Tomorrow, 6th of December, Finland will celebrate its 100th anniversary. Latvia will celebrate it next year, in 18th of November. Since I live in Latvia for a couple of years I've seen everywhere the phrase ”Latvijai 100” either I have heard it in TV, seen it on posters in the street or someone using it as a hashtag in social media. Although I'm a patriot, it has always just been there, floating around in front of me, I haven't paid a lot of attention to it, till this moment when I noticed a similar phrase in Finland “Suomi 100” and I automatically, straightforwardly thought to myself “If Latvia is only a year younger country than Finland, why are they so different? What is wrong with Latvia?” “The history.”
After Nazi Germany and Soviet Union signed non-aggression pact Finland became a territory of interest to Soviets. Зи́мняя война́ or as we all can understand Winter war started in 1939 when Soviets invaded Finland as they wanted to get it under their wing. Red army had way, way, way, way more soldiers, tanks and weapons, but Finns had amazing snipers, good for them weather conditions (it dropped to −43 °C in January, 1940), soldiers used their skiing capabilities and most importantly they had a strategy so they managed to hold their positions for as long as they had to - till 13th of March 1940 - when Finland managed to negotiate the peace terms with Soviet Union. “When Germany invaded the Soviet Union in the summer of 1941, Finland entered the war as a co belligerent with Germany.” After the war Finland stayed free.
It's hard to express how impressive (Finnish persistence) and heartbreaking (the massive propaganda, how soviets have treated their own people and still do) at the same time this historical event is to me.
After the non-aggression pact Latvia also became a territory of interest to Soviet Union. 1939 October 5 Latvia was forced to sign a Support agreement with Soviets that allowed them to create military bases in Latvia. That was the start of occupation. All the people who were someone or who had something was sent to Siberia, some got executed instantly, depending on the profession. Only in 1991 December Latvia became Latvia again. Technically from all the 100 years Latvia has only been a free country for 49 years.
This got me thinking about the power that a single phrase can have on a human subconsciously. In this case, personally I was born in a free country and everything happened before me that's why I kind of automatically assumed that my country should be capable of being in a similar condition than the rest of the EU countries. It's scary to think about other automatically made assumptions based on non intentionally consumed information.
I can see & feel all the depression, hurt and poverty from people when I'm home. Most of the people are not satisfied with the current state of my homeland. One fourth of population has moved away to work in Germany, Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Ireland and so on. The Soviet regime can still be felt in the government, in the mentality of people.
I get that it will be 100th years since Latvia has existed. In my opinion, the outcome would be much better if the 49 years would be highlighted more, so everyone would not waste energy to rant about how much better it is elsewhere. Latvia is a new country and people need to be patient and act smartly for better results.
Anyways, wishing well to Finland, happy birthday! May the best of your past be the worst of your future! Thankful to be here.
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If you are interested in real stories of how it was to be occupied in Latvia, I highly suggest this virtual museum (real facts, real memories). It will take about an hour to go through it, so don't just rush in and quickly skip through it whilst checking your phone. It's worth the attention.
If you are interested in the dark and hard war times in Finland, I highly suggest this book by Katja Kettu. I remember that couple of years ago in the summer I was sitting on a bench surrounded by soviet type block houses that are almost in the center of my hometown and reading this book when an old man who seemed wealthy (had a gold watch and was dressed acceptable) came to me and asked in Russian “Do you know even what you are reading? Do you even understand? That book is bullshit.” He tried to communicate more. All I said was that I'm sorry, I don't understand Russian. It was a really weird experience. It was a really warm and sunny day.
