Prague – 29.02.2024

 

On the night of February 27 to 28, around 1 a.m., in Riga, an unknown individual attempted to set fire to the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia. The assailant smashed the director’s office window with a hammer and subsequently threw a Molotov cocktail or similar incendiary device inside.

As the entire Platform of European Memory and Conscience (PEMC) family, we express our solidarity with our colleagues from Latvia. The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia stands as a pivotal institution dedicated to preserving the memory of Latvia’s history under the Soviet and German National Socialist regimes from 1940 to 1991. It serves as a crucial educational hub commemorating the victims of these totalitarian authorities.

This event must be treated with the utmost seriousness, potentially representing a form of hybrid warfare. Given the complexities of our current times, we must approach such attacks with heightened vigilance, mainly as we believe this incident was not random.

We anticipate swift action from relevant authorities to apprehend the perpetrator, conduct a thorough investigation, and deliver a fair judgment.

We urge our member organizations to widely disseminate information about this event widely, ensuring that European opinion leaders are well-informed about the situation.