Watch moment Latvia topples Soviet-era monument in capital Riga
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- Опубликовано: 17 окт 2024
- A concrete obelisk with Soviet stars at the top that was the center piece of a monument commemorating the Red Army's victory over Nazi Germany has been toppled in the Latvian capital.
Shortly before the obelisk went down on Thursday, heavy duty machinery was spotted behind a green privacy screen fence at the foot of the spire.
The diggers chipped away at the base of the nearly 80-meter (260-foot) tall obelisk until it fell over and crashed into the pond that surrounded it in Victory Park.
Scores of people, some with Latvian flags wrapped around their shoulders, cheered and applauded as the edifice came down.
It was the latest in a series of Soviet monuments brought down after Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
One young man said it was a "monumental day" for Latvia as a "scar left by the Soviet Union" had been removed.
The obelisk, made up of five spires with three Soviet stars at the top, had stood between two groups of statues - a band of three Red Army soldiers and a woman representing the “Motherland”.
The monument was built in 1985 while Latvia was still part of the Soviet Union.
It has stirred controversy since Latvia regained independence in 1991 and eventually became a NATO and European Union member.
On Twitter, Latvia's foreign minister said by taking down the monument, Latvia was “closing another painful page of the history and looking for better future”.
The country shares a 214-kilometer (133-mile) border with Russia and has a large ethnic Russian population.
On Russia’s annual Victory Day, which commemorates the Soviet victory over Germany in World War II, people used to gather in front of the Riga monument to lay flowers.
And not everyone welcomed the demolition, with one woman saying it was "wrong and very bad" to destroy a memorial to the soldiers who lost their lives in the Second World War.
Latvia’s parliament voted to approve the demolition of the Victory Park monument in May, and the Riga City Council followed suit.
Work to clear away the monument started three days ago with the removal of statues.
The area was then cordoned off and authorities issued a flight ban for drones.
Police temporarily closed traffic near the park on Thursday, citing security reasons.
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"It was a beautiful monument demolition. A perfect monument demolition. People tell me they've never seen such as perfect monument demolition."
It is interesting that the Latvians suffered for 45 years because of the Soviets, and then when the power was overthrown, this monument did not bother anyone, but of course you have to lick some of the ignorant Ukrainians who also belonged to the Soviet army a long time ago
I love how they didn't even drain the water. They're just like "yo this thing needs to be deleted like yesterday. Make it happen"
🤣😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Nice comment, not nice profile picture
@@Ashash197 what?
@@5tarSailorhe means ur pfp Is bad but your comment is good
This was monument glorifying victory of a totalitarian regime, monument glorifying dictatorship. And there is no place for such monuments in our city. Monument for victory of freedom for all people including Russian is still there in the center of Riga. Everyone who likes freedom is free to go an commemorate there.
What a stupid logic you have .. you most be an ignorant.. if every stupid people demolish the previous era monuments then how will you have history.. why Germany didn’t do so.. you go where the wind blows .. tomorrow if new changes come you will start doing the same for European related monuments.. you are no different from Taliban and Isis they did the same..
@@alareqi Советы не только демонтировали памятники, но и уничтожали книги и произведения искусства, созданные в предыдущие периоды
даже сейчас русские на Украине старательно уничтожают историю
It is interesting that the Latvians suffered for 45 years because of the Soviets, and then when the power was overthrown, this monument did not bother anyone, but of course now you have to lick some of the ignorant Ukrainians who also belonged to the Soviet army a long time ago
If we destroy proof of totalitytarism existance history will repeat itself
I congratulate the Latvian government for coming to an unanimous agreement to stop old random policies, keeping a soviet era Statue is an insult to the precious lives who died protecting liberty 🗽 and democracy 🕯️💕
let freedom prevail
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Spam
@@skayzi_lego nah i would called it brain dead like people die for that monument and now they are removing it because "it shows russian imperialism"
Yep nazis was big fans of liberty and democracy
@@DMlTREl They fell behind the Soviet regime.
❤️ thank you Latvia ❤️
Latvia, love from Australia.
Some light in a dark world.
Not really this dosen't change anything..
Good 👍 dump the rubble back in Russia
its Soviet not Russian
@@olafkreator8654 Russia has always seen itself as the only relevant Soviet republic, and to this day many Russians don't think of the now independent former Soviet republics as anything more than vassal states to Russia that they are entitled to russify.
