In 1991 Latvia closed the KGB Soviet secret service and took over what was left of its archives. These are now to be published before Christmas, but that this step will lead to full justice and clarity is unlikely.
The files held by the KGB in Latvia, known colloquially as the "Cheka bags", will be published online before Christmas, the director of the Latvian National Archives, Māra Sprūdža, told Latvian Radio December 3.
Just a single photo remains of Latvia's November 18, 1918 independence declaration in the Latvian National Theatre building – and this testifies to the fact that it was but a single step in the country's struggle to survive.
Latvia marked 100 years of statehood November 18 with events across the country and beyond to celebrate the historic occasion.
With Latvia marking the centenary of its founding on November 18, events and celebrations to mark the historic occasion are taking place all around the world, with social media recording many of them for posterity.
In cooperation with the Satori.lv magazine, we present another of the pieces which appeared in the final installment of the Centenary magazine, paid for by the Culture Ministry. This piece by historian Roberts Rasums examines the role of the army in securing Latvia's independence.
Latvian Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former foreign minister Sandra Kalniete will be awarded the Truman-Reagan Medal of Freedom in the United States of America on November 14.
Memorial services and other ceremonies were taking place across Latvia November 11 to remember those who have fallen in defense of the Latvian nation.
As collectivization set in across Latvia's countryside after the Second World War, the landscape was changed utterly. About 100,000 traditional homesteads (viensētas) were demolished. Forced into kolkhozs, or collective farms, by the Soviets, Latvians abandoned their traditional way of life in what was one of the people's most traumatizing experiences of the 20th century.
A new documentary film examines the activities of the KGB - often colloquially known as the Cheka in Latvia - during Latvia's occupation by the Soviet Union, concentrating on the KGB's approaches to various well-known figures in politics and the arts even as the prospect of renewed independence for Latvia began to gather momentum.
Latvian Radio has been broadcasting since 1925. However, early on from its inception it had to become a mouthpiece for the powers that be, with its history serving, today, as a warning against the politicization of media, according to LTV's Atslēgas show.
Baltic Germans had lived in Latvia for 700 years prior to the Second World War.
On October 19 the politicians Miķelis Valters and Eduards Traubergs submitted a resolution to the German chancellor, Prince Maximilian of Baden, asking the German government not to impede the establishment of an internationally recognized, independent Latvian state, as per the wish of the people of Latvia.
One of Latvia's best-preserved castles will be open to tourists next year as restoration work gets underway.
On October 14, 1918 the Baltic Higher Technical School (Baltijas Tehniskā augstskola, German: Baltische Technische Hoschshule) was established, continuing the technical education traditions in Rīga which were interrupted during the First World War.
September 28 to 30 will bring a great opportunity for members of the public to explore the industrial heritage of Rīga and its surrounding region with many famous factories and sites opening their doors, some of which are normally out of bounds.
On the night to August 29, 1918 the Bolsheviks shot colonel Frīdrihs Briedis, one of the most popular and talented of the Latvian Riflemen. Several plans to set him free failed, and the news over his death shocked his contemporaries.
August 23 will see the opening of a new installation in the town of Cēsis which bears witness to the many years of resistance to the 50-year occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union and the high price many ordinary people paid as a result.
On August 6, 1918 units of the Czechoslovakian legion took Kazan by storm. The Eastern Front of Red Army, commanded by Latvia's Jukums Vācietis, as well as the 5th Regiment of Red Latvian Riflemen was located there. Czechoslovakians were able to quickly take the city and the Russian gold reserves stored in it; they took more than 100 Latvian riflemen hostage, but, miraculously, Jukums Vācietis managed to escape.
Historians consider the holocaust – mass murders of Jews and Roma people during the Nazi occupation – the largest crime in modern Latvian history. A recent episode of the Atslēgas (Keys) TV show examines the role local people played in the greatest of 20th-century atrocities.
Napoleonic battles will be the orders of the days in Latvia's second largest city, Daugavpils, this weekend.
The Baltic Sea has supplied what may be a significant archaeological find, with what is believed to be an ancient shipweck washing ashore at Bolderāja, not far from Rīga.
July 4 sees ceremonies taking place in Latvia in remembrance of victims of the Holocaust.
A councilwoman at the Strenči Municipality has found a songbook that, in all likelihood, belonged to a Latvian exiled in Siberia by the Soviet occupation, reported Latvian Radio June 17.
A newly-published book outlines Latvia's rich collection of Art Nouveau or Jugendstil buildings, including many notable sites outside central Rīga that are often overlooked.
This is the first article in a series of culture- and history-related pieces appearing in the Centenary magazine and on the Satori.lv culture portal. This time, political scientist Roberts Rasums examines the complex role German forces played in the Latvian War of Independence a hundred years ago.
Politicians from Latvia's ruling coalition said they were in agreement June 4 that the Latvian archives of the former Soviet security service, the KGB, should be made public by the end of this year.
In late May, 1918 the 16th conference of the Latvian Social-Democracy was held in secret from the German occupying powers. The conference resulted with the party splitting into two. The so-called Mensheviks formed the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party, while the others kept on under the same name until, a little less than a year later, they renamed themselves the Communist Party of Latvia.
As the nascent Baltic states were fighting for their freedom, they nevertheless found time to draw borders. In 1919, the Ruhnu island, closer to Latvia than Estonia, was inhabited by Swedish seal hunters. Nevertheless, it fell to Estonian control.
A hundred years ago, there were a number of quite small Latvian parties apart from Latvian Social Democrats and Latvian Farmers Union. The tiny Democratic Party existed only until 1919, but it had a great role to play in the proclamation of Latvia's independence.