed flowers at a monument honoring troops who had died defending Latvia against Stalin’s Soviet invaders.  Meanwhile, police kept protesters at bay.  The annual ceremony angers some in Latvia because the troops being commemorated fought in two Waffen SS divisions on the side of Nazi Germany.  The BBC’s Damien McGuiness is in Latvia’s capital, Riga.

Damien, it seems most people would oppose any commemoration of soldiers who fought with SS uniforms.  Now, what’s the controversy?

DAMIEN MCGUINESS: It’s generally controversial because it’s used as an excuse by extremists on both sides to vent their own prejudices, if you like.  On the one hand, you have Latvian ultra-nationalists, who say it’s the chance to express anti-Russian feelings by reminding the world of the Stalinist oppression they’ve suffered in the past.  On the other hand you have Russian extremists, living in Latvia perhaps, who mourn the loss of the Soviet Union and say it’s a good opportunity to paint Latvians as Nazi collaborators and Fascists.  But it is important to stress that both of these are very extreme views, and most people here in Riga would probably recognize that the Latvian veterans were simple teenagers during the war, and for the most part were forced to fight in Hitler’s army.  They were conscripted by force.  So people don’t necessarily begrudge the fact that these elderly veterans now have a chance to mourn their comrades who died in battle.

WERMAN: Now, Damien, you spoke with 86-year-old [PH] Vitzvaldez [PH] Latsis, one of the so-called Latvian Legionnaires who was conscripted to fight with the SS, as a 19-year-old – he was a teenager.  Here’s what he said when you asked him whether he and the troops he fought supported Hitler and sympathized with the Nazis.

[PH] VITZVALDEZ LATSIS: We were not for Hitler, but we were against Stalin at this time.  Forty or 50,000 of my [SOUNDS LIKE] raw comrades have given their life for independent Latvia during the Second World War; [SOUNDS LIKE] thus it’s very important for me.

WERMAN: Damien McGuiness, is that how most Latvians justify this commemoration – it’s not about supporting Hitler; it’s about opposing Stalin.

MCGUINESS: Well, it has to be remembered, really, the suffering which Latvians underwent in the years before the Nazi invasion.  In the early ‘40s, Stalinist troops invaded Latvia and Stalin deported tens of thousands of Latvians.  Most of them died in Siberian gulags.  Now, this is a very painful episode of Latvia’s history, and it’s hard to forget this.  So for most soldiers, faced with the prospects of the Russians invading again, they felt their only choice was to fight Stalin.  And if that meant on the side of Hitler, then so be it.  However, it is also true that in the early ‘40s, that some of those veterans had indeed previously served as police officers.  And there is evidence that some of the Latvian police officers in the early 1940’s did collaborate with the Nazis.  So really, as we said, there are many shades of gray in how that episode of Latvia’s history is looked at.

WERMAN: Damien, I have to ask you this.  How much is this annual event about Nazi revivalism in Latvia?  I mean, how much anti-Semitism is there today in Latvia?

MCGUINESS: One of the parties which supports this event is the [SOUNDS LIKE] Fatherland and Freedom Party.  This is a far right party.  Now, they don’t have anti-Semitic policies; they don’t have racist policies.  But they have very nationalistic policies.  They don’t have much else to offer the electorates.  So what they do every year, they support this issue, they support this event.  They want to appear to voters to be nationalistic.  They don’t have much else in the way of policies.  They don’t tell you how they’re gonna fight the economic crisis.  But they do say they’re very patriotic.  And that can be, among certain parts of the population here, a vote-winner.

WERMAN: The BBC’s Damien McGuiness in Riga, Latvia.  Very good of you to join us today, Damien.  Thank you.

MCGUINESS: Thank you, Marco.

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