Great news.
I was there when the huge Lenin monument on Leninplatz in East Berlin was demolished in 1991. And now I was allowed to experience the removal of an eyesore for the second time.
Keep it up.
Only russian fascists howl about it.
It is interesting that the Latvians suffered for 45 years because of the Soviets, and then when the power was overthrown, this monument did not bother anyone, but of course now you have to lick some of the ignorant Ukrainians who also belonged to the Soviet army a long time ago Well done pupet :)
United, Great and indivisible Rossia 🇷🇺 🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️🤍💙❤️
I saw that live
I'm envious
Dumb. Gonna wished they'd saved the diesel come winter.
Oh, now, how did we survive the past winter?
Bravo👍👋
Super, Slava Ukrainij
Slav Ukaine, Ukraine is beautiful but is being destriyed becuase Zelnskky is Neonazi and have sold his nation in the hands of USA arms amd finance mafia who is making money. over 12 million childrena dn women are suffering in racist Europe, without home and self idenity, of course these women are not yoru sisters . mothers or daughter and these children are not your children; you wont be saying Slav Ukraine on racist gesture or destroying monument. Ukraine is a beuatiful country and nation. It will thrive again but without ugly racist people ; Slav Ukraine
Сало ухани
I didn't know Riga was in Ukraine.. lol
That'll show Stalin..
Russia is like 🙄! It's in Latvia, do what you gotta do. None of my business.
Ahh yeah exactly like presidential elections in Ukraine... None of Russias business right?
All they do is threaten, as expected
Putin's followers, like Trump's in the USA get very uoset by these insults and plot revenge They care a lot and throw tantrums. That's what Putin is currently doing in Ukraine.
On September 17, 1939, the Soviets together with the Germans entered Poland, starting World War II !!!! Attack on Poland
was crowned with the Victory Parade of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army in Brest - a joint parade of the Red Army and Wehrmacht units in Brześć on the Bug on September 22, 1939 in front of Heinz Guderian and Semyon Kriwoszein. The parade was related to the transfer of Brest - the Red Army captured by the Wehrmacht to the Red Army during the aggression against Poland in accordance with the provisions of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, then in Katyn A total of 14,587 people were murdered. Pursuant to the decision of March 5, 1940, about 7,300 Poles in various prisons in the territories incorporated into the Soviet Union were also murdered: 3,435 people were shot in Ukraine (their graves are probably in Bykivnia near Kiev), and about 3 in Belarus, 8,000... So which liberators are you talking about. Start learning history... The Red Army are the same criminals as the German Nazis.
17 сентября 1939 года Советы вместе с немцами вошли в Польшу, начав Вторую мировую войну!!!! Нападение на Польшу
увенчалась Парадом Победы Вермахта и Красной Армии в Бресте - совместным парадом частей Красной Армии и Вермахта в Бжесте на Буге 22 сентября 1939 года перед Хайнцем Гудерианом и Семеном Кривошейном. Парад был связан с передачей Красной Армии Бреста - Красной Армии, захваченного вермахтом во время агрессии против Польши в соответствии с положениями пакта Молотова-Риббентропа, тогда в Катыни было убито 14 587 человек. По решению от 5 марта 1940 г. также было расстреляно около 7300 поляков в различных тюрьмах на территориях, вошедших в состав Советского Союза: 3435 человек расстреляно на Украине (их могилы, вероятно, находятся в Быковне под Киевом), около 3 - в Белоруссии. , 8000... Так о каких освободителях вы говорите. Начинайте учить историю... Красная Армия такие же преступники, как и немецкие нацисты.
