Rewriting History Has Never Been Easier

international | eu | opinion/analysis Thursday February 17, 2005 19:01 by Maria mariaoleinik at hotmail dot com 087 6985722

Latvia rewrites its history by erasing its Soviet past.

Latvia rewrites its history by erasing its Soviet past.
Socialist Party of Latvia proposal to recognize the 9th of May as Victory Day over Nazism in the Great Patriotic War of 1945 has been refused by the Latvian government.
Vaira Vike-Freiberga presented “History of Latvia: XXth Century” to Vladimir Putin at the Holocaust Memorial Day in Oswiecim.

Rewriting History Has Never Been Easier
Despite efforts of the Socialist Party of Latvia the Government of this Baltic State refuses to recognize the 9th of May as Victory Day over Nazism in the Great Patriotic War of 1945.
Many people hoped that Latvia would come to senses in 2005 because this year is special. It marks 60th anniversary of the Victory in the Second World War. Rather the Great Patriotic War, as it is better known in many countries of Eastern Europe. 20 million people died in the USSR during this war and the 9th of May is much more than just an ordinary National Holiday.
It is annually celebrated in the successor states to the Soviet Union. However, thousands of people including veterans of the Great Patriotic War living in Latvia are left on their own, without parades and support from the Latvian Government. It is a working day and it has been so since the collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent Latvian Independence.
As opposed to its former ‘Soviet friends’ Latvia celebrates the 8th of May, Europe Day when Germany surrendered to the UK, France and the United States. Apparently Latvian soldiers were fighting in the West and not in the Soviet Army. I’d say a big chapter of their victories would be available in the new edition of Latvian history book.
Controversial “History of Latvia: XXth Century” was kindly presented to Vladimir Putin by Vaira Vike-Freiberga at the Holocaust Memorial Day in Oswiecim. Whether it was done with a specific idea in mind or just the moment was ripe, remains unknown.
Latvian attempts to rewrite history in a manner of complete disregard to the former USSR and countries that comprised it are despicable and appalling.
They are aimed to provoke anger [mainly of Russia] and to attract attention of the European Union, by falsely presenting Latvia as a martyr and as an example of Western democracy that has been deprived of its right to existence by the evil Soviet Empire. It is not surprising with such a president.
Vaira Vike-Freiberga was born in Siberia in a camp and as she mentioned, her decision to send Latvian troops to Iraq was aimed at revenging Russia for her Siberian childhood. It is an interesting point. Does it mean that Latvian soldiers serving in Iraq and their families in Latvia were also to blame for Vaira Vike-Freiberga’s unfortunate youth?

Going back in time and history, by the 8th of July 1941 the whole territory of Latvia was occupied and it became part of so-called “Ostland”. Since that moment all Latvian lands and factories became property of Germany. The country was freed only in May 1945.
About 150,000 Soviet soldiers have died fighting for Latvia. They were soldiers of different nationalities: Latvian, Russian, Belarusian, Estonian, etc. Many of them were awarded War medals and honors, but apparently it does not matter either.
In modern English Latvian actions could be described as “screwing up the history”. Maybe the Soviet army should have let the Nazi regime continue murdering not only Latvians, but Jews, Russian and other minorities, and then Latvia would have come to peace with itself.
In the meantime, Vaira Vike-Freiberga’s anger does not give Latvian government any right to publicly humiliate achievements of the Soviet Army in the Great Patriotic War.