Documentary chronicles Nazi occupation of Latvia in 1941

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Latvian Television has another in its series of short documentary films prepared, complete with English-language subtitles.

This week the starting year is 1941, when one occupying force in the form of Nazi Germany drove out another in the form of the Soviet Union. "Did it make any difference?" asks the film before providing an answer: "Latvians naively hoped for liberation but jumped from the frying pan into the fire".

Comparisons between the occupying regimes follow. The conclusion is that they were similar in many ways and neither has any claim to the title of "liberators".

 

According to LTV "The Keys" series tells of the most important or "key" events, personalities and turning points in the history of the Latvian state from 1918 to the present. The purpose is to reveal each selected event from an unusual point of view, as if "unlocking the door" to lesser known and therefore particularly intriguing facts. 

"Such an exploratory approach, bypassing the usual stereotypes of presenting history, will allow viewers to perceive what is known to others and to better understand what has happened in the context of today's experience," says LTV.

Throughout the year, Latvian history will be told in 'mixed order' - events will not be sequenced year by year, but viewed in the exact month in which they occurred.

The show is made by VFS Films, a long-time partner of Latvian Television and it is hosted by Mārtiņš Ķibilds, a distinguished cultural journalist who sadly passed away late last year.

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