It is no secret that our calendar has a number of days which have become irritants to our public opinion. Every year political passions arise in connection with the controversially evaluated historical events and memorial dates associated with them. The proposal to leave this historic event evaluation to professional historians and to give up emotions go unnoticed and another March 16 and May 9 comes and we see how history has an effect on our daily lives. More precisely, our daily lives are affected by those who manipulate these specific historical remembrance dates.
Latvian Legion. March 16 in Historical Context
One of such "inconvenient" dates is March 16. On this day we have experienced the loud statements from political forces representing various political spectrums, the Freedom Monument surrounded by a fence in Riga centre, as well as many foreign media coming to Riga, followed by stream of half-truths and lies in publishing and broadcasting media.
But what is the historical background of the event?
Already shortly after the 2nd World War in the autumn of 1945 the Nuremberg Trials began in which the main Nazi war criminals and Nazi organizations were tried. On October 1, 1946, in the judgement delivered by the Nuremberg Trials SS was declared a criminal organization; no one denied the participation of its members, namely - 'SS members,’ in crimes against humanity. Judicial process also revealed that some of the Waffen SS formations took part in various war crimes, but as the Tribunal determined, they were voluntarily participating entities rather than forcibly mobilized. In the judgment of the Tribunal it was stated: "In accordance with the Statutes the Tribunal recognizes as criminals those persons who were officially enrolled in the ranks of the SS (i.e. "Total SS", "Waffen SS", “Death's-Head Unit", with the SS-related police unit members) becoming the members of SS even though they were aware of the criminal nature of the SS organization, they knew that the organization was being used in criminal activities. Criminals are persons who as members of the organization were personally implicated in similar crimes. Persons who were forced to become the members of the SS organization in such a way that they had no choice and they had not committed war crimes are not considered criminals (emphasis added by the author)." This part of the judgment was very important for providing later clarification to the Western world about actual irrelevance of the Latvian and Estonian "Waffen SS" division troops to this organization. Although the Latvian Legion was regarded as voluntary, it was not so, because by the word "voluntary" Nazi German occupation regime was disguising illegal mobilization of Latvian citizens.
Historical evidence suggests that Latvian Legion units established in early 1943 have not been involved nor in the Holocaust, nor in war crimes against humanity.
Soldiers of the Legion did not participate in repressive actions against civilians, but fought against the Red Army on the Eastern Front.
At the end of the 2nd World War Western Allies captured about 25 000 Latvian soldiers serving in German army: soldiers from the Latvian Legion included in Waffen SS unit and from the other units alike. On December 28, 1945, in the prisoner-of-war camp in Zedelghem, Belgium, former Latvian soldiers founded the organization "Daugavas vanagi". Its task was to help former soldiers, their families, relatives, as well as to provide the consolidation of deported Latvian community. In 1946 the release of Latvian soldiers from the camps began, and they gradually settled in many Western European and American countries. In 1952 after the initiative of Colonel Vilis Janums at the board meeting of "Daugavas vanagi" in London the decision was made to mark March 16 as a day of remembrance of the Latvian Legion. The chosen date was not accidental, it was symbolic. In 1944, from 16 to 19 March, both Latvian Legion divisions – 15th and 19th - in the Eastern Front at the river Velikaya won the bitter battle against the Red Army. It was the only time during 2nd World War when the two Latvian divisions of German army fought shoulder by shoulder.
Latvians living in Western countries celebrated March 16 every year completely legally as Latvian Legion Day and no criticism was expressed concerning the celebration of this date.
In Latvia the March 16 as a day of remembrance of the Latvian Legion for the first time was marked in 1990. Also in this year, as well as a number of years to come nobody associated this day to a glorification of Nazism. For the first time serious international attention was focused on this day in 1998, when politically right-wing and leftist extremist groups met at the Freedom Monument in Riga and by demonstrating their views on March 16 and the Latvian Legion tried to show themselves in front of foreign television cameras. Russian press and some Western newspapers began to write about the resurgence of Nazism in Latvian, about the Nazi parades in Riga. This was blatant misinformation about what was happening.
Since 1998 March 16 is accompanied by a variety of political scandals, on this day Riga is the focus of increased foreign media attention.