War Against Monuments

A few months ago, the bourgeois government approved a list of 69 objects “glorifying the totalitarian regime” that should be demolished.

According to the adopted law “On the prohibition to exhibit and dismantle the Soviet and Nazi regime glorified objects on the territory of the Republic of Latvia”, to be included in the list for destruction, the object had to:

  1. “glorify the occupying power of the USSR or Nazi Germany, an event or person connected with it”;
  2. “glorify totalitarianism, violence, military aggression, war and military ideology”;
  3. “include symbols of Soviet power or Nazism”.

Let’s look at the list of objects to be demolished. The memorial stone in honor of crossing of the Lielupe River, the memorial place of surrender of the German army, memorial stones to the partisans V. Jauntirans, M. Rudzis, A. Matspans… It’s strange, all names are Latvian, where are notorious “Russian occupants”? Latvian people during the Great Patriotic War heroically fought against fascism in the name of victory of ideas of humanism, justice, equality and peace against aggression, war, genocide and enslavement together with other peoples of USSR. The list also includes, for example, the Monument to defenders of Liepaja. That is, the authorities want to destroy the monument to the citizens, ordinary workers who during the first 7 days of the war heroically held back the military machine of the Nazi Germany, inflicting serious losses on the aggressor?! From whom did the Soviet people, from whom they are tearing down monuments today, defend Liepaja and the Soviet Union as a whole? Judge for yourself from the excerpt from the report of the Gebietskommissar of Liepaja district Alnor to the general commissar of occupied Latvia Drexler:

“ From December 14 to 17  1941 in Liepaja a total of 2,700 Jews were shot. In other parts of the district, such as Ventspils, all the Jews were shot. It was mainly women and children. The shootings, which went on for days on end in the city limits, namely in the area of the military port, as confirmed by all the authorities, caused great unrest among the population. No one doubts that the prestige of the Germans was markedly affected by it. It has been pointed out to me in every possible way that women, children, and infants were shot almost naked… In naval circles there is an opinion that these shootings were carried out on the orders of the Reichskommissar, who allegedly intended to report to the Fuhrer by January 1 on the complete cleansing of the land of the Jews.

Numerous executions are being carried out again at the present time, which are again causing considerable excitement. It is incomprehensible to me why this gruesome method of execution is used. During the executions in December, exactly 2,800 people were thrown into one pit 100 meters long and 3 meters wide. Not a single doctor or officer was present during the shootings, so in two cases the murdered men got out of the pit at night and headed back to town in one shirt. In one case it was a woman who, having lost consciousness, fell down before the pit and was simply thrown into the pit, where she regained consciousness at night. Many such stories are spreading, and they certainly do not help to maintain our prestige in the eyes of Latvians”. 1

None of the objects glorifying the Nazi regime are on the list of monuments to be demolished; the law was passed in order to destroy other monuments. Those that were designed to immortalize the victory of the Soviet people, including Latvians, over fascism in the Great Patriotic War. There is no monument to Latvian SS battalions in Bauska, no monument to SS Sturmbannführer Janis Ozols, no monument to Latvian SS legionnaires near Pienava settlement, no memorial to Latvian SS legionnaires in Lestene settlement.

Along with approval of such lists, fascist ideology is rehabilitated, Latvian SS legionnaires – henchmen of German fascism are glorified and openly chauvinistic public statements of officials are encouraged. It becomes obvious that the ruling class has unleashed a war not only against monuments glorifying “totalitarian regimes” but also against its own history, and thus against its own people. Shame on the SS and their ideological followers – the scum of the human race!

Sources (russian):

 1 Преступления нацистов и их пособников в Прибалтике (Латвия). 1941-1945: Док. и свидетельства. – Рига, 2007. Стр. 170–171.