During World War II, tens of thousands of Latvians served in German-led military formations, primarily in the Waffen-SS Latvian Legion. After the war, around 25,000 former Legionnaires transitioned from prisoner of war camps run by the Western Allies to civilian life in a variety of Western countries. They created veterans’ organisations — such as Daugavas Vanagi (‘Hawks of the Daugava’) — which also functioned as political advocacy groups and heritage organisations for the Latvian diaspora. These post-war organisations and platforms then allowed former Latvian Legionnaires to shape public memory of the war. In writings after 1945, a cohort of veterans crafted a narrative of the war that (1) presents their military service as representing a righteous cause defeated either by forms of betrayal or by the overwhelming might of the Soviet Union, (2) develops a cult of the fallen soldier, and (3) mystifies German war aims and the relationship of Latvian Legionnaires to them. Through analysis of memoirs and periodical publications by veterans along with forms of public commemoration, I argue that these materials and practices collectively constitute a ‘Lost Cause’ narrative, which, similar to the Lost Cause of the Confederacy — developed in the U.S. South after the American Civil War — became predominant among the Latvian diaspora before spreading to Latvia itself. This framework allows for productive comparisons with other European countries that experienced traumatic military defeats, representing a new approach to this controversial subject with potential application to similar cases in Ukraine and Estonia.

中文翻译：

---

拉脱维亚的失败事业：武装党卫军拉脱维亚军团的退伍军人和战后神话的起源


第二次世界大战期间，数以万计的拉脱维亚人在德国领导的军事编队中服役，主要是在武装党卫军拉脱维亚军团中服役。战后，大约 25,000 名前退伍军人从西方盟军管理的战俘营过渡到各个西方国家的平民生活。他们创建了退伍军人组织，例如 Daugavas Vanagi（“道加瓦之鹰”），该组织还充当拉脱维亚侨民的政治倡导团体和遗产组织。这些战后组织和平台随后允许前拉脱维亚退伍军人塑造公众对战争的记忆。在 1945 年之后的著作中，一群退伍军人精心编写了一场战争叙述，其中 （1） 将他们的服役描述为代表着被各种形式的背叛或苏联的压倒性力量击败的正义事业，（2） 培养了对阵亡士兵的崇拜，以及 （3） 使德国的战争目标以及拉脱维亚退伍军人与他们的关系变得神秘。通过分析退伍军人的回忆录和期刊出版物以及公共纪念的形式，我认为这些材料和实践共同构成了一种“失败的事业”叙事，它类似于美国内战后在美国南部发展起来的邦联的失败事业，在传播到拉脱维亚本身之前在拉脱维亚侨民中占据主导地位。该框架允许与其他经历过创伤性军事失败的欧洲国家进行富有成效的比较，代表了对这一有争议话题的新方法，可能适用于乌克兰和爱沙尼亚的类似案例。