On 14 June Latvia commemorates the mass deportations of Latvian residents performed by the violent Stalinist regime in 1941. More than 15 000 people were taken from their homes and sent to Siberia in livestock wagons.
Photos from the event in Riga, Riflemen Square.
During the commemorative event Latvia’s President Egils Levits stresses: «Every year on 14 June the Commemoration Day for the Victims of Communist Genocide we mourn those more than 15 400 Latvian residents who were illegally deported by the Soviet Union to Russia.»
«I would never be able to tell this story without you – the people who carry life stories – the people who managed to return to Latvia after years of exile and prison, the people who became the witnesses and accusers of the era poisoned by communist ideology and the heartless crimes that were committed. Your voice and your message are more important today, now that Russia has invaded Ukraine. Russia kidnaps and kills Ukrainian civilians. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians are deported far away from their homeland. Deportations continue today,» stressed the president, adding that «all of this is unlawful, inhumane and criminal».
«What is happening in Ukraine now has opened up our old wounds. What we see now has provided the younger generation a clearer picture of how occupation and re-occupation was done in Latvia in the 40s and how Latvia’s society was forcefully remade under in a situation of terror and lawlessness. This understanding allows us to better understand generations and observe the nation’s succession. At the same time, it offers commitment and strength, the understanding that we have to defend our land and our country similarly how Ukrainians are now defending theirs,» said Levits.