17.09.1939 Sowieci wspólnie z Niemcami wkroczyli do Polski rozpoczynając II wojnę światową !!!! Atak na Polskę
został zwięczony Paradą zwycięstwa Wehrmachtu i Armii Czerwonej w Brześciu - wspólna defilada oddziałów Armii Czerwonej i Wehrmachtu w Brześciu nad Bugiem w dniu 22 września 1939 przed Heinzem Guderianem i Siemionem Kriwoszeinem. Defilada była związana z przekazaniem w trakcie agresji na Polskę zdobytego przez Wehrmacht Brześcia - Armii Czerwonej zgodnie z postanowieniami paktu Ribbentrop-Mołotow...a potem w Katyniu Łącznie zamordowano 14 587 osób. Na mocy decyzji z 5 marca 1940 r. wymordowano również około 7 300 Polaków przebywających w różnych więzieniach na terenach włączonych do Związku Sowieckiego: na Ukrainie rozstrzelano 3 435 osób (ich groby prawdopodobnie znajdują się w Bykowni pod Kijowem), a na Białorusi około 3,8 tys... Więc o jakich wyzwolicielach ty bredzisz. Historii zacznij się uczyć...Armia Czerwona to tacy sami zbrodniarze jak Niemieccy naziści.
So much about nazis. Dang.. This wasn't the cause. Go read about the relationship between these 2 countries.
Well done!
Đất nước này sẽ lụi tàn và biến mất trong dòng chảy lịch sử thôi, xoá bỏ lịch sử thì không có tương lai … thật đáng thương ! Con cháu họ ko biết mình là ai, lịch sử thế nào , chẳng có gì để tự hào, sống chỉ là sống thôi
Why does this make me laugh so hard.
Probably because you are unhinged.
If it wasn't for the Red army, the allies might not have won the war.
It's 2022 fella
“Might”
@@kyestevens the current year
If it wasn't for Stalin the west wouldn't have fought world war 2.
@@jeffgustafson4552 point is alot has changed since the second world war. it's 2022 and Russia isn't the same country it was in the second world war.
I love how emotional we Latvians are 😄
Love LATVIA 🇱🇻
Good why should Latvia kept a momument of a war that brought them nothing but pain?
I love free Latvia
If they had just used explosives to topple the monument this would be perfect. An explosion and a great big splash. What could be better.?
Goid job latvia 🇦🇹🇦🇹🇦🇹
Monument may be gone
But our memory of it is not
BANG explosion
Great.
Took them long enough…
🍾
Well destroying a monument only symbolizes a protest and now that the monument is destroyed its just fake assurance for the citizens to show their fake braveness by the govt of latvia
Iconoclastic behaviour I bet some westerners who didn’t like the Bristol slaver statue in the harbour liked this one.
Very few people were actually bothered about a slave trader statue being toppled. Complaints were that it could have been disposed of a bit better than dumping it in the harbour and leaving it to rust away which it eventually was pulled out and taken away.
@@teeambird2079 big problem also was the hypocrisy of our tax money going to pulling it out and preserving it, we simply never wanted it in rhe first place, we were never asked, and it was part of a wider edwardian propaganda campaign to make ppl like newly reformed merchants , now that they had to find new lines of trade in the Atlantic.
As I say, it simply reveled the hypocrisy that still exists in Bristol and with the Bristol merchants who are still very alive and active.
@@teeambird2079 true I was hoping the old Soviet statuary would have ended up on eBay and not smashed love a Lenin statue in my backyard to wind up the Tory council
whats the saying?, those who forget their history are doomed to repeat it.
what about those who destroy their history.....?
It's a bit of Latvian history when they were occupied by an empire which is now trying to re-establish itself after the fall of the USSR. They need, for there own sakes to distance themselves from the evil that is Putin and the Russian far right.
Don't worry, I'm sure the Baltic states will never forget all the atrocities the USSR committed against them. They don't need monuments to remind them.
Which world leader is trying to erase a whole countries culture "in protection of Russian minorities" and literally no one else? The Russians crossed the borders first.
You sound ignorant
@RUclips you are totally overdoing ads!!
get an ad blocker, i don't see any
😂😂
Statue of liberty next please
@Arumph; love your comment
BLM and native americans must do it
so sad,
Latvia, hate from Kyrgyzstan. You just destroyed a piece of your history. Instead of having a Soviet monument as a reminder of occupation and giving school kids tours of this hateful symbol as a memory, you just demolished it. As a historian, no respect for your politicians!
People collected signatures and donated money to remove this monument.
