Category: History
Twenty years ago on May 4, 1990, 138 deputies in the Supreme Council of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Latvia passed a declaration that made the Latvian SSR…
When I was lobbying for Latvia’s independence in the late 1980’s, I used to tell Washington politicians that the Soviet and Nazi occupations of Latvia were just a…
On January 7, 2010 in a quiet neighborhood on the northwest side of Washington, D.C. the Latvian government sold a small piece of land that once had a…
In 1989, there was a Wall and a Way. One came down and the other rose up. The wall was named after the city of Berlin, and it…
This was written for a German TV station (ARTE) web page marking the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall. For most Balts, the process of…
If you check Wikipedia you will find that at least 58 important things have happened on May 9, dating back to 1457 BC. They include a solar eclipse…
The date of March 16 didn’t become controversial in Latvia until the early 1990’s, when several Latvian organisations chose this day to honour Latvian soldiers who fought and…
Desegregating the Latvian school system ends a divisive Soviet legacy. Although Latvia has made great strides in rebuilding a fair and democratic society since restoring independence in 1991,…
Each year, since 1998, veterans of the World War II Latvian Legion and their family members, have gone to memorial services in churches and cemeteries in Latvia on…
Written for the July 2002 NATO Candidate’s Summit in Riga. Since restoring independence in 1991 Latvia has had three parliamentary elections and nine governments, all of whom have…