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Our Internet access and cable TV access has been limited the past few days. Away from the minute-by-minute onslaught of horrors from Ukraine and the backsliding which the U.S. Supreme Court appears ready to engage in, to nullify abortion rights, our thoughts turned to the question, why is Putin in any way a surprise?

That Russia has been invading its neighbors before USSR had died and has continued to do so since over the past 30-plus years is no surprise. That is what the Kremlin does regardless of regime. After all, it was Yeltsin — darling of the West — who invaded Moldova’s Trans-Dniester.

What is surprising to us, though, is the lack of attention to Putin’s thin skin and authoritarian tendencies, obvious from the very start. Only a month after Putin took office as the elected—having been appointed by Yeltsin as his successor, president, these were the headlines that had already been in the news:

• “Clinton’s exit, Putin’s entrance” (12 May 2000) — FSB plans to preemptively discredit politicians suspected of planning to say something damaging about the Kremlin — extending to politicians in Georgia and the Baltics
• “Back to the USSR” (29 May 2000) — One of Putin’s first decrees as president was the reintroduction of compulsory military training—topics including: Russian army history, loading a Kalishnikov, and synchronized marching (tellingly, Yeltsin outlawed this as one of his first acts of his presidency); last year, he restored a plaque to former president and KGB leader Yury Andropov on the walls of the Lubyanka; he recently unveiled another plaque honouring Russia’s war heroes with Stalin’s name listed first; also, a commemorative coin decorated with Stalin’s face has been issued and there are plans to install a new bust of the Soviet tyrant at Russia’s main war memorial.
• “Disquiet over Putin’s appointments grows” ( 1 June 2000) — The aggregation of Russia into 7 super-regions; power granted to Putin to sack elected regional governors, dissolve regional assemblies and deprive governors of their seats in the Federation Council (the upper house of the national parliament); finally, “The most bizarre media casualty, however, has been the lifesize doll made in Mr Putin’s likeness and used in Kukly, the Russian version of Spitting Image. The NTV channel, which runs the country’s most popular show, said the Putin puppet had been ‘temporarily withdrawn’.”
  • “But is it curtains for the Putin puppet?” (30 May 2000) — “NTV anchorman Yevgenii Kiselev announced on 29 May that NTV has reached an agreement with the Kremlin to withdraw the puppet caricature of President Vladimir Putin from the cast of the popular satirical show, ‘Kukly.’ An NTV spokeswoman told dpa that the Kremlin had asked the producers of “Kukly” to no longer feature the Putin puppet, which has an extremely large nose and wears the neck-kerchief characteristic of the Soviet-ear Pioneers.” However, earlier, in February…
  • “Puppets safe for now” (11 February 2000) — “Presidential spokesman Aleksei Gromov told reporters on 10 February that acting President Putin does not intend to file any complaints against the popular weekly puppet show ‘Kukly’.” So, “for now” means “3-4 months at most.”
• “Russia Seizes Human Rights Report” (31 May 2000) — Amnesty International’s reports on Chechnya confiscated because the reports appeared to be “anti-Russian government propaganda”

And we know all too well that Putin’s leveling of Chechen capital of Grozny is the model for his current genocide against Ukrainians. Where is the surprise? What surprise? Q.E.D.

The charges that the Latvian Legion were Nazis, that those who commemorate them are part of the rise of neo-Nazis who glorify the Holocaust, have been unremitting for the past two decades ever since the Kremlin launched its successful hijacking of the anti-Nazi cause and declared Latvians “Nazis.”

Unsurprisingly the topic came up in conversation on Twitter that originated with “Ukrainians are Nazis.” A 2018 Haaretz article was cited in conversation as typical of the ubiquitous coverage regarding Latvian Nazis.

In response, the Haaretz article was subsequently reviewed in detail, rebutting its contentions and providing additional historical background, on latvianlegion.org.

Contentions rebutted and key content include (links active):

• Lie #1 — The Latvian Legion were part of Hitler’s genocidal elite Nazi SS
• Lie #2 —  The annual Legion commemoration is fully intended to glorify the murder of Jews.
• Lie #3 — Even were we to believe that the Legion was blameless in the Holocaust, they nevertheless fought against the Red Army, and therefore fought for Nazi victory and the end of Western civilization.
• Lie #4 — The Legion was involved in war crimes and the Holocaust.
• Failure to prosecute
• Additional reading

The Latvian parliament today passed the resolution “Regarding good-will reparations to the Latvian Jewish community.” This commits the Latvian government to establish a fund of €40,000,000 to distribute over ten years, €4,000,000 a year from 2023 through 2032, to Jewish community organizations.

