Concrete Dust Versus Angel's Wings? Sacralization of the “Victory Monument” and Postcolonial Memory Politics in Latvia
Journal: Occasional Papers on Religion in Eastern Europe
Year: 2022

The article analyzes the current state of memory politics in Latvian society in the frame of Baltic postcolonial studies. The dominant traumatic experience of contemporary Latvian society is the period of Soviet occupation (1940, renewed 1944, lasting until 1991) and WWII. The so-called “Monument of Victory” in Riga was the central site of memory, loaded with mnemonic tension and ambiguity of collective memories in the restored nation state. After it was toppled on August 25, 2022, the monument