Where are you going, Latvia?

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Since January 1, 2015 Latvia will become the chairman of the Council of the European Union for six months. This authority represents the second legislative chamber of the European Union after the European Parliament. Council of the EU is formed by prime ministers of EU countries or ministers who are temporarily replacing them. The most important competence of the Council of the EU is decision-making concerning joint foreign policy in the field of safety and also making decisions on cooperation on key internal questions.

Decisions in the Council of the EU are made at official sessions four times a year by the qualified most of its members. The post of the chairman gives the chance to define the agenda and to influence the decision-making of members of council by means of various technical procedures. It is possible to judge the importance of a post of the chairman on actions of the president of Lithuania D. Grybauskaite at the end of last year. She initiated the admission of Ukraine in associative members of the EU and in members of the Eastern Partnership program. It led soon to mass riots — to the Maidan, revolution and unleashing of ethnic cleanings in the southeast of Ukraine by the Ukrainian national radicals who illegally seized power in Kiev.
Where are you going? Where Latvia will lead the Council of the European Union? Will it continue to lead the EU on extremely dangerous course laid by D. Grybauskaite?

The answer to these questions can be found without effort in the analysis of the practices, realized by ruling Latvian elite the last decades in Latvia. It is rigid discrimination of ethnic minorities: the ban of receiving education by them in the native language in higher education institutions and the senior classes of school, penalties for not use of the Latvian language by them in public communication, suppression of national consciousness of not title ethnoses. It is the deprivation of nationality and restriction in the social and economic rights of 40% of not title population. It is prosecutions of activists -human rights activists from among national minorities by the security service of the country. It is a ban on a broadcasting of mass media which extend the point of view objectionable to the authorities.

However the most dangerous to Europe is the practice of national socialism support at the state level. We will stop only on two most indicative examples of this support.

The Latvian Legion Day of Waffen-SS is widely celebrated in Latvia on March 16. The former Nazis and many thousands of their supporters march this day under national flags in the centre of Riga, lay flowers at a national shrine — Freedom monument, say inspiring speeches and sing songs of the nationalist contents. On March 16 there was a public holiday long time. Before admission of Latvia in members of the EU the status of this holiday was lowered, however the state officials and deputies of parties of ruling coalition continue to participate in Nazi processions.

Even more sign in this regard is annual laying the flowers on graves of Nazi criminals on memorial Brotherhood Cemetery by the top management of the country on Lacplesis Day, on November 11. Formally flowers are laid at the sculpture of Mother of Latvia established in the semantic centre of a cemetery. However directly at the bottom of this sculpture such persons as Rudolf Bangerskis, Waldemar Weiss, Alfred-Janis Gredzens, Nikolay Upitis, Janis Zilwerst are buried and the lion’s share of honours fell to them. We will remind briefly what these «national» heroes are known.

Gruppenfuhrer R. Bangersky (1878−1958) began service at Germans in legal department of the Latvian self-government. On this post he was involved in genocide of tens thousands of Jews. He received a post of the general inspector of the Latvian legion SS for the feats. On a new place was responsible for a complete set of SS troops, gave commands to repair punishments of those Latvians who didn’t want to serve Nazis. After war he ran to Germany, was imprisoned some time, but avoided responsibility for the committed crimes. He is buried on Brotherhood Cemetery with military honours in 1995.

Standartenfuhrer W. Weiss (1892−1944) at the very beginning of war headed the Latvian «groups of self-defence» which were engaged in carrying out the searches, arrests, robberies, round-ups and executions of civilians. The group destroyed Jews, communists, the Soviet activists and persons who sympathized with the Soviet power. For outstanding merits in this case W. Weiss was appointed by Germans the chief of Police of Order in Riga which was carrying out repressions against civilians. He ordered the 281st Abrene police battalion which participated in the operation «Winter Magic» aimed at destruction of civilians of Belarus later. For successful carrying out this punitive operation W. Weiss is appointed as the commander of the 42nd regiment of the 19th SS grenadierial division. He is at war on the Eastern Front. In 1943 W. Weiss dies from a rupture of a casual shell.

The colonel-lieutenant A. — J. Gredzens (1899−1943) in March-August, 1942 forms of volunteers and then heads the 26th Tukums police battalion. Since April this battalion entered the 43rd regiment of the 2nd Latvian voluntary SS crew. In June, 1942 the 26th battalion participated in punitive actions at a river head Berezina and in August in punitive operation «Marsh Fever» in Belarus. During this operation 289 guerrillas were killed by his subordinates, 1274 civilians suspected of sympathies for guerrillas are shot and 2350 Jews were destroyed by various ways.