As reported in the news, funding would go toward, among other things, restoration and preservation of Latvian Jewry’s historical cultural heritage, support for Jewish community organizations, property and memorial monument maintenance, financing projects associated with religion, culture, education, healthcare, and history, as well as promoting wider societal goals.

Vai mēs atšķiram tad Latvijas ebreju pēctecējus no padomju laiku pārkrievošanas ienācējus? Vai mēs prasīsim Vācijai atbalstīt atlīdzināšanu? Tā tomēŗ nebija Latvijas valsts–kura ieņēma pirmskara bēgļus un aizliedza antisemītu rakstus–kura nodarīja noziegumus.

— Peters J Vecrumba 🇺🇸 🇱🇻 I Stand with 🇺🇦 🌻 (@PetersJVecrumba) February 10, 2022

Juris Pūce [Parliament member, chairperson of the Development/For! political alliance]: I am heartened that the Saeima [parliament] supported the law “Regarding good-will reparations to the Latvian Jewish community”. The horrific crime of the Holocaust annihilated part of Latvia’s — the majority of Jewish communities. It is impossible to erase the consequences of that crime, but Latvia can demonstrate good will and compensate the community.

Ourselves: Are we differentiating the descendants of then Latvia’s Jews from the influx of Soviet Russification? Will we ask Germany to support reparations? After all, it was not the country of Latvia — which took in pre-WWII refugees and banned anti-Semitic publications — which committed the crimes.

Perceptions of the Holocaust in Nazi-occupied Latvia are steeped in propaganda. Did the Germans find willing collaborators among the occupied? Yes, Arājs Kommando being the most notorious. Do collaborators confirm Latvia was anti-Semitic? No. Pre-WWII Latvia banned anti-Semitic publications, still took in Jewish refugees from Nazi Germany after other nations had closed their borders, and among anti-Semites, Latvia was denounced as a “Jewish country” for the positive relations between Latvians and Jews. Even after Ulmanis’s (bloodless) coup, his regime continued to value Latvia’s ethnic diversity; his policy committee included representatives of all Latvia’s minorities, including Jews, regardless of any “Latvia for Latvians” slogans at the time.

Latvian sociologist Didzis Bērziņš questions the attitude of Latvians toward Jews: do ethnic Latvians today consider the Latvian Jewish community “our” (inclusive Latvian citizenry) or “alien” (ethno-nationalist Latvian community, non-Latvians need not apply). Did the Holocaust afflict Jews (“their” tragedy) or did it afflict Latvia (“our” tragedy)? History teaches the answer is “our.” Latvia was the first country to legally recognize equal rights for all national and ethnic groups.

Kremlin-funded “anti-Nazi” activists now falsely translate “žīds” (Jew) as “kike” for non-Latvian speakers protesting at annual Latvian Legion commemorations. Pre-Soviet era, “žīds” appeared in schoolchildren’s ABC’s for the letter „Ž”. There is no slur, only a word used for centuries. While “ebreji” (Hebews) was also used for “Jews” prior to WWII, it was the USSR which leveraged it to effectively erase western/central European (Yiddish-speaking) Jewish identity and replace it with imported culturally Russian/Russophone Jewry.

Rather than ask what do Latvians think of Jews, perhaps ask which Jews Latvians think they will be compensating. Do we know how many of today’s Latvian Jewish community are true remnants of pre-WWII Latvia versus how many represent Soviet imports poised to appropriate a heritage and tragedy — and reparations —  which are not theirs? Are there any concerns Latvia might ultimately fund uninvited usurpers?

We hope these questions, however inconvenient, have been asked. The commitment is for a rigorous and transparent process for applications, claims, and awards — an absolute necessity to ensure spending the equivalent of €11,000 a day for 10 years on preserving Latvia’s Jewish heritage tells the factual story of Latvian-Jewish relations and Jewish life in Latvia — not serve external agendas or simply line individuals’ pockets.