Other events in Baltic States

Several events commemorating the World War II Latvian Legion will take place in Riga on March 16, as well as several anti-events, LETA learned from the Riga City Council.

At 10 a.m., a service commemorating Latvian Legion members will be held in Dome Church. After that, a procession of "Daugavas Vanagi" members is planned from Dome Church via Riga's Old Town to the Freedom Monument, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Members of the "Gustavs Celmins Center" have also applied for a rally at the ''Laima'' clock on the day.

"Association Against Nazism" will lay flowers at the Freedom Monument from 10:15 to 10:45 a.m., and from 2:30 to 3:30 p.m. The organization has also applied for a rally at the Freedom Monument from 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

As reported, on March 16, 1944, both divisions of the Latvian SS Legion, called up for military service in the German occupation army, engaged in a battle against the Red Army at the Velikaya River in U.S.S.R. territory. Since 1952, the war veterans organization "Daugavas Vanagi" commemorates this day as Latvian Legion Day.

Many Latvians, who were forcibly called up to join the Latvian SS Legion, saw the German army as a lesser of two evils. For many of these soldiers, the choice to join the Latvian SS Legion was a result of the brutal Soviet occupation between 1940 and 1941, during which tens of thousands of Latvians were executed or deported to Siberia. Many soldiers naively believed that, if they helped Germany win the war, Latvia might be rewarded with independence or autonomy.

Latvian Legion Day is an unofficial holiday.