Latviešu karagūstekņi Zedelgemā: vēsture, atmiņa, konflikts
Latvian Prisoners of War in Zedelgem: History, Memory, and Conflict

Summary/Abstract: After the World War II, approximately 11,700 Latvians were held in the prisoners-of-war (POW) camp near Zedelgem, Belgium. In 2018, a monument was unveiled in Zedelgem, commemorating both Latvian POWs and freedom in all its manifestations. However, a few years later the monument was caught in a crossfire of conflicting political interests and social memories. This article intends to explain the issues with the Zedelgem camp by looking at the structure and biographical details of the Latvian POWs and exploring how the tension around the Zedelgem monument were created. The composition of the Latvian soldiers imprisoned in the Zedelgem camp suggests that a very small part of these POWs could be associated with German-organized war crimes in Latvia and other territories. The article explains why the advocates of the monument – the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia and local history enthusiasts of Zedelgem – failed to reframe the history of Latvian POWs. In this controversy, the accusing memory activists outnumbered and outperformed the advocates, thus quickly creating an international resonance around the monument. This “memory war”, among other things, sends a clear message to Latvian diplomats that the history of World War II in Europe has not disappeared from international relations.

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