Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires | |
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Observed by | Former members of the Latvian Legion, their relatives and supporters |
Significance | The 15th (1st Latvian) and the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian) fighting alongside for the first and only time against the Red Army in 1944[1] |
Celebrations | Memorial service in Riga Cathedral, procession to the Freedom Monument, laying flowers at the Freedom Monument and a cemetery in Lestene |
Date | 16 March |
Frequency | Annual |
Remembrance Day of the Latvian Legionnaires (Latvian: Leģionāru piemiņas diena), often known simply as the Legionnaire Day (Leģionāru diena) or 16 March (16. marts) in Latvia, is a day when soldiers of the Latvian Legion, part of the Waffen-SS, are commemorated. From 1998 until 2000, it was officially recognized as a "Remembrance Day for Latvian soldiers" by the Saeima.[2]
The day has been controversial as the Legion was a unit of Nazi Germany, and the remembrance day has been criticized by the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, Russia, Canada, and Jewish organizations such as Simon Wiesenthal Center.[3] Others argue that no one has ever been convicted of committing war crimes as a member of the Legion and hold that it was a purely military unit fighting against the Soviet Union that had occupied Latvia in 1940.[4][5][6][7]
Neiburgs
was invoked but never defined (see the help page).