Le Bourhis, Eric and Irina Tcherneva. Risks and Results of Citizens’ Commitments.

The Kačerovski case in Riga (1959-60) occurred in two open trials unreported by the media. The formation of public opinion about the defendant and trials came to impinge on prosecutorial decisions and evidence preservation and collection, and offered roles to former victims and the wider public. Sources were drawn from the Latvian state archives (LV?A) and national library(LNB), including criminal case files, citizens’ letters to the press, and resolutions passed by factory and residential block committees. This original contribution joins a new (and small) literature on the Salispils concentration camp in Latvia including Kārlis Kangeris, Uldis Neiburgs and Rudīte Vīksne (2016) and Franziska Jahn’s chapter (2009).

This chapter forms part of the following edited volume: Eric Le Bourhis, Irina Tcherneva, and Vanessa Voisin (eds.), Seeking Accountability for Nazi and War Crimes in East Europe: A People’s Justice? (Rochester NY: University of Rochester Press, 2022).

Eric Le Bourhis and Irina Tcherneva, “Risks and Results of Citizens’ Commitments: The Kačerovski Case in Riga, 1958-1963,” in Eric Le Bourhis, Irina Tcherneva, and Vanessa Voisin (eds.), Seeking Accountability for Nazi and War Crimes in East Europe: A People’s Justice? (Rochester NY: University of Rochester Press, 2022), 283-319.