Since December, 1942 A. -J. Gredzens forms of volunteers and then heads 278 Dobele police battalion. In December, 1942 this battalion goes to Ludza where actively battles to the Soviet guerrillas. In February, 1943 278 police battalion goes to Belarus for participation in the punitive operation «Winter Magic» within Schroder’s group. On February 18 during this punitive operation the battalion burns the village Limovka together with one hundred inhabitants who were in it. On February 22 the fighters of a battalion burned the village Kolbovshchina. In total group under Schroder’s command destroyed during the operation «Winter Magic» 77 guerrillas, shot 875 civilians and 1389 more people arrested and transferred to punishment to Germans. In total the chasteners burned 93 Belarusian villages.

On May 3, 1943 the battalion fell into ambush and A. -J. Gredzens was killed by guerrillas.
Colonel-lieutenant N. Upitis (1898−1943) was the chief of the 1st Riga police station from the first days of war. At this time there is a mass destruction of Jews and Soviet prisoners of war in Riga. Since November, 1941, N. Upitis is the head of Ludza regional office of police. For office fervour in fight against the Soviet guerrillas and underground workers on the post he was awarded by Germans by the Iron Cross of the second degree. It was the first rewarding with Germans with the highest military award of the Latvian police officer who organized punitive operations. In December, 1943 he is wounded near Pasiene and soon died in military hospital.
Captain J. Zilwerst (?-1943) was a commander of 282 Venetic police battalion. The battalion took part in the punitive operation «Winter Magic» in Belarus.

Here how the crimes of the Nazi and their helpers from among the Latvian police officers in the Osveya region of Belarus are described by the commission formed of guerrilla crew heads of I. Frunze.

«156 villages 156 were burned completely, 3423 houses in them, about 500in the regional centre of Osveya. 9 Worker’s clubs, 102 schools, 6 hospitals, 4 orphanages, 2 churches, 2 Roman-Catholic churches were burned. 3639 civilians were destroyed including children to 12-year age — 2118 people, old men, men and women-710 persons. 2615 people were taken away to concentration camps».

And here is how separate cases of chasteners' atrocities were described in the statement which is drawn up by the commission. «The fascist executioners cut out five-pointed star on a breast and a back to the boy of 8 years from Yukhnevich family (Belyana village) and threw him into fire. The girl Vera, 7 years, was killed by a knife. The boy Zhenya, one and a half years with the injured head and the pulled-out fingers was thrown into fire; their mother was also killed by a knife, the fascist bandits cut out her breasts, cut up her all and burned on fire. In the village of Borisovo Shkutov’s family was burned on fire alive. From the same village, the hands and the heads were unscrewed at the alive adults and children of Yukhnevich family and thrown into Svolna River. In the village Gorodilovichi, the five-pointed stars were cut out on breasts and necks of Zhorov’s family then all family was drowned in Svolna River.

Cases are noted [when] fascist monsters got small children on fence stakes in the animal fury. Many cases are registered when fascist vermines raped the girls before the brutal punishment. It is established that the most part of the lost population was exposed to tortures and mockeries, by Hitlerite monsters and only after that either were burned, or were sank in the river, and only the smaller part was shot».

Flower-laying on graves of people is symbolical worship of their feats at life and a display of readiness to continue the issue begun by these people. What issue was left by Bangerskis, Weiss, Gredzens, Upitis, Zilwerst to descendants? Mercilessly to destroy the one and to subordinate other foreigners, to construct pure race society? To deprive the foreigners of the right of nationality, work, the right for the native language and culture, the rights to express own opinion?

When the flowers are brought to graves of such heroes by statesmen, does it mean they are ready to embody misanthropic ideals by forces of the officialdom subordinated to them? And if these statesmen become the heads of one of EU legislature, does it that mean that the ideals and practices of national socialism would be imposed to all other European countries?

On November 11 of this year the flowers on Brotherhood Cemetery were laid by the president of Latvia A. Berzins, the prime minister L. Straujuma, the speaker of Seym I. Murniece, the Minister of Foreign Affairs E. Rinkevich, the Minister of Defence R. Veyonis. Representatives of police and army surrounded them. And after the country leaders their children came to worship to graves of «national heroes». It is well visible in the photos attached to article.