👍🇱🇻🇱🇻🇱🇻✌️
The sacrifice made by the Soviet Union during WW2 is unfathomable... the destruction of a monument to those who fought being cheerd on is unimaginably ignorant
They didn't make a sacrifice, they got what they rightly so deserved...death. They invaded Latvia and sent 15,000 people to die in prison camps in Siberia if they didn't shoot them in the head to fall into mass burials trenches first. Russia has an awful history of crimes against humanity in the Baltic States over many centuries.
bolshevik jew talking?
@@hecunt3633 LOL, bootlicking bellend talking ?
On September 17, 1939, the Soviets together with the Germans entered Poland, starting World War II !!!! Attack on Poland
was crowned with the Victory Parade of the Wehrmacht and the Red Army in Brest - a joint parade of the Red Army and Wehrmacht units in Brześć on the Bug on September 22, 1939 in front of Heinz Guderian and Semyon Kriwoszein. The parade was related to the transfer of Brest - the Red Army captured by the Wehrmacht to the Red Army during the aggression against Poland in accordance with the provisions of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, then in Katyn A total of 14,587 people were murdered. Pursuant to the decision of March 5, 1940, about 7,300 Poles in various prisons in the territories incorporated into the Soviet Union were also murdered: 3,435 people were shot in Ukraine (their graves are probably in Bykivnia near Kiev), and about 3 in Belarus, 8,000... So which liberators are you talking about. Start learning history... The Red Army are the same criminals as the German Nazis.
17 сентября 1939 года Советы вместе с немцами вошли в Польшу, начав Вторую мировую войну!!!! Нападение на Польшу
увенчалась Парадом Победы Вермахта и Красной Армии в Бресте - совместным парадом частей Красной Армии и Вермахта в Бжесте на Буге 22 сентября 1939 года перед Хайнцем Гудерианом и Семеном Кривошейном. Парад был связан с передачей Красной Армии Бреста - Красной Армии, захваченного вермахтом во время агрессии против Польши в соответствии с положениями пакта Молотова-Риббентропа, тогда в Катыни было убито 14 587 человек. По решению от 5 марта 1940 г. также было расстреляно около 7300 поляков в различных тюрьмах на территориях, вошедших в состав Советского Союза: 3435 человек расстреляно на Украине (их могилы, вероятно, находятся в Быковне под Киевом), около 3 - в Белоруссии. , 8000... Так о каких освободителях вы говорите. Начинайте учить историю... Красная Армия такие же преступники, как и немецкие нацисты.
🖕🇷🇺🖕
@@stefangeniusz8091 It is conventionally stated as fact that the Nonaggression Pact between the USSR and Germany (often called the "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact" or "Treaty" after the two foreign ministers who signed it) was an agreement to "partition Poland", divide it up.
This is false.
No doubt a big reason for this falsehood is this: Britain and France did sign a Nonaggression Pact with Hitler that "partitioned" another state -- Czechoslovakia. That was the Munich Agreement of September 30, 1938.
Poland too took part in the "partition" of Czechoslovakia too. Poland seized a part of the Cieszyn area of Czechoslovakia, even though it had only a minority Polish population. This invasion and occupation was not even agreed upon in the Munich Agreement. But neither France nor Britain did anything about it.
Hitler seized the remaining part of Czechoslovakia in March 1939. This had not been foreseen in the Munich Agreement. But Britain, France, and Poland did nothing about it.
So the anticommunist "Allies" Britain, France, and Poland really did participate in the partitioning of a powerless state! Maybe that's why the anticommunist "party line" is that the USSR did likewise? But whatever the reason for this lie, it remains a lie.
The Soviet Union signed the Nonaggression Pact with Germany not to "partition Poland" like the Allies had partitioned Czechoslovakia, but in order to defend the USSR.
The Treaty included a line of Soviet interest within Poland beyond which German troops could not pass in the event Germany routed the Polish army in a war.
The point here was that, if the Polish army were beaten, it and the Polish government could retreat beyond the line of Soviet interest, and so find shelter, since Hitler had agreed not to penetrate further into Poland than that line. From there they could make peace with Germany. The USSR would have a buffer state, armed and hostile to Germany, between the Reich and the Soviet frontier.
American puppet bring down historical monuments
Sorry about your country, Vlad.
Very sad. Russia will have to build a new one. With T-72 on top.
Riga is Latvian. Not Russian.
