Latvian visit *'s Bitburg?

[NewHampshireDem]

In case you don't remember, in 1985 Reagan visited Bitburg, Germany, where he laid a wreath in memory of the German war dead. At the cemetary are interred nearly 50 members of the Waffen SS along with some 2000 other soldiers who fought to advance Nazism. Reagan defended his visit by saying that those soldiers "were victims, just as surely as the victims in the concentration camps."

When the Soviets occupied Latvia in 1940-41 under the terms of their non-agression pact with Germany, they began mass deportations of the native Latvians.

The Germans invaded in late 1941 and exterminated more than 75,000 Latvian Jews. Some scholars estimate that as many as 99% of Latvian Jews were exterminated between 1941-1944.

When the Russians 'liberated' the Latvians from the Germany occupation in 1944, the Latvians merely traded one oppressor for another. In 1944 alone, more than 35,000 Latvians were deported to northern Russian. By 1945, more than 100,000 Latvians had been deported and countless others simply murdered by the Stalinist regime. Between 1944 and 1949, more than a third of the Latvian population was a victim of forced deportation, war, mass murder, or exile.

Among those were my own grandparents. They fled Latvia in the wake of WWII--ironically enough, making their way first to Germany, where my father was born, then to the United States. They literally left everything behind, including members of my grandfather's family who had been deported to northern Russian when their land and possessions 'collectivized.'

My grandmother, Zelma, was a wonderful woman and one of the most important people in my life. She was, like a grandmother should be, gentle and kind (and a democrat because, in her words, "they care about the people'). The only time I ever saw anger and, yes, hatred in her eyes was when Mikhail Gorbachev was on the TV news during his visit the US (in 1989, I believe). She was furious that the Russians would ever be our 'friends.' Her family had been victims of genocide at the hands of the Russians and she could never forgive them. Stalin attempted to Russianize Latvia and, in doing so, wipe the Latvians, their culture, and their language from the face of Europe.

Whether we chose to forgive or not, we should never forget.

So, yeah, *, let all of Latvia join you in raising a glass to celebrate the end of WWII and Latvia's 'liberation.' Pardon me if I don't join you.

Miers.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. I'm only 1/4 Latvian, but I heard stories of the WWII period

too from all the refugees who came to Minneapolis, where my grandfather, who had come over in 1908, was the only Latvian-speaking attorney in the Upper Midwest.

Of all the Baltic States, Latvia lost the largest percentage of its population and was subjected to the largest forced influx of ethnic Russians. Latvia came under criticism for denying citizenship to ethnic Russians who didn't want to learn Latvian, but given the history (all Latvians required to learn Russian, both in Czarist times and under the Soviets, no Russians required to learn Latvian), who can blame them?

My grandfather came from a village called Vecpiebalga.

[IChing]

2. Peace Duke?

I read that they were not celebrating the duke?

[NewHampshireDem]

3. It appears 'Peace Duke' sounds like some swear in Russian

Think "Ivana Tinkle" or "Mike Hunt."

[tinfoilinfor2005]

4. Nicely done...

I am a Latvian born in a DP camp in Germany in 1946. The Latvian "situation" is very complicated, but you explained it as well as I've ever heard.
We Latvians have no use for the Russians for obvious reason, and little use for FDR due to Yalta. That is why my family could not understand why I changed my political affiliation with the repub party several years ago. My answer was simple...George Bush. It was Poppy back then, but Junior is intolerable to me.
Nice to see another Latvian Dem...we are a rare species!

[NewHampshireDem]

5. Hi! And thank you!

:hi:

My dad was born in the DP camp in Esslingen around the same time. (Yes, I am embarassed that I don't know what year my father was born.)

From there they went to Willimantic, CT. In the Willimantic/Windham/Bolton/Chaplin area there was a pretty strong Latvian community. If I remember correctly, most of the members of the Lutheran church in Willimantic were Latvian or Estonian.