In early 2021, Lev Golinkin, neither historian nor sociologist, published a piece in the Forward on monuments to Nazi collaborators, listing all the monuments to the Latvian Legion in Latvia, as well as the Latvian Beehive erected to the memory of the 11,700-12,000 Legionnaires held in British-administered Zedelgem POW Camp, in Belgium.
A firestorm erupted as the piece went viral, with so-called "investigations" discovering the Latvian Legion was linked to "Nazi shock troops" and giving credence to Kremlin propaganda attacking the Legion. Unsurprisingly, a committee determined the monument could not stay put as is. Research indicates that of the 11,700-12,000 Latvians held in Zedelgem, 69 can be confirmed to be Holocaust collaborators.
Apparently, Legionnaires cannot be honored in any public space. By the identical logic, there should not be any U.S. memorials to Vietnam War veterans because that would be honoring the criminals who participated in the Mỹ Lai massacre.
The Zedelgem POW camp site has added a page addressing the Latvian Beehive controversy.
The original Golinkin piece, with analysis, is available on the Latvian Legion site.
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