Video: The defense of freedom during the time of the barricades

Take note – story published 4 years and 8 months ago

Latvian Television has made a new history show looking at the times of the barricades, when Latvia and the other Baltic states defended their reborn independence in 1991.

Titled "The Keys", the first in the season is online and available for you to view, complete with English subtitles. It concentrates in particular on the attitudes of foreign governments and leaders during this period, some of which showed great support to the Baltic states - and some of which unfortunately did not. 

According to LTV "The Keys" will tell 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. For example, this first episode is devoted to the events of the January 1991 barricades, the second will be a miraculous story from January 1946, when Baltic war refugees established their university in Germany, the third the Soviet repression of Rīga intellectuals in January 1951. and the fourth will be concerned with the 1992 Winter Olympics, where Latvia, after regaining its independence, was re-admitted to the World Olympic Family. 

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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