The article presents the contents of the publication Letters from the Front (Vēstules no Frontes), published in 1984, which included 237 letters from soldiers of the Latvian Rifle Division (from 1944 – 130th Guards Corps) and pilots of the night bomber regiment. The letters were originally intended to be studied to understand the role of Latvians in the victory over fascism. However, after Latvia’s restoration of independence and the official recognition of the Soviet period as the years of “occupation”, Latvians who fought in the Red Army were declared victims of an oppressive regime and Soviet propaganda. Based on abstracts from the letters and the content of three fully published letters, the author demonstrates that participation in the war against Nazi Germany and for the liberation of Latvia was a personal, conscious choice of these soldiers.
201st (43rd Guards) Latvian Rifle Division; the evacuation from Latvia in 1941; defense of Moscow in 1941; battles on the North-Western Front in 1942; «Kurland Cauldron»; Juris Bumbieris, Zenta Ozola.