Nazi collaborator monuments in Latvia

Various memorials have been erected to honor the Latvian Legion, a formation in the Waffen-SS

Left: Latvian SS volunteers parade, Riga, December 2, 1943 (Bundesarchiv, Bild 183-J16133 via Wikimedia Commons). Right: veterans of the Latvian Legion during Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires march, Riga, March 16, 2019 (Ilmars Znotins/AFP via Getty Images). Image by Forward collage

By Lev Golinkin January 27, 2021

This list is part of an ongoing investigative project the Forward first published in January 2021 documenting hundreds of monuments around the world to people involved in the Holocaust. We are continuing to update each country’s list; if you know of any not included here, or of statues that have been removed or streets renamed, please email [email protected], subject line: Nazi monument project.

Bauska — The Monument to the Defenders of Bauska (below left, unveiled in 2012) honors the Latvian Legion, a formation in the Waffen-SS, the military wing of the Nazi party responsible for, among other crimes, the Holocaust. The Latvian Legion was composed of two SS divisions: the 15th (1st Latvian) and 19th (2nd Latvian).

Left: Monument to the Defenders of Bauska, Bauska (Wikimedia Commons). Right: another memorial to Latvian Waffen-SS soldiers, Bauska (Traces of War). Image by Forward collage

The obelisk contains the quote “Latvia must be a Latvian state” by Kārlis Ulmanis, the dictator who ruled the country until 1940. Ulmanis championed turning Latvia into an ethnically Latvian nation; his dictatorship oppressed Jewish media and pushed Jews and other minorities out of public and economic life. Above right, a second SS memorial in Bauska. (Many thanks to Kevin Prenger and Kaj Metz of Traces of War for guidance and images of Bauska, Pienava and Sāti memorials.)

Left: Latvian Legion memorial, More (Wikimedia Commons). Right: veterans of the Latvian Legion during Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires march, Riga, March 16, 2016 (Ilmars Znotins/AFP via Getty Images). Image by Forward collage

More — A memorial commemorating the Latvian Legion, which participated in the Battle of More in September 1944. In 2019, the Latvian defense minister delivered a speech on the site, praising the Waffen-SS legion as the “pride of the Latvian nation.” See guide brochure, Defending History’s coverage and the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s condemnation.

Above right, Latvian Legion SS veterans march through Riga, March 16, 2016. (Thanks to Defending History contributor Aleksandr Kuzmin for information about this and other Latvian memorials.)

Left: memorial to fallen Latvian Waffen-SS soldiers, Pienava (Traces of War). Right: a second Latvian Waffen-SS memorial, Pienava (Traces of War). Image by Forward collage

Pienava — Two of several monuments to the Latvian Legion located in the area. About 70,000 (three quarters) of Latvia’s Jews were murdered during the Holocaust with the aid of Latvian collaborators.

Left: Latvian SS recruitment poster. Right: memorial to fallen Latvian Waffen-SS soldiers, Sāti (Traces of War). Image by Forward collage

Sāti — A cross memorial to the fallen Latvian Legionnaires. Above left is a Latvian SS recruitment poster with SS insignia on the collar and on top of the legion’s insignia on the helmet.

Below left, the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (one of the two units composing the Latvian Legion), marches in Riga, 1943. Below right, Latvian Legion SS veterans and relatives in a parade through Riga, 2019.

For a monument to the Latvian SS outside of Latvia, see the Belgium section.

For more on Latvia’s parades to actual SS soldiers see reports in JTA, the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz as well as Defending History’s Latvia page.

Lev Golinkin is a regular contributor to the Forward whose work has also appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, CNN, NBC, The Boston Globe, Politico Europe, and Time.com. His memoir, A Backpack, a Bear, and Eight Crates of Vodka, chronicles his immigration from Ukraine.

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