Events 1999-2009
Events in 1999 and 2000
As research was not financed in 1999, the Commission devoted its main attention to preparing and organising conferences.
1. The Commission and the Institute of History of Latvia together with Madona Museum of Local History organised a conference in connection with the 50th anniversary of the deportations of 1949. The Conference materials were published in the journal of the Institute of History of Latvia.
2. On 14 till 16 June 1999 the Commission together with the Institute of History of Latvia and State Archives organised an international conference "Latvia in World War II". There were all together 36 reports delivered during the Conference. A separate Symposium on the related problems was published in 2000.
3. On 16 and 17 October 2000 an international conference "The Issues of the Holocaust Research in Latvia" took place.
4. On 12 and 13 June 2001 there was an international conference “Deportation of 14 June 1941: Crimes against Humanity".
The Commission closely co-operates with the President of Latvia Vaira Vike-Freiberga. With common efforts it has been worked hard on increasing the effectiveness of the Commission. At the beginning of 2000 the Commission received the first financial allocation for implementing specific research.
The Commission also successfully co-operates with the Ministry of Education and Science and the Association of Latvian Teachers of History. The best evidence to this co-operation is the seminar "Teaching controversial issues of the history of World War II at school", which was organised on 1 and 2 April 2000 in Ligatne. This event may be considered as the one where the latest theoretical conclusions and researchers' conceptions found reflection in the real-life methods of teaching history. Two teachers from Latvia have participated in the seminar organised by Yad Vashem (remarkable centre of the Holocaust research, training and commemoration) in Israel.
The Commission has assumed co-operation with the International Task Force for the Holocaust Research, which has been created following the initiative of several European countries. The members of the Task Force include the government representatives of Sweden, Great Britain, the USA, Israel and Germany. The first step towards the co-operation was the participation in the Conference "The Holocaust: Commemoration, Education, Research" organised by the Swedish government on 26 – 28 January 2000. With the support of the Swedish government a book has been published "Tell your children about it..." dealing with the history of the Holocaust. This book is mainly designed for using at schools.
