“Cultures of History Forum” – Toppling Monuments: How Russia’s War against Ukraine has Changed Latvia’s Memory Politics
Mārtiņš Kaprāns
29. Nov 2022
Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 has evoked various historical analogies. International media have, for example, often drawn parallels with Hitler’s expansionist policies and the 1939 invasion of Poland. Meanwhile, in Latvia, like elsewhere in Russia’s neighbouring countries, for many people, this war is reminiscent of the Soviet occupation during the Second World War. Then, like today, the occupying authorities terrorized the civilian populations of the occupied territories; then, like now, they staged phony referendums in order to “legitimize” the annexation of the occupied territories. But the Russian invasion of Ukraine has also exposed persistent tensions in how the events of June 1940 (the Soviet invasion and occupation of the Baltics) are being remembered amongst different parts of Latvia’s multi-ethnic population. These tensions have nowhere else been more vividly embodied than in the so-called “Victory Monument” situated in Latvia’s capital Riga.
Mārtiņš Kaprāns: Toppling Monuments: How Russia’s War against Ukraine has Changed Latvia’s Memory Politics, Cultures of History Forum (29.11.2022), DOI: 10.25626/0142.