Wiesenthal Center Denounces March of Latvian Waffen-SS Veterans; Chief Nazi Hunter Participates in Anti-March Demonstration

March 16, 2010

Riga, Latvia – The Simon Wiesenthal Center today denounced the march of Latvian Waffen-SS veterans held this morning in the center of Riga to honor the Latvian SS legion which fought with the forces of Nazi Germany during World War II.

In a statement issues in Riga by its chief Nazi hunter, Israel director, Dr. Efraim Zuroff, who joined the anti-Fascist demonstrators against the march, the Center protested “the glorification of those who fought for a victory of the Third Reich, a regime directly responsible for the murder of tens of millions of innocent civilians.”

According to Zuroff:

“Today is a very sad day for Latvia and for the memory of the Holocaust. It is unthinkable that those who bore arms to help Nazi Germany subjugate Europe, among them numerous individuals, who actively participated in the mass murder of tens of thousand of Jews in Latvia and other countries, should be honored as if they are Latvia’s greatest heroes. Latvia’s true heroes are people like Janis Lipka and his wife who risk their life to save Jews from the German, Austrian, and Latvian Nazi murderers who sought to kill them.”

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