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[And evokes images right out of 1941: Bitter conflicts between Gentiles and Jews, Latvians and Russians, with 'human rights' groups defending SS veterans and with Hitler being compared to Osama bin Laden, and not the other way around this time. NATO's new order in all its splendor.] Commemoration for SS unit causes controversy in Latvia By Adam B. Ellick RIGA, Latvia, March 15 (JTA) A soldier�s association in Latvia has decided to ban its annual march commemorating the Latvian Nazi SS legion, saying the international controversy could harm Latvia�s bid for NATO membership. The Simon Wiesenthal Center criticized the motives behind the cancellation. Locally, the move has set off a torrent bickering over how this tiny Baltic nation should handle the sensitive date that one local newspaper called "a hot potato." In 1988 Latvia officially declared March 16 as the day of Latvian soldiers. The holiday commemorates March 16, 1943, when the Latvian legionnaires unit was established. The partially volunteer unit fought alongside the Nazis, hoping to drive out the Soviet occupiers. More than 50,000 of the 140,000 Latvian legionnaires died in the losing cause. Meanwhile, the Riga City Council, which had granted permits to two radical groups to publicly commemorate March 16, reversed its decision this week after the city�s mayor and the Riga Security Commission warned of possible threats to public order. The Latvian Human Rights office, however, said the city�s ban is a violation of human rights. Leaders of the two Latvian radical groups, Latvietis and Klubs 415, insist they will honor their heroes on Saturday by placing flowers at the city�s Freedom Monument and at Tornakalns Railway Station, where Latvians were forced into wagons and deported to Siberia. Efraim Zuroff, director of the Wiesenthal Center in Israel, applauded the decision by the Riga City Council. Still, he was outraged that the Latvian National Soldiers Association halted its annual march due to fears of the fallout from NATO, rather than out of good will. "They don�t get it," Zuroff said. "They never reached the obvious and logical conclusion that people who fought alongside Hitler should not be proud of themselves. We praise the decision of the City Council but, to be perfectly honest, a lot of work has to be done in Latvia about World War II lessons and the horrors of Nazism. Many of them were no Righteous Gentiles." Zuroff, long a student of Holocaust history in the Baltics, says the Latvian legionnaires were not a murder squad, but many members voluntarily participated in the murder of more than 30,000 Jews in 1941 and 1942 under Arajs, a Latvian Nazi security police squad. Although they joined the Nazi effort out of resentment at the Soviets ? who occupied Latvia in 1940 ? "they knew who the Nazis were" since more than 30,000 Jews already had been murdered, Zuroff said. "The Fascist spirit was quite strong in Latvia," Zuroff said. "If you get into bed with Nazis, you are supporting them." Latvians were "willing to give their lives so Nazi Germany would win World War II," he said. Nikolajs Romanovskis, chairman of the soldiers association, said Latvians who resisted the Nazi draft either were sentenced to death or deported to concentration camps. Janis Silis, president of Klubs 415, told Latvian TV that the legion was formed as a response to Soviet repression. Latvian Parliament member Yacov Pliner, who is Jewish, said, "Those who were called up into the legion were unhappy people and it is their tragedy, but those who entered the legion voluntarily are criminals." Zuroff caused a stir here earlier in the week when he said: "It is high time that Latvians fully internalize the fact that fighting on behalf of Hitler and Nazi Germany during World War II was the moral equivalent of supporting Osama Bin Laden and his Al Qaida terrorist network. The Latvian SS Legion should not be glorified, nor should its members be considered Latvian heroes." Romanovskis called Zuroff�s remark "a continuation of 50 years of Soviet propaganda." "Let them solve their problems with the Palestinians and then mind the business of others," he said. Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga refused to comment on the issue. The Latvian Ministry of Foreign affairs released a statement calling Zuroff�s comments "odd." March 16 also represents a sore spot for Latvia�s ethnic Russians, who comprise about one-third of the population. Tensions between the two communities run high, and the bickering has fueled a media war between Latvian and Russian-language newspapers. "Procession On March 16: Provocation Or Stupidity?" asked one headline in the Russian-language press. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! 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