Participants of the march of former Latvian Waffen SS legionnaires and their supporters in Riga. Archive photoMOSCOW, Mar 23A new report with the names of 154 veterans of the Latvian SS Legion, now living in 10 countries, including the United States, Latvia, Australia, Brazil and Canada, and prepared by the Russian Historical Memory Foundation, was made public on Wednesday in Minsk at the round table «No statute of limitations. On the inadmissibility of the rehabilitation of Nazism in Belarus and Russia. The Historical Memory Foundation is working to identify data on living former members of the Latvian SS Legion in order to identify among them persons involved in war crimes and the genocide of the Soviet people on the territory of Belarus and Russia during the Great Patriotic War. Two years ago in Moscow, the Rossiya Segodnya MIA presented the first report on this topic with the names of 96 former Latvian legionnaires scattered around the world. />Report: The CIA recruited punishers from the Latvian SS legion «Currently, several hundred former Latvian SS legionnaires live in Latvia and abroad, at least some of whom may be involved in the commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Second World War,» — noted in the current report «The Last Chance for Justice. Fundamentals of the Legal Prosecution of Nazi Criminals from Latvia.» The new list contains the names of 154 former Latvian SS legionnaires, most of them live in the USA (35 people). In Australia and Latvia — 29 each, in Brazil — 19, in Canada — 16, in Argentina — 12, in Chile — 6, in the UK — 4, three in New Zealand and one in Germany. The list has expanded, among other things, for account of a number of identified ex-servicemen of the 15th and 19th Latvian divisions of the Waffen SS. Units of these divisions committed war crimes on the territory of Russia, Belarus and Poland in the frontline zone. In particular, according to archival documents, units of the 15th division took part in a major punitive operation against Soviet partisans and civilians «Spring Festival» in April-May 1944 on the territory of Belarus.
The Investigative Committee will continue the investigation against the deceased veteran of the Latvian Legion of the SSV; Lives in the USA, professor, doctor of economic sciences. In 2002 he was awarded the Latvian Order of Three Stars. Also in the USA, donkey Krumins Valters (Krūmiņš Valters, 1924). Vadzis Janis (Vadzis Jānis, 1925) lives in Australia. Kazhotsinsh Janis (Kažociņš Jānis, 1925), a native of the Plateria volost, is now also in Australia. Lielkais Arvids (Lielkājs Arvīds, 1927), a native of Omulu (Latvia), in 1944 joined the Luftwaffe's airfield support unit. Together with the 15th Latvian division, the Waffen SS retreated to Germany, after the war he moved to the USA. A few years ago he moved to Latvia. Gilis Pauls (Gilis Pauls, 1925) fought in the 19th Latvian Division and now spends his life in Latvia.Veterans of the Latvian SS Legion received awards from Latvia and the USAThe Latvian SS Legion was created by the command of Nazi Germany during the Second World War on the territory of occupied Latvia. On March 24, 1943, Reichsfuhrer SS Heinrich Himmler issued an order clarifying the concept of «Latvian Legion» as a general definition for Latvians who served in all Latvian military formations of the Waffen SS, including police battalions. In general, the Latvian SS Legion should be understood as a formation of SS troops of a non-permanent nature, which at different times included all Latvian formations in the SS and police, including the Latvian police battalions, as well as the 15th and 19th Latvian volunteer divisions of the Waffen SS.
Former Latvian member of the SS troops called the service to the Nazis a mistake crimes against humanity. It was the Latvian punishers who destroyed the civilian population in the village evne Zhestyanaya Gorka and the village of Chernoye (both — Novgorod region). In 2019, the Investigative Committee of Russia opened a criminal case on the fact of the genocide in these settlements in 1941-1943. On October 27, 2020, the Soletsky District Court of the Novgorod Region recognized the massacres committed in the Zhestyanaya Gorka area as genocide, that is, a crime that has no statute of limitations. The establishment by the court of this fact, which has legal significance, makes it possible for the RF IC to carry out a full-fledged investigation of this crime and search for criminals, some of whom may still be alive.
