Foreign Uniforms, Latvian Spirits: National Culture in the Latvian Legion and Latvian Rifle Corps

Guest Speaker: Harry C. Merritt

Many Latvians fought in World War II, yet they were not able to do so in the Latvian Army. Instead, they served in the militaries of the foreign powers that occupied Latvia: Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union. Yet most were assigned to specially designated national units for Latvians—the Latvian Legion and the Latvian Rifle Corps respectively—where soldiers in each took the special privileges offered and sought to expand them further. By drawing on a wide range of first-person primary sources, this talk explores how Latvians on both sides articulated and celebrated being Latvian while in foreign uniform, providing them a national haven and motivating them to fight under harsh conditions.

Harry C. Merritt is a Postdoctoral Associate in History and Holocaust Studies at the University of Vermont. He is in the process of publishing a book on the creation, wartime experience, and legacies of Latvian national military units that fought on opposite sides of World War II. Harry’s most recent publication is a chapter in Defining Latvia: Recent Explorations in History, Culture, and Politics (Central European University Press, 2022).