Ladies and gentlemen, We would normally begin by addressing you as “honoured survivors of repression”, but today I would prefer to say: dear friends! It is a deeply moving moment to meet you here at Riga Castle on 14 June, eighty-five years after the first large-scale deportations and repression. In the history of our nation, there were two major waves of repression: one in 1941 and the other in 1949. These were the two periods when our people suffered the greatest losses, both through war and…
Ladies and gentlemen, We would normally begin by addressing you as “honoured survivors of repression”, but today I would prefer to say: dear friends! It is a deeply moving moment to meet you here at Riga Castle on 14 June, eighty-five years after the first large-scale deportations and repression. In the history of our nation, there were two major waves of repression: one in 1941 and the other in 1949. These were the two periods when our people suffered the greatest losses, both through war and repression.Eighty-five years ago, the Stalinist communist regime sought to destroy our intelligentsia, our officer corps, and the very finest representatives of our nation and society. It was a tragedy whose consequences, I believe, are still felt…
