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Looking for heroes. Experiences in Latvia

Latvia’s understanding of heroism has been rewritten repeatedly over the past century, shaped in turn by Soviet occupation, the struggle for independence and the challenges of democratic renewal. Each era constructed its heroes – some imposed, some rediscovered, others newly recognised. Today, debates over memory, justice and national identity continue to determine which lives are honoured and which stories are told.

December 8, 2025 - Vita Zelče - AnalysisIssue 6 2025Magazine

Memorial monument to Žanis Lipke and all Latvian saviours of Jews. The monument consists a wide and high wall which is almost falling. Photo: B..Robinson / Shutterstock

During the Soviet occupation of Latvia, the only legal folk hero for Latvian boys was Lāčplēsis (the Bear Slayer). This was declared by the first chairman of the Latvian People’s Front, Dainis Īvāns, who spoke on a public television broadcast on September 26th 2025 dedicated to his 70th birthday. Īvāns was one of the most popular people in Latvia in the late 1980s and early 1990s and a symbol of how Latvia regained its sovereignty. The Latvian People’s Front brought together hundreds of thousands of people who played a decisive role in ensuring that Latvia could restore its national sovereignty in 1991.

Īvāns recalled that he had no heroes from his own childhood whom he would wish to replicate. Soldiers and statesmen who fought for Latvia’s statehood between 1918 and 1920 were a taboo topic under Soviet occupation. The names of these men were fully deleted from schoolbooks and the public space.

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