Erasing artefacts of history does not erase history. Those who don’t remember their history are bound to repeat it. How can one remember anything if there’s nothing that would remind them? What is the point of demolishing these structures? Do they bring back anyone from either side - the good or the bad? The structure itself has no meaning, it is just a shape, a form. We project meanings unto things. In terms of forms, this statue wasn’t that bad.. what will you put instead of it? And getting rid of it - does it really resolve any of your problems? Creative destruction and destructive creation..
@@saccount-z3 yeah, and for good or for bad, you can’t change that.. not even my destroying all the monuments.. ;) what you can do is erase people’s memories about it, but that will only produce effects of ignorance..
This monument has been a burden ever since the collapse of USSR and was constantly used by Russians to spread their ideology. They freed Riga from German invaders but no one invited them to occupy the country and send thousands of Latvians to Siberia to be tortured.
you're right, demolishing an artifact doesn't change history... you can't do anything to change history... but if demolishing a concrete pillar that holds in the air nothing but trauma from that same history and if demolishing that pillar can ease the pain of that the ugly, indelible history is then corrected... maybe it's beautiful for someone, maybe it's not for someone, that's not the point... maybe it's better to make a wheat field, at least it will serve something... because it seems that the people who live there, that monument reminds them of exactly what you say... Creative destruction and destructive creation..
@@saccount-z3 bravo srbine i ja sam antikomunist... bar da se u nečemu slažemo...
@@saccount-z3 slažem se sa onim šta si napisao u poruci... vjerojatno se nebi slagali oko drugih tema... alternativna povijest ... rusko-latvijska ili ukrainska ili neke balkanske alternativne povijesti... al to sad nije tema ovdije...
Sooooo they are upset the losers in WWII lost?
No, in several East European countries one occupation was replaced by another.
@@oraclex2976 West European also
@John Philip USA also was an occupant force, not a liberating - problems ?
@@Chaldon-hl6yk USA / Evil Empire of Death , Chaos & Destruction / Land of WAR CRIMINALS : BushES , Cheney , Powell , Rumsfeld ..... the Clintons , Albright , Kissinger .... Obama ..... should be behind ICC bars
@@Chaldon-hl6yk
They would also have repressed, deported and robbed the local population?
Comme il faut!
Fault*
@@SansViBritannia
Dictionary
Definitions from Oxford Languages
comme il faut
/ˌkɒm iːl ˈfəʊ/
adjective
correct in behaviour or etiquette.
"my friend is partial to cocaine-in every other way he is very proper and comme il faut"
well done latvia--how about addressing the wide spread collaboration with the nazis in ww2 next?
they do, they celebrate the latvian legion once a year
@@lzbscalle7943 ‘celebrate’?surely not
Latvia didn't collaborate with nazis. USSR did. USSR and Nazi Germany together invaded and divided Poland, afterwards USSR materially helped Nazi Germany with invasion of Western Europe, while USSR itself at the same time invaded Baltic countries (including Latvia), Moldova and Finland. They were good buddies until Hitler decided that he wants more and invaded USSR as well. You are barking under the wrong tree boy.
@@whatth444444 you eastern european countries are in denial about the help you gave the nazis -if you want to be a proper country you need to accept your part-oh and its barking UP the wrong tree
@@gareththomas6714 exactly. Russia is Eastern European and helped Nazis to conquer Europe. They live in full denial of it. Keep in mind also, that many other European countries were under Nazi or Soviet occupation during WWII and simply cannot be responsible for their crimes. Do you blame Polish state or Polish people for Nazi concentration camps in Poland for example?
Shocking lack of diversity !
They desperately need at least a million " migrants " from Africa and the Middle East
I think they would choose them over you.
@@dichthoven Of this I have no doubt
sad
Love Latvia 🇱🇻🇱🇻🇱🇻🤝🏻🤍💙🤍
It is interesting that the Latvians suffered for 45 years because of the Soviets, and then when the power was overthrown, this monument did not bother anyone, but of course now you have to lick some of the ignorant Ukrainians who also belonged to the Soviet army a long time ago
👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻 Gloria to Latvia, not Soviet freaks. Latvijai nekad Staļina, Ļeņina mantojumus, NEKAD
I would understand the hatered against the soviet union immediately after Latvia's annexion in 1940.
