By Ben Kopp
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe
RIGA, Latvia – A Latvian government official has been fired for his declaration that the will march with Latvian Nazi veterans who fought off Soviets during World War II.
At the beginning of World War II, Moscow seized Latvia in a deal with Berlin. Later, Moscow transferred approximately 15,000 Latvians to Siberia. In 1941, Germany disregarded the original deal and invaded the Soviet Union. For that reason, some Latvians claimed the Nazis were liberators, even though the Nazis went on to kill over 80% of Latvia’s Jews. By 1945, the Soviet Union had recaptured Latvia, and held it until the communist bloc dissolved fifty years later.
On 14 March 2014, Latvian Prime Minister Laimdota Straujuma fired a government minister, Einars Cilinskis, who declared that he would join an annual Nazi march as a Latvian “patriot.” The Russian-speaking minority in Latvia rejected Cilinskis’ declaration, saying that the Nazi march distorts history, honors Nazism, and insults victims of World War II.
However, parade veterans insisted that their purpose was to honor the defense of Latvian homeland against Soviet occupation. Approximately 140,000 Latvians—mostly conscripts—fought in the legion, and nearly a third died either in combat or Soviet captivity. On the other hand, about 130,000 fought for the Soviets, of whom about a quarter died.
Environment Minister Einars Cilinskis planned to march with veterans of the Latvian Legion, a group formed and commanded by the Nazi SS in 1943. The parade date of March 16 marks the unsuccessful attempt to repel the Soviet invasion, which began the communist bloc’s half century of occupation. Legion veterans began marching in Riga, Latvia every March 16 since Soviet rule ended in 1991.
Prime Minister Straujuma took office in January 2014, and banned all of her ministers from joining the parade.
A spokesperson for Straujuma commented, “No minister has ever attended this event, so it is important the dismissal happens before it takes place, not afterwards.”
Efraim Zuroff of the Israel office of the Simon Wiesenthal Center stated that admirers of people like Latvian SS commander Viktor Arajs “are the spiritual heirs of those who committed the crimes of the Holocaust. It is unthinkable that they should march through European Union capitals and cause unimaginable pain to Holocaust survivors and their families.”
Latvian officials worry that Russian state media might use the story to support claims of a “rebirth of fascism” in Ukraine and its other neighbors.
On the day of the march, Crimea will hold a referendum on whether to secede from Ukraine.
The marketplace of ideas often becomes closed to the most abhorred speech before speech that resides closer to the grey zone. Even when the marketplace opens, abhorred ideas become the basis of persuading others. But is that persuasion aiding better ideas?
For further information, please see:
Aljazeera – Latvian Minister Sacked over ‘Nazi’ March – March 14, 2014
Guardian – Latvia Minister Faces Sack in Nazi Memorial Row – March 14, 2014
Jewish Telegraphic Agency – Latvian Minister to Be Fired for Endorsing SS Vets – March 14, 2014
Reuters – Latvia PM to Fire Minister over Plan to Join SS March – March 14, 2014
