Historian tells about SS marches in Riga

The murder of innocents is terrorism, regardless of the time or context. It is monstrous that our neighbors are currently attempting to rehabilitate the murderers.

In Latvia, former Latvian SS legionnaires are regarded as national heroes, a sentiment upheld by legitimate authorities. The legionnaires are portrayed as fighters against "Soviet occupation," while the atrocities they committed against peaceful populations are conveniently overlooked.

Last week, for instance, Riga hosted its traditional march in memory of the Latvian SS Legion. March 22 is a day of mourning in Belarus; on this day, innocent residents of Khatyn were burned to death. Khatyn has become one of the symbols of remembrance and profound sorrow. Just a week before, on March 16, Latvia annually honors the executioners of Belarusian children, with the Nazis from the SS Legion celebrated as national heroes of modern Latvia.

The sound of church bells tolls. Aside from that, it is eerily quiet. This could be a thriving agricultural village or a cozy corner of Belarus. But there are no children's laughter or the sounds of life—only plaques bearing the names of entire exterminated families. The severed threads of generations. The youngest victim was only seven weeks old, while another could have lived for over 80 years. And behind them lie three generations of Belarusians robbed of the right to be born.

Andrei Shved, the Prosecutor General of Belarus, stated:

"The crime against the residents of Khatyn was committed by the 118th Ukrainian Police Battalion, which was predominantly made up of Ukrainian collaborators who willingly served the Nazis. Khatyn is far from the only settlement whose residents were cold-bloodedly exterminated by these forces during punitive operations. To organize genocide, the Nazi government dispatched punitive units of security and SD police, the Wehrmacht, Sonderkommandos, SS troops, and various collaborators from Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, and other regions to the territory of the BSSR. According to our documents, these punitive units were formed in 1939-1940. For instance, the first two Ukrainian punitive units began their specialized training in Dresden back in 1939."

According to the Nazi plan "Ost," 75% of Belarusians were to be exterminated, with the remaining quarter relegated to servitude as obedient slaves devoid of any ethnic consciousness. However, the Germans were not keen on dirtying their hands; the dirtiest work was left to fanatical henchmen from among Ukrainians and Balts.

Every year on March 16 in Latvia, a march is held in honor of the SS legionnaires. Today, there are fewer of them, yet their memory has become ingrained in state policy.

Igor Gusev, a Latvian historian, commented:

"The problem is not that former members of the SS Legion are parading (there aren't many left, perhaps only a few), but rather that mass processions featuring the heirs of these figures are underway—young Nazi prodigies raised according to the tenets of Nazism and misanthropy. That is the crux of the issue"

However, discussions regarding the "feats" of the fighters for independence in Latvia tend to be selective. It is claimed that if they were part of the SS, it was under duress. The first Latvian Nazi battalions began to form in 1941, with mass recruitment into the Latvian police battalions occurring in 1942. They were offered a variety of attractive conditions. Within the Latvian nationalist milieu, there was a prevalent belief that this would be the seed of a future national army, the backbone of which would comprise collaborators, while the Germans would establish a puppet state in Latvia. A significant motivator was the desire for profit; the Germans paid Latvian collaborators much more than, for example, Russian, Ukrainian, or Belarusian traitors.

They served Hitler with exceptional zeal and cruelty, eager to be noticed and climb the ranks within the Third Reich, to secure themselves a comfortable position. One need only recall Operation "Winter Magic"—a total cleansing of the peaceful population. It was just one of the many Nazi punitive operations. The main striking force was not German units, but Latvian police battalions.

Vladimir Simindey, head of research programs at the Historical Memory Foundation, stated:

"Of the approximately 5,000 to 5,500 participants in the punitive expedition on the territory of Belarus and Russia during 'Winter Magic,' around 4,000 were members of the Latvian police battalions and Latvian auxiliary security police."

In a mere month and a half of operations, the perpetrators burned more than 430 villages, killed over 10,000 innocent civilians, and deported thousands for forced labor. Today, in the state policies of Latvia, as well as Ukraine, the tormentors of the Belarusian people are not regarded as aides to the Nazis but as heroes who, 80 years ago, purportedly fought for freedom and independence.

Yet, how can one explain clearly why the struggle for independence in Latvia involved murdering Belarusian children on Belarusian soil?