Dear participants! Ladies and gentlemen!
It is an honour and a privilege for me to welcome you all to the Riga Castle today!
The 14th of June, 83 years ago, was a summer day. However, in the collective memory of the Latvian people, it is, unfortunately, forever a dark day. More than fifteen thousand Latvian people were forcibly deported from their homes in cattle wagons. Eight years later, on 25 March, a similar fate befell another 42 000 of our people. Some perished in exile, some remained there, and only a few managed to return. Among the deportees were also children – big and small.
Many of the survivors of Siberia have never wanted to talk about what happened during the years of exile, neither with their closest people nor with strangers. This is, of course, understandable. I would like to express my utmost gratitude to all those who have found the courage to share their experiences of exile. Your painful memories are shared by all of us. Your stories serve to remind us of the dark pages of our history. Your stories demonstrate how real it all was.
Today, I would like to address our young people. I want to express my gratitude to those who have taken the time to learn in-depth about our history and to spread awareness about the deportations. Thank you for being willing to talk to your peers and to share with them about our collective history. I am sure that when the time comes, your children and their children will also learn why there are black ribbons of mourning on the Latvian flag on 25 March and 14 June. And they, too, will continue to pass on the story of our nation's history to future generations.
For us, deportations are history. Very painful and tragic, but history nonetheless. But let us not forget that today, not far away from us in Ukraine, tens of thousands of children have been forcibly removed from their homes and deported from their home country. Parents have been left with the most terrible fear – uncertainty regarding their children's fate and whereabouts. These heinous crimes are today being perpetrated by the same forces of evil that did this to us. By Russia – no longer Stalinist Russia, but Putinist Russia.
Young people, you were born and raised in a free Latvia. However, if you, your essays and works of art are here, then clearly you can imagine what it means to lose freedom. It is incumbent on all of us to do everything in our power to ensure that this remains only in our imagination. May we always live in a free and independent Latvia and never experience what our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents did.
God, bless Latvia!
