American Latvians: Politics of a Refugee Community by Ieva Zake

Author:Ieva Zake [Zake, Ieva]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Asia, General, United States, 20th Century, Social Science, Emigration & Immigration, Ethnic Studies, Sociology
ISBN: 9781412814515
Google: fe1wmwEACAAJ
Goodreads: 10241341
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2010-01-15T06:22:18+00:00

Attempts to Silence the Debate

One of the main reasons for this failure was the uneasy relationship that the American Latvians themselves had with their past. Instead of attempting to generate an open conversation, parts of the exile community tried to silence or avoid internal debates about the World War II, particularly as far as the Latvian role in the Holocaust was concerned. They insisted that Latvians in exile must avoid critical analyses and discussions about the Legion or other Latvian formations during World War II, but instead emphasize the heroic and simultaneously tragic fate of Latvian soldiers in the Nazi military. Their approach stressed that Latvian community should “have no doubts of any kind about the significance of the Legion’s battles, and its soldiers’ honor and sacrifices. Latvian legionaries stood firmly in their place. … Although they lost a battle against a formidable opponent, Latvian legionaries with their heroism and honor still have earned respectable place in the history of Latvian nation alongside fighters of all eras.”83 From this point of view, Latvians who were called into or volunteered to join the Nazi military had to be understood as driven by a desperate hope to protect the Latvian nation, thus sacrificing themselves on behalf of their people.84 Latvian soldiers could not be accused or criticized of anything because they were engaged in an impossible struggle for “the most elementary rights, which those peoples, who enjoy the protection of the world’s biggest powers, take for granted.” Latvian legionaries were tragic heroes who tried to protect their nation while facing the unstoppable “flow of the world history,” and their battle remained unfinished due to the historical circumstances beyond their control.85 According to these interpretations, Latvian soldiers in the Nazi military were similar to the Latvians in the Russian Tsarist army who had fought for national independence at the end of World War I.86 Moreover, the argument was that Latvian soldiers had fulfilled a historical mission of protecting Western Europe from the threats of communism.87

This approach interpreted Latvian military formations during the World War II as ultimately unsuccessful, nevertheless heroic and selfless. This closed up the possibility for an open discussion about the role that some Latvians had played in the Holocaust. For example, such pathos-filled accounts of Latvian military formations under the Nazi occupation as the writing of a regular contributor to Daugavas Vanagu Mēnešraksts, Arturs Silgailis, did not even mention the destruction of Jews on Latvia’s territory, let alone Latvian participation in it.88 Such limited presentation of the history of World War II in Latvia created a climate in the exile community where war crime accusations against Latvians became difficult to talk about as well. For example, the accused Vilis Hāzners bitterly remarked that the American Latvian newspapers reported about his trial with a few short lines here and there.89 Even the highly pro-Legion publication Daugavas Vanagu Mēnešraksts referred to the war crime accusations in vague language without clearly stating the issue and what it involved. Instead, it offered general statements

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.