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Since November 29, 2022, French and Russian-speaking Twitter accounts have been sharing images of a Christmas tree installed in Lievārde, a town in Latvia. According to them, the decorations of this tree would be swastikas and therefore a Nazi emblem deliberately put forward. These decorations are, however, simply traditional motifs of an ancestral Latvian costume that predates Nazism.
Verification in a nutshell
- Since November 29, Twitter and Telegram accounts claim that a Latvian city has installed Christmas decorations adorned with swastikas. These accounts, sharing images of these decorations which accumulate up to 15,000 views in French, think they see it as a sign of the “return of Nazism in Europe”.
- These decorations were installed on November 27, 2022 in the city of Lievārde in Latvia.
- The tourist office of the district of Ogre, where the town of Lievārde is located, as well as several Latvian media explain that these decorations refer to the “belt of Lievārde”. It is an element of ancestral and traditional Latvian costume regularly used by Latvia as a national emblem.
The details of the check
Since November 29, French and English Twitter accounts have claimed, with supporting images, that the Latvian government has installed a Christmas tree “adorned with Nazi symbols”.
These accounts share videos and photographs that show a tree on which there are illuminations in the shape of swastikas. And these images aroused the indignation of several Twitter users who shared them in turn with the caption “#StopLesNazi”.
As its graphic charter indicates, this video shared in the tweet visible above was published on November 30, 2022 by the website of the Russian news agency Ruptly. But if this site only speaks of “controversy around symbols resembling swastikas”, other images of these same decorations have been taken up on social networks by Russian-speaking accounts which directly accuse the Latvian executive.
This is for example the case of the official Telegram channel of the Russian Embassy in Latvia which published, on November 29, 2022, images of this tree with the only caption: “preparation for winter holidays in the Latvian city from Lievārde…”, while noting “having the habit of seeing swastikas in the streets of Latvia”.
But do these decorations really correspond to Nazi symbols? To find out, you have to search, in English, for the keywords “Lievārde christmas tree”. This research reveals that several articles in the local Latvian press have reported on the installation of these Christmas decorations. The Delfi.lv site explains that this tree was unveiled on November 27, 2022 and that it is installed in Rembate Park in Lielvārde.
However, this article does not mention Nazi symbols but explains that the tree was decorated according to the traditional model of “the belt of Lielvārde”. From the website of the National Library of Latviathis Lielvārde belt is an “element of traditional Latvian costume” adorned with historical symbols whose archaeological traces date back “to the Neolithic period”.
It is a piece of red and white cloth, made up of geometric patterns, and which, according to certain local Latvian beliefs, would be endowed with protective properties.
This belt is therefore a traditional and historical element that is regularly used by Latvia as a national emblem. The official website of the Latvian government also explains that this belt has been represented on Latvian passports since 2015.
The editorial staff of France24 Observers contacted the tourist office of the district of Ogre, where the town of Lievārde is located. She confirmed to us that these decorations have no connection with Nazism but that they were designed to pay homage to the emblem of Lievārde’s belt. The Ogre tourist office also specifies:
“The swastika is a common and very ancient symbol that has been widely used, in history and in the modern world, as a symbol of prosperity and good fortune”.
The swastika, now widely associated with Nazism, has actually been present in “many different cultures for at least 5,000 years” as the Holocaust Encyclopedia explains. In particular, it is possible to find Latvian embroidery using these symbols, and having no connection with Nazism.
The reference to Nazism in Europe, and in particular in Ukraine, has been a theme highlighted by many accounts since the start of the war between Ukraine and Russia, often using images diverted from their original context.
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