The Ministry of Culture has found the main cause of tension in Latvian society

The Ministry of Culture notes that shared memories of past events and their collective recollection are a prerequisite for creating in people a feeling of closeness both to their country and to the European Union.

The plan emphasizes that understanding history is one of the factors influencing how people perceive and understand different values. In order to promote the formation of a unifying understanding of social memory in society, the Ministry of Culture has committed itself to organizing at least two events a year dedicated to the repression carried out by the communist regime against the people of Latvia during the Second World War.

Every year it is planned to hold at least one commemorative event in memory of the victims of the Holocaust and those residents of Latvia who saved Jews in World War II. There are also plans to hold at least one commemorative event each year to honor the victims of the Roma Holocaust during World War II.

The Ministry of Culture strives to promote the recognition and use of various publicly available educational materials, with the involvement of experts in the field of history and specialists from other fields, and to provide at least 12 publications annually that explain historical facts based on evidence-based information.

By 2027, it is planned to increase the share of the population celebrating the day of the proclamation of the Republic of Latvia on November 18 by four percentage points compared to 2017, when this holiday was celebrated by 72% of the population. It is also planned to increase the share of the population celebrating the Declaration of Independence Day of Latvia on May 4 by four percentage points. In 2017, it was noted by 29% of the population.

Thanks to the plan’s activities, it is expected to reduce by 2.3 percentage points the share of the population who believe that in 1940 Latvia made a voluntary decision to join the USSR. In 2017, 22.3% of the population expressed this opinion.

LETA has already written that the Ministry of Culture announced a public discussion of the Development Plan for a cohesive and civically active society for 2024-2027.

The plan has been prepared to ensure the implementation of the goals and objectives set in the Main Directions for the Development of a Cohesive and Civically Active Society for 2021-2027, as well as in the National Development Plan for 2021-2027. The directions of their actions are interconnected, defining inclusive participation as a general principle of implementation, as well as establishing cross-cutting priorities that apply to all measures of the plan – national identity, Latvian language, trust, solidarity and cooperation.

The plan calls for action at all levels of government – ​​national, regional and local. The objectives defined in the plan are aimed at ensuring that, as a result of the implementation of a holistic public policy, strengthening national identity and a sense of belonging, inclusive participation and increasing the level of civic knowledge, a high-quality and safe space for democratic participation and information is strengthened, the participation of foreign citizens living in Latvia, in the life of society, and the attitude towards various groups of society based on negative stereotypes also decreased.