Russian Jewish leaders condemned a rally held earlier this week in Latvia at which hundreds of former members of local SS forces that fought for Nazi Germany gathered to commemorate the 55th anniversary of their unit’s founding. Alexander Osovtsov, executive vice president of the Russian Jewish Congress, expressed his “bewilderment and indignation” that the rally was held and lashed out at the Latvian authorities for allowing it to take place. Russia’s chief rabbi, Adolph Shayevich, compared the participants in the rally to “vampires who need fresh human blood — and not only that of Jews.”
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