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For some interesting perspective on this question, I recommend this article, by the prominent Estonian writer Jaan Kaplinski. It was translated by Anatoly Karlin, a blogger specializing in Russian affairs, and posted on his blog. The original Russian text is also linked there:
Russians liberated Latvia from nazism - that's a fact, and that's what I say.
"Liberation" is simply not the correct wording here. Yes, they kicked nazi butts and drove them off from Latvian land.... and then started their own occupation.
As the saying goes - cпасибо что вы нас освободили но вы забыли уйты...
Liberation is what happened in Western Europe.
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Originally Posted by russiaonline
I'm interested in why they ignore nazi crimes, and even blame Russians for them. And consider nazis liberators.
Nazi crimes are not ignored at all. Jews are even given back properties that belonged to Jewish community before war inspite of the fact that there are no relatives left because almost all of Latvia's Jews were exterminated by nazis. They basically get those properties because of their ethnicity and not because they are legatees based on kinship.
And no one considers nazis to be liberators. There was some simpathy towards them in 1941 wich vanished soon when nazis showed their true colours.
"Liberation" is simply not the correct wording here. Yes, they kicked nazi butts and drove them off from Latvian land....
That's a correct word.
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and then started their own occupation.
You can call it anyway you please, but almost all of your people voted for that. Germans investigated elections - and didn't find falsifications.
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Nazi crimes are not ignored at all.
Tell the truth - how many Latvians know the numbers I gave in the first post? Like a genocide of 20% of Latvians - during the German occupation.
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Jews are even given back properties that belonged to Jewish community before war inspite of the fact that there are no relatives left because almost all of Latvia's Jews were exterminated by nazis. They basically get those properties because of their ethnicity and not because they are legatees based on kinship.
And I suppose you have absolute proof that every single 'Pribalt' sent to the gulag was a Nazi?
People were arrested for crimes - generally nazist. Some people could be, and almost certainly were, accused for nothing - this happened back then, and it still happens.
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By the way, how many Russian Jews have had their property restituted by the Soviet or Russian governments? Hmmm?
Hi there, I grew up in Latvia, and I guess I was a child of those Russian occupants. My grandparents moved there from Belorus in the 1960's. My grandfather was from Ukraine, and my grandmother from Belorus. Then my dad imported a Russian bride - my mom.
So there were not only Russians, but people from 15 former Soviet republics moved freely around the Soviet Union, and my grandparents moved because Latvian economy was considered better, then the rest of the republics, and there was more freedom, because they were baptist, and my grandfather was fired from his job in Belorus because of that.
To those, who say that Russia sought out to destroy the ethnic cultures of nearby republics, I have to say that the school system was segregated. I went to a typical Russian school, and lived in a Russian neighborhood, I barely met a few Latvian people in my life. Latvian kids had their own schools, where I would assume they were not diluted by Russian kids, and were able to preserve their language and culture.
My life revolved around Russian-speaking friends and family, although Russians and Latvians were generally friendly and didn't bother each other. When I was about 8, we climbed a fence to steal some apples with my friends. Then we were chased by an angry Latvian grandmother, who yelled "Occupants" to us. That surprised me, and it was the first time I realized my world wasn't as happy and friendly as I thought it was, but I quickly forgot about it, and never had issues, may be because I never interacted with Latvians much. I think they generally liked to keep to themselves, and not to mix with us that much.
I remember dressing up in a Latvian national costume, when we had one of our Soviet holidays, which celebrated the diversity of different cultures in the Soviet Union. I remember being taught to respect the different nationalities, that contributed to the diversity of our "great country." And I remember observing some of Latvian national holidays, especially the summer solstice "Ligo", which was everybody's favorite, when kids would wear the old-fashioned paper hats, and you were supposed to jump over bonfires at midnight. Those were some of my happiest childhood memories.
You have to understand, that until recently in history it would be impossible for small countries to survive, unless they gave up some of their independence and had alliances with the bigger neighboring countries. In the past Russia always valued relationships with it's smaller neighbors, because Russia's own borders were vulnerable, if they didn't have any influence in the nearby republics. Many of these republics used to be the "spheres of influence", or vassal territories of the Russian Empire for hundreds of years prior to the Soviet Union. Because, if Russia gave them up, another strong power, like Prussia, or Poland or Turks would take them over, and would become a threat to Russian security. And, many of these republics went back and forth between different occupying countries for centuries.
So there are no innocent countries in history, but, hopefully we are over the tumultuous times, and the future is better.
Last edited by konfetka; 11-13-2012 at 12:26 PM..
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