Time to call a halt...
Stop the 16 March marches and the twisting of history!
By Ruth Barnett MBE, Holocaust Educator and Author
16 February 2020
Humanity, the one human race, is denigrated by those of its members who try to avoid responsibility by covering up, denying and trying to re-write shameful parts of their history. Nearly all, if not all countries have some shameful history. It is time for an international 'amnesty' in which this is recognised and all past shame publicly acknowledged, so that we can all go forward accepting the truth of the past in order to create a better future.
Currently the Family of Nations on Planet Earth is the most dysfunctional family of all time. We have too many leaders at all levels, who should be role models and guardians of the truth, irresponsibly putting their greed for power and wealth before the interests of their people. 1We need a country like Latvia that suffered and caused suffering in World War II, to lead the way by heralding the truth instead of glorifying atrocities.
Ruth Barnett MBE, Holocaust Educator and Author of: Person of No Nationality, Jews & Gypsies, Why War? Love, Hate & Indifference, Equality and Inequality and What Price for Justice: a Play in Two Acts
Examination
First, and foremost, Latvia does not "glorify atrocities." One can understand how a Holocaust survivor (Barnett was an orphan of four in 1939 when she was evacuated to Britain) sees just the Waffen-SS label. Regardless of her own personal trauma, the annual commemoration of the Latvian Legion has nothing to do with the Holocaust.
Moreover, "Latvia" did not exist during the Holocaust. It was occupied by the Soviet Union before the Holocaust, by Nazi Germany during and after the Holocaust, and by the Soviet Union after the end of the war.
The only action taken by the country of Latvia — by its legitimate vested sovereign authorities in exile — was to enlist its merchant marine in the Allied cause, where it served in the Atlantic with distinction and sacrifice.
The "truth" to be heralded is that the Latvian Legion did not fight for the Nazi cause and committed no "atrocities."