The crimes committed by Communism were never internationally tried by Europe or the former Soviet Union the same way as the crimes committed by Nazism, which made it possible for totalitarianism to resurface in Russia and Vladimir Putin’s regime to commence a criminal war against Ukraine, said Latvia’s President Egils Levits in his video address for the Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Communist Genocide.
He said on 25 March 1949 the Soviet occupation sent 42 000 Latvian residents to Siberia. These people were farmers, national partisans and their families. Nearly 95% of them were Latvians, followed by Russians, Polish and Belarusians.
It was the biggest act of deportation of Latvian residents in the country’s history. Latvia’s president mentioned that 11 000 of deportees were children.
«It was a genocide committed by the Communist regime. What goals was the foreign power trying to accomplish? Destroy the core of our nation – farmers – and thereby destroy the support that existed for the armed resistance in the woods. Forcing the remaining people to work in kolhoz organizations. Using terror to remake Latvia’s land and society and subject them to USSR’s interests and ideology,» said the president.
He stressed that 25 March is a day of commemoration for Latvia. It is part of the nation’s memory, which should be mentioned and remembered always – the people who were subjected to repressions by a foreign power.
Levits stressed it was a crime against humanity, and it has no statute of limitations.
He turned attention towards the fact that in ‘90s Alfons Noviks was tried in Latvia for genocide and crimes against humanity. He was a high-ranking KGB official who signed the 25 March action that was planned out in Moscow.
Read also: Remembering 1949 deportations, Latvia commemorates victims of Communist genocide
The president comments that it is highly important to put those responsible on trial. If it’s no longer possible to do, it is necessary to put in trial the entire criminal regime and ideology to make sure the totalitarian and illegal power is condemned only in words.
«Testimony plays an important role in evaluation and determination of crimes. Latvia has started collecting testimonies from Ukrainian refugees. The testimonies of our own citizens about the things they experienced during Soviet deportations are stored and studied in museums, stored in archives. Our objective is compiling historic memory and linking it to the modern day and the future,» said the president.
On 25 March 1949 there was the most massive deportation of Latvian residents to Siberia and other far-away regions of the Soviet Union. 44 000 people were deported to Siberia – families with children and elderly people. Among the deportees were 3 369 children under the age of seven, as well as 7 621 under the age of 16. The goal of deportations was to destroy economically strong farms and suppress the resistance of the population.
Today all flags in Latvia are put on display with a black ribbon to signify mourning.
President: crimes of Communism were never internationally tried and this resurrected totalitarianism in Russia
