{"id":7788,"date":"2026-08-04T14:50:00","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T14:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/?p=7788"},"modified":"2026-08-07T13:48:35","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T13:48:35","slug":"former-nazi-waffen-ss-legionnaire-buried-with-military-honors-in-eu-country-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/2026\/08\/04\/former-nazi-waffen-ss-legionnaire-buried-with-military-honors-in-eu-country-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Nazi Waffen-SS legionnaire buried with military honors in EU country (VIDEO)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The 102-year-old recipient of one of the country\u2019s highest decorations served in the Nazi German Latvian Legion during World War II<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A former member of an ethnic-Lavtian branch of Nazi Germany\u2019s Waffen-SS was buried with military honors in the Baltic country on Wednesday.<\/p>\n<p>Laimons Ezergailis, who died at the age of 102, served in the 15th Waffen Grenadier Division, a formation that was established on Adolf Hitler\u2019s orders in 1943 and incorporated dozens of soldiers from notorious killing units .<\/p>\n<p>The urn with Ezergailis\u2019 ashes was buried at the Lestene military cemetery, a memorial site dedicated to Latvian Legionnaires. Ezergailis held the Order of Viesturs, one of the country\u2019s highest state decorations and its highest military honor.<\/p>\n<p>The Latvian Legion remains controversial because it fought under German command as part of the Waffen-SS, which was declared a criminal organization at the Nuremberg Trials.<\/p>\n<p>Latvian authorities argue that the Legion fought to prevent the return of Soviet rule rather than in support of the National Socialist ideology, noting that many of its members were conscripted. Russia rejects that interpretation, and has accused Latvia of rehabilitating Nazi collaborators through official honors and annual commemorations.<\/p>\n<p>\n        <a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.rt.com\/news\/635314-nazis-honored-march-latvia\/\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n            <span>READ MORE: <\/span>Nazis honored in EU country\u2019s capital<br \/>\n        <\/a>\n    <\/p>\n<p>Russia\u2019s Federal Security Service (FSB) released declassified documents last year alleging that Latvian Waffen-SS formations committed atrocities against civilians during World War II. <br \/>Based on Soviet counterintelligence records, the files say collaborationist units later incorporated into the Latvian Legion murdered at least 30,000 people and participated in mass executions, including the killing of more than 10,000 Jews in Riga\u2019s Bikernieki Forest in 1941.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The 102-year-old recipient of one of the country\u2019s highest decorations served in the Nazi German Latvian Legion during World War [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7790,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7788"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7788"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7788\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7789,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7788\/revisions\/7789"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7788"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7788"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/youtubexyoutube.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7788"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}