But now, taking into account that soviet union collapsed in 1991, is it really necessary to pay attantion to such monuments at all? If you don't want to have this monuments, just sell them to Russia. They will certainly pay very high price for them.
Why is such a big hype about this? In my country Poland, they are also destroying all the soviet monuments. I would at least consider to move them to a history museum. No matter what it represents in this case you also show the respect to the artist who created the monument for his artificial achievement.
It should have been gone in 1991, good that they finished the job now. They probably thought leaving it around went a small way toward pacifying their big neighbor.
@@JK-br1mu if they removed them in 1991 right after the collapse of the soviet union, this would be understandable. But now, I don't see the reason. Soviet union is history and all those monuments should either go to Russia or museum.
@@Raholio1974DE It's perfectly understandable, at any time. The Soviets were criminals, you don't leave up statues to vermin like that. There's statues of much milder criminals and even great people from the past that people are tearing down, in the 2020s.
@@JK-br1mu understand. I don't exactly know how Soviets treated the Latvians so it's difficult for me to judge. But I get your point. In Poland we are still very upset about Ukraine for gorifying Bandera criminal. He has killed more than 250.000 Polish people, but has in western Ukraine monuments. I hate Ukraine for this and do certainly not support how our government is colaborating with Neo Bandera state. Absolutely not acceptable.
do you really not understand why this is happening?
Latvia, Estonia, Lithuania have been conducting an outright rusophobic policy for the last 15 years, in the capitals of these states soldiers and children of ss veterans are marching and cheering again.
Russia and Soviet Union are called "occupiers". but here's the problem - "occupiers" built ALL infrastructure of these countries, factories, universities, even nuclear power plants. but with independence and accession to the EU, much has been lost, residents are leaving for more developed countries, inflation is off the scale and even the nuclear power plant has been closed. therefore, monuments are the last step for rewriting history. because it is difficult to imagine Russia as an aggressor and evil when there are monuments to the liberators of the country and Europe from fascists in the country. more than 27 million Soviet people died 80 years ago, including Latvians, Estonians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians and so on
Only talibans in Afghanistan were destroying monuments like this. And even they stopped doing that.
I have visited that obelisk just about two weeks ago during my visit to Latvia. Now while I understand the feelings of ethnic Latvian people and I am aware of what permanent damage the Sowjet era has left on their culture and history, still I do believe that they could have kept that stupid obelisk as a constant reminder of where they are geographically and what type of neighbours they have.
nope, we are tired of all soviet legacy. Latvians are almost minority in our country because of soviets, so this thing needed to be gone. And it is gone,
@@nadze13 I am happy for you if it works, honestly. But you have to find a smart way to live with the Russian speaking population in your country, there is no alternative. It is difficult but it can work.
@@dr.weaklicksofcrashedcurse4535 we are and were oppressed by Russians, we were sent to Gulag from our country so they can take our homes. Mostly they don't speak Latvian because it's beneath them. It's time to stand up for us. So, please, don't teach us what we need to do, because you never have been in our shoes...
@@dr.weaklicksofcrashedcurse4535 kinda hard to live with them when they denying that we are a country and asking us to put Russian as one of the languages to teach in schools because they can't be bothered to learn our language. Not all of the Russian are like this but it's the majority atleast
@@Alberts2003 I understand, this problem is the permanent damage that I was referring to in my original comment. Latvia has the difficult task of affirming and imposing Latvian culture as the official one in Latvia's territory but at the same time respecting rights of non-Latvian ethnic population and making them feel part of your country. Essy to say but difficult to achieve, I am aware. Destroying monuments will not help Latvia though, I am sure about this, it will just give Russians a reason to accuse Latvia's government to be a fascistoid regime while in reality ethnic Latvians just want to continue to exist as an independent community after being raped by the Sowjets.
What a shocking and disrespectful act by the descendents of the perpetrators of the Kaunus Pogrom.
There have never been Jewish riots in Latvia. You are confusing with Russia.
Rombula massacre?
Herberts Curcurs?
@@pietrowislon7300 during the occupation no one asked Latvians what we think.
@@pietrowislon7300 The court acquitted Cukurs.
Did not prove participation in the murders. Proven to save several Jews from death.
you could make everyone quadruple vaccinate if you did that to the statue of liberty. then we could all be vulnerable equally.