Posted on 03/16/2018 5:25:16 AM PDT by Eleutheria5
Police arrested a man for displaying a poster of soldiers killing Jews at the annual march by local veterans of two SS divisions that made up the Latvian Legion during World War II.
The man was arrested Friday morning on the margins of the annual march of the Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires — soldiers from the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS and the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (the 1st and 2nd Latvian, respectively.) A handful of veterans flanked by hundreds of supporters waving Latvian flags gathered around Freedom Monument for the march under heavy police guard.
The march in Latvia, a member of the NATO alliance and the European Union, is currently the only public event in Europe and beyond honoring people who fought under the SS banner. Occurring amid rising tensions with Russia, it is part of numerous expressions across Eastern Europe of admiration for people, including Holocaust perpetrators, who collaborated with Germany against the Soviet Union.
Several protesters from the “Latvia without Fascism” group demonstrated against the event by carrying signs reading “They fought for Hitler” and “if they looked as Nazi, and act with Nazi – they were Nazi.” None of those protesters were arrested.
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(Excerpt) Read more at israelnationalnews.com ...
> Police arrested a man for displaying a poster of soldiers killing Jews at the annual march by local veterans of two SS divisions... <
They arrested the wrong guy. They should have arrested whoever was leading the march.
Was Soros leading the march?
I guess I’m going to say something unpopular. But if these men, served honorably and the community wants to honor them and their comrades sacrifice, shouldn’t they be able to? Because Germany lost the war, they don’t deserve to be honored? The Israelis honor the Haganah and the Irgun, which committed terrorist acts against the British when they occupied the area.
Latvia was occupied by Russia until 1918 and in the latter 1800s experienced intensive attempts at Russification.
But this was nothing compared to when the Soviets occupied Latvia from 1940 to 1941
The Latvians were caught between two evils and instead of fighting against both, they chose the Germans to fight the Russians
The Latvian Legion was created in January 1943 on the orders of Adolf Hitler following a request by Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler. The initial core of the force was populated by Latvian Schutzmannschaft auxiliary police battalions, which were formed several years earlier and had been previously engaged in battles in Eastern front and anti-partisan duties. Also some who had previously served in the notorious Arajs Kommando commando unit,[8] responsible for atrocities committed against Jews, Roma, and civilians along Latvia's border with the Soviet Union were transferred to the Latvian Legion.[9] One month after the unit was founded, German occupation authorities in Latvia started conscripting military age men. Draftees were given a choice between serving in the Waffen-SS Legions, serving as (German Wehrmacht) auxiliaries, or being sent to a slave labour camp in Germany. Those who tried to avoid one of those options were arrested and sent to concentration camps.[10] As a result, only 15-20% of the soldiers serving in the legion were actual volunteers
With Nazi Germany losing the war, conscription was extended to larger and larger numbers of Latvians. The first conscription, in 1943, applied to all Latvian men born from 1919 to 1924. The subsequent conscriptions extended to Latvians born between 1906 and 1928. The division commanders and most of the staff were German SS officers. The individual combat regiments were typically commanded by Latvian officers
Oberführer Adolf Ax, commander of the 15th Division, reported on 27 January 1945: "They are first and foremost Latvians. They want a sustainable Latvian nation state. Forced to choose between Germany and Russia, they have chosen Germany, because they seek co-operation with western civilization. The rule of the Germans seems to them to be the lesser of two evils."[
Legion command emphasized that the Latvians were fighting against Soviet re-occupation. Conscripts promised in the name of God to be subservient to the German military and its commander Adolf Hitler, to be courageous and to be prepared to give up their life in the fight against Bolshevism
Known Holocaust collaborator police battalion units such as Arājs Kommando were joined to the Legion late in the war as conditions deteriorated on the Eastern Front. That circumstance has been used to accuse the entire Legion of anti-Semitism, Nazi sympathies, and Holocaust war crimes—and modern Latvians of glorifying Nazis
Ugly stuff.
I get that there was some moral ambiguity in the Baltic republics during World War II, because many Latvians saw the Germain invaders as their best hope for freedom from Stalin’s brutal tyranny. However, 70 years later it should be clear that Nazis and their actions against Jews and others were evil.
Hold a parade to honor Latvian veterans who fought against the Soviets, but no Nazi uniforms or symbols.
