Je me souviens de tout, Richard (Rolands Kalni , Studio de Riga, 1967) : une manifestation précoce d'une mémoire concurrente de la Grande Guerre patriotique I Remember Everything, Richard (Rolands Kalni , Riga Film Studio, 1967): A Precocious Manifestation of a Competing Memory with the Great Patriotic War

It is usually said that the memory of the war period had been completely reversed in the former Soviet borderlands since the collapse of the USSR, turning former “traitors” into heroes or victims. However, attempts to set up a new approach of the Nazi occupation and collaboration are rooted in the “Thaw” period. I remember everything, Richard – dealing with the Latvian legion, started to be considered in 1957. That coincided both with the massive return of the Latvian deportees from Siberia, and with a renewal of trials against war criminals. Produced only in 1966, the film reflected the social tensions going along with the sensitive topic, and presented a point of view far more nuanced than the official figure of the “Latvian traitor” imposed during the Stalinist period. Based on interviews, archival material and film analysis, this article aims at understanding through the film-making process the connection between the deep changes of the political meaning of the war period, and the social composition of film production.