Katja Wezel, Book Symposium

History as Politics: Coming to Terms with the Past in Post-Soviet Latvia (Geschichte als Politikum: Lettland und die Aufarbeitung nach der Diktatur) explores post-Communist Latvia, a restored independent state, which emerged from the ashes of the Soviet Union facing a range of challenges. The Soviet period had transformed the region, leaving sizeable Russian-speaking minorities in the Baltic states. As Latvia sought membership in the European Union and NATO, its treatment of national minorities came into the spotlight, viewed as inter-ethnic conflict by international observers. However, I argue that at the core of the conflict were not ethnic tensions but diverging historical perceptions. Free speech and post-Soviet democratization unleashed conflicting historical narratives from the different ethnic groups, resulting in fierce debates about World War II and its aftermath.