Reminds me of the old Ukrainian joke:
Q: Who do you kill first: a Russian or a Nazi?
A; The Russian; business before pleasure.
Obviously this march is bad and support of Nazis inexcusable, but it does tell you how foul the Soviets were that otherwise reasonable people could tolerate this.
The article says nothing about Nazi regalia only that Latvian flags were being waved. I have an aunt that was a German War Bride, one brother was killed at Stalingrad and the other killed in the Ardennes. She would cry every year on their death anniversaries and said the greatest shame was that they and their comrades had been forgotten by Germany.
If any of them did commit holocaust atrocities then they would ahve been punished by now.
The problem is that in the Baltics you can't do that -- they fought in German uniforms against the Soviets
Remember that the Nazis slaughtered Jews, Gypsies and Poles (so based on race) but the Soviets were equal opportunity killers
So the Latvians took the only option they got. horrible situation to be in -- but I condemn any of them that killed innocent Jews or other civilians
and not all members of the SS committed atrocities. The Einsatzgruppen were the units within the Waffen SS, that carried out the brutalities of the regime. There were other units within the Waffen SS, that were much like our own Special Operations community. If you get a chance, read the book “Hellstorm” it gives a graphic account of the early days of the Soviet occupation of Berlin. Hitler and the SS are demonized, while “Uncle Joe” and the Red Army were glorified for years. The SS weren’t the only brutal ones on the battlefield.
You both make some valid points. Many honorable men served in the Waffen SS. And the Latvian SS members were, by and large, anti-Soviet and not pro-Nazi.
But there are some organizations that are so odious that the amount of evil in them overwhelms anything good that you can say about them. The Waffen SS was one such organization.
If some Latvians want to hold a general ‘Day of the Defenders of Latvia’, okay. But to specifically honor units of the Waffen SS is vile. It would be like honoring an abortion clinic because it once actually saved some woman’s life.
correct you are...
these “later” legions were raised expressly for the reason of bolstering the manpower ranks of depleted SS panzer and grenadier divisions, due to battle attrition, mostly during Barbarossa
there were similar efforts in most, if not all, of the countries that were subjugated and occupied by the nazis, including flemish, french, danish, dutch, et al.
think Leon Degrelle...
( I suspect you know all of this already... :) )
I think you are confusing the Einsatzgruppen with the entire Waffen SS. The Waffen SS had about 6-7 division, including regular Infantry and Calvary divisions among them. They were many Waffen SS units who fought honorably and bravely.
There's also a picture at the top of the article of the lower half of two men with black boots and pants, presumably SS uniforms.
Get rid of the Nazi symbols and I'm with you. It's appropriate for Latvia to honor Latvian veterans.
I stand corrected, but I’m not against them marching in the uniform their brothers died in.
> They were many Waffen SS units who fought honorably and bravely. <
Yes. But then again:
1st Waffen SS Division: Massacre of civilians on the Eastern Front
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_SS_Panzer_Division_Leibstandarte_SS_Adolf_Hitler#Massacre_of_civilians_on_the_Eastern_Front
2nd Waffen SS Division: Tulle massacre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_SS_Panzer_Division_Das_Reich#Tulle_massacre
2nd Waffen SS Division: Oradour-sur-Glane massacre
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2nd_SS_Panzer_Division_Das_Reich#Oradour-sur-Glane
3rd Waffen SS Division: Massacres in Poland
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3rd_SS_Panzer_Division_Totenkopf#Poland
The list goes on and on. Yes, I know the Soviets were bad also. But the Soviets didn’t go around shooting children. The Waffen SS did that quite often.
Then we’ll agree to disagree.
The SS uniform is universally recognized as a symbol of Nazi atrocities. Whether or not they personally committed any atrocities, everyone who wore the uniform took an oath to Hitler.
If the marcher’s message is only to honor those who fought and died for Latvia, it is lost on the rest of the world because of their inclusion of foreign Nazi regalia.
Then we’ll agree to disagree.
The SS uniform is universally recognized as a symbol of Nazi atrocities. Whether or not they personally committed any atrocities, everyone who wore the uniform took an oath to Hitler.
If the marcher’s message is only to honor those who fought and died for Latvia, it is lost on the rest of the world because of their inclusion of foreign Nazi regalia.
That’s a penalty flag and 25 antisemitism points for using logic and reason.
Don’t let it happen again.
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