President Egils Levits, who is of partly Jewish ancestry himself, led the way, noting the continued necessity for accurate historical research and recording of the events surrounding the Holocaust.
We cannot allow accurate recording of history before and during the Holocaust to be challenged. It has been the basis for the process of recovery and reconstitution of individuals, community, systems of justice. This process must go on.#HolocaustMemorialDay #notonmywatch pic.twitter.com/sdfkBAYkgK
— Egils Levits (@valstsgriba) January 27, 2021
Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkēvičs emphasised the need to resist extremist and totalitarian ideologies.
On the #HolocaustRemembrance Day we mourn all the victims of this unspeakable human tragedy, #WeRemember all the Jews who perished in occupied Latvia during #Shoah, and again we say NO to hate, extremist and totalitarian ideologies that made this crime possible #NeverAgain
— Edgars Rinkēvičs (@edgarsrinkevics) January 27, 2021
Defense Minister Artis Pabriks, whose background is as a historian, posted a picture of himself laying flowers at the Biķernieku memorial to victims of the Holocaust.
“Biķernieku memoriāls mums atgādina par tūkstošiem holokaustā bojāgājušo ebreju Latvijā, kad šeit valdīja okupācijas vara. Mūsu uzdevums ir iestāties par neatkarību un garantēt, lai šādi noziegumi pret cilvēci nekad vairs neatkārtotos ne Latvijā, ne citviet,” uzsver @Pabriks pic.twitter.com/GzmODhKEa5
— AizsardzībasMin. (@AizsardzibasMin) January 26, 2021
"The Bikernieki Memorial reminds us of the thousands of Jews who died in the Holocaust in Latvia when the occupying power ruled here. Our task is to stand for independence and guarantee that such crimes against humanity will never happen again in Latvia or elsewhere," Pabriks wrote.
Latvia became a member of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) in 2004.
For an overview of the Holocaust in Latvia, we recommend the virtual exhibition of the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia which provides a detailed and thought-provoking explanation of what happened in those dark days including the liquidation of the Rīga ghetto and details of the Nazi camps located on Latvian soil.
We would also point you towards this short documentary on the subject from LTV, which shows all-too-clearly how Hitler's genocidal mania filtered all the way down to small-town Latvia, all but wiping out a vibrant and important section of Latvian society.
