- RIGA, Latvia -- Hundreds
of former Latvian Legionnaires remembered their fallen comrades with a
memorial service this morning in Riga's Dom cathedral. The service was
followed by a march to Riga's Freedom Monument, where hundreds of bouquets
were laid.
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- After the march hundreds gathered at a nearby cemetery
as well as at the monument grounds, where more flowers and wreaths were
offered. The monument was created specially for the Latvian Legion.
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- This year marks the 60th anniversary of the formation
of the Latvian Legion. During World War II the Legion joined Hitler's
forces as SS volunteers to oust the Bolsheviks from their homeland, which
was overrun in 1940 by America's wartime ally, the Soviet Union. The campaign
was part of an ill-fated effort to rid Europe and the world permanently
of the Red Terror.
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- The Latvian Legion grew out of the celebrated 16 Zemgale
combat police battalion, and eventually comprised two whole divisions of
the Waffen-SS--the 15th and the 19th. Some of the most highly decorated
SS men came from Latvia.
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- Guerrilla fighting against the Communists was continued
by remnants of the Latvian Legion in the Courland region of the Baltic
country until as late as 1956.
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- Also in attendance were some of the lucky few--out of
an estimated 200,000--who made it home from Russia after the mass deportation
of Latvians after the war, which was carried out at the hands ofJewish
functionaries of the Bolshevik regime. The names and photographs of the
Bolshevik leadership can be seen at the Riga War Museum and the Riga Occupation
Museum.
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- "One cannot talk very openly of these things in
today's climate," said a museum tour guide.
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- The event drew international criticism in certain quarters.
The Jewish community objects that the volunteers had opposed a system,
90 percent of whose leaders in Latvia were Jews.
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- "This is a well documented fact. One only needs
to open his eyes," one gentleman in attendance commented.
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