crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes
in such camps. 6 According to Article 58, Item 10, of the Russian penal code, just to speak about that
meant 5–10 years of imprisonment in a concentration camp for acting against the Soviet agitation and
propaganda. 7
Following the victory of the peaceful anti-communist revolution in Central and Eastern Europe
in 1988–91, and the breakdown of the totalitarian regime in the USSR, research of the Nazi and
Bolshevik crimes, without lies, began from scratch. The work was to be conducted by individual experts.
Systematic research began ten years ago; in Latvia, the research programme of Latvian historians and
occupation museums started in 1998.
As is well known, the USSR was a very centralised empire, and thus all the most important
historical documents of the countries occupied by the USSR were mainly kept in Russian archives. Some
documents in Russian archives are now accessible to researchers, while the most important libraries
with historical sources of the occupation – the Russian Presidential Archives, the Central Archives of
the Russian Defence Ministry and mainy others have to date not been available. Thus, the research of
the occupation period in Latvia cannot be completed, because the archives of the relevant structures
(Security Service, Ministry of Defence and others) were either brought to Moscow or destroyed.
In terms of organisation, research of both totalitarian occupation regimes in Latvia is carried out
at three levels – at the State level (the Commission of the Historians of Latvia, the State Archives of
Latvia, the Commission for the Assessment of Damage and Loss, the Institute of History of the University
of Latvia), at the level of public organisations (the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, the Union of
Latvian Politically Repressed), and at the level of private researchers of local history. The research work is
conducted by highly qualified historians. Habilitated doctors of history, doctors and professors of history,
masters and bachelors of history, 20 researchers in total, are engaged in the project. In the Commission
of the Historians of Latvia, half of the members are from Latvia (12) and the other half (12) are foreign
researchers. In addition, several researchers from Europe, America and Russia participate in the research
work of the Commission and of the Occupation Museum, in scientific conferences, discussions and in
compilation of materials. 8 The research completed so far is divided in three parts – monographic research 9 ,
collections of writing 10 , and compilations of documents 11 . Many articles have been published. Three out of
twenty-two published books are devoted to the Holocaust. Several monographies on the Holocaust have
been published (Prof A. Ezergailis, E. Anders). In the State Archives of Latvia, a register was compiled
with the names of all Jews who suffered in the Holocaust. Several international scientific conferences in
Riga were devoted to research on the Holocaust and the crimes of totalitarian communism. The research
results and the collections of documents are predominantly issued in the Latvian language with summaries
in English, German and Russian, while some books have also been published in English 12 and Russian.
On 30 May 2006, the Saeima (Parlament) of Latvia and the Cabinet of Latvia passed resolutions to set
up a Commission, with the mandate to investigate and clarify the places of mass graveyards of victims
killed by the USSR Bolsheviks, and to assess the number of victims and the scope of damage caused by
the occupation forces to the State of Latvia and to its people. The Commission is composed of several
historians, demographers, economists and environmental experts. A 2007 agreement between Latvia
and Russia provides for mutual search for, and research, of graveyards. Latvian historians, together with
historians from neighbouring countries, including Russia and Ukraine, endeavour to do away with the
myth of history spread by censorship and totalitarian regimes.
In this short survey, I highlight a number of crimes committed in the Latvian Soviet Socialist
Republic (LSSR) in the period 1940–90 which cannot be classified as acts of racism and xenophobia,
but shall rather be characterised as crimes against humanity and genocide. It was a strategic, wellplanned
mass destruction of people without any trial, with pre-planned political convictions and
religious persecutions. Just as the occupation forces of the communist crimes arrived from the USSR,
6
Перечень данных, запрещенных к опубликованию в открытой печати, радио и телепередачах. Strictly confidential, Моscow 1970.
7
In the years 1954–90, 249 persons were sentenced for that in Latvia. (Надзорные производства Прокуратуры СССР, 58/10, Маrch
1953–1990, Моscow 1999.)
8
Prof Dr E. Oberlenders, Prof Dr A. Ezergailis, Prof A. Sokolovs, Dr A. Kokurins, Dr T. Hiio, Dr A. Anuškauskas, Dr A. Bubnis, Dr M. Kotts, et al.
9
A. Ezergailis, The Holocaust in Latvia, 1941–1944, Washington–Riga 1996.
10
Schriften des Ausschusses der Historiker Lettlands. Volumes 1–22, Riga 2000–2008; Jahresbuch des Okkupationsmuseums Lettlands.
Volumes 1–8, Riga 2000–2007.
11
Die Weggebrachten. 14. Juni 1941, Riga 2001; Die Weggebrachtene. 25 März 1949. Volume I–II, Riga 2007; Martrilogium der
Staatsangehöriger Lettlands. In Vjatlag. 1938–1956, Riga 2006.
12
Prof Dr E. Oberlenders, Prof Dr A. Ezergailis, Prof A. Sokolovs, Dr A. Kokurins, Dr T. Hiio, Dr A. Anuškauskas, Dr A. Bubnis, Dr M.
Kotts, et al.
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