About the commission
On 5 May 2005, the Latvian Parliament, Saeima, passed the
declaration “On the Condemnation of the USSR Totalitarian Communist Occupation
Regime Implemented in Latvia”.
The Cabinet of Ministers passed Regulation No. 523 on 5 August 2005
establishing a commission to determine the number of victims and location of
mass graves, collect information regarding repressions and mass deportation of
Latvian citizens, and calculate costs incurred by the Latvian state as a result
of the USSR totalitarian communist occupation regime (hereinafter –
Commission).
The Commission has the following principal tasks:
- Determine the number of victims of the USSR totalitarian communist occupation regime;
- Determine the location of mass graves;
- Summarise information on repressions and mass deportations;
- Calculate losses caused by the regime to the Latvian State; and
- Calculate losses caused by the regime to the inhabitants of Latvia.
By 2025, more than 100 studies
in the fields of economics, environmental protection, demography and history
have been developed on behalf of the Commission. With the support of the Commission, several books in Latvian and English
have been prepared and published, the electronic versions of which are
available on this website. Since
August 29, 2023, the Commission has been headed by Dr.hist. Gatis Krūmiņš, and it continues its work until the completion of the
final report.
The Commission is necessary for the following:
- To ensure an objective scientific study of history;
- To fulfill a moral and legal obligation towards all victims of the USSR occupation;
- To emphasize the legal continuity of the Republic of Latvia proclaimed on November 18, 1918 and the brutal violation of international law by the aggressor state USSR in 1940, occupying Latvia and maintaining a colonial occupation regime for several decades after the end of World War II;
- To calculate the losses caused by the USSR occupation regime to the Latvian state and society;
- To prepare Latvia for possible international procedures in order to demand legally and economically justified compensation from the Russian Federation, the legal heir of the USSR;
- To provide the information obtained in the calculations with a full understanding of the impact of the USSR occupation period for current and future generations.