We won the fight against the "Latvian Bee-Hive" of Zedelgem: It has been recently removed!
It was almost two years ago that I discovered that a monument had been erected in memory of members of the Waffen SS from Latvia. They were part of the 15th and 19th Latische Waffen SS Grenadier Division which were operational in the Baltic States and Russia (former USSR) from 1941 to 1945. As such, the men who composed these units were guilty of war crimes, mass massacres by bullets, etc.
Taken prisoners on the Eastern Front after the surrender of Germany, they had been brought to Belgium as prisoners by the Allies. Circumstances have allowed these war criminals to never be tried or convicted.
This monument was therefore an insult to the victims of the Nazis and a shame for Belgium.
With the Minister of State André Flahaut and my friends of the association «Groupe Mémoire-Herinnering Groep», I worked to dismantle this instrument of revisionism and neo-Nazism in Europe. During the months of actions against the existence of this infamy, it was necessary to fight against the inaction and deafening silence of the Belgian and European political authorities and against the numerous complaints and appeals filed by the Latvian authorities for the maintenance of the monument.
Finally, the Zedelgem Community College, led by Mayor Annick Vermeulen, took the decision to remove the controversial monument and put it temporarily in a municipal depot. I salute the courage of this decision and hope that the «Latvian Hive» will no longer be exhibited in Belgium.
We are always attentive to ensure that this monument no longer appears on Belgian public space. It will be the same for all the other demonstrations honoring in one way or another totalitarianism and the denial of democracy.
Wilfred Burie,
President of "The Belgians Remember Them"
The "Latvian Hive" in Zedelgem:: Synthesis of first stage of the struggle for its dismantling
At the end of 2020, I discovered to my amazement that a monument dedicated to Latvian soldiers who fought under the banner of the Waffen SS had been erected in 2018 in the Flemish municipality of Zedelgem, near Bruges...
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Dismantling of Soviet monuments: “Discomfort with such tendencies”
Latvia has removed a monument to Soviet soldiers in World War II. How is that to be rated? Three questions for the historian Ulrich Schneider.
Mr. Schneider, in Riga a memorial to the Red Army in World War II was dismantled. The reason given was that it was a symbol of the Russian occupation of Latvia…
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Latvia & World War II
Harry C. Merritt, reply by Gordon F. Sander
Gordon F. Sander covers the dramatic changes underway in memorializing World War II in Latvia [“Memory Wars in Latvia,” NYR, July 21], highlighting important shifts in popular opinion along with some ambiguities and insecurities that will likely remain even once Soviet monuments are removed...
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Memory War in Latvia
In Riga, the invasion of Ukraine has revided controversies over Soviet-era monuments and anxieties about Russian expansionism
Gordon F. Sanders, journalist and historian based in Riga, regular contributor to the Washington Post
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EU countries clash over Waffen-SS memorial
Latvia outraged by Belgian municipality's decision to dismantle monument
A Belgian municipality has dismantled earlier this week a monument to the Latvian legionnaires of the Waffen-SS, despite the indignation of the Latvian authorities at this decision, announced Wednesday the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia...
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Latvia outraged by Belgian municipality's decision to dismantle monument
A Belgian municipality has dismantled earlier this week a monument to the Latvian legionnaires of the Waffen-SS, despite the indignation of the Latvian authorities at this decision, announced Wednesday the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia...
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Diplomatic quarrel over a monument to Latvian men of the Waffen-SS
Latvia increases diplomatic tensions around the Monument “The Latvian Hive for Freedom” in Zedelgem. The municipality of West Flanders removed the monument in honor of the prisoners of war of the Latvian Legionnaires Waffen-SS. The Latvian ambassador protests against this in a note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Last week, Latvia already steppe”d up pressure on Flemish Minister-President Jan Jambon.
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The Foreign Ministers and representatives from the Occupation Museum of Latvia discuss issues concerning research into history of Latvia
On 26 May 2022, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Edgard RinkêviCs, welcomed representatives from the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia and the Occupation Museum Association to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for a discussion on topics concerning research into the history of Latvia…
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