LATVIA: RIGA: CRITICISM OF LATVIAN WAFFEN SS MARCH (2)

(16 Mar 2000) Voice and effects

VOICED BY: Philippa Meagher (pron. Marr)

Jewish and some Russian groups in Latvia have criticised a remembrance ceremony and procession by 300 veterans of the Latvian Waffen S-S.

The annual march marked a major battle that took place on March 16, 1944, between the Latvian Waffen S-S and Russia's Red Army.

Over the last two years, the march has provoked a storm of protest at home and abroad.

VOICE-OVER:

0003 Veterans of the Latvian Waffen S-S, most in their 70s and 80s, begin the slow march through Riga's cobble-stoned streets.

0011 Some of the grey-haired former soldiers clutch flowers or carry the Latvian flag.

0016 At the end of the march, they lay the bouquets at an independence monument to mark a battle between the Latvian Waffen S-S and Russia's Red Army.

0026 They argue that Latvia's S-S wasn't the same as the regular S-S - Hitler's elite force that carried out mass executions during the Holocaust.

0035 Even so, ethnic Russians protested against the march, saying it showed contempt for the millions of Soviet war dead.

0042 They brandished placards and sang anti-Nazi songs from the Second World War.

0048 UPSOUND: Russian demonstrator singing World War Two anti-Nazi song

0054 Latvia's 11-thousand-strong Jewish community say the march is insensitive to the memory of 80-thousand Latvian Jews massacred during the Nazi occupation.

0102 But others say the controversy stems from a misunderstanding of history.

0107 They say that with the country sandwiched between the Nazi and Soviet armies, Latvians ended up fighting on one side or the other, usually after conscription.

0117 But despite the arguments, this ceremony is still upsetting some people.

ENDS 0121

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