Photographer's preserved images capture 1987 protest against Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact
Rare photographs taken by photographer Uldis Briedis 39 years ago document one of the first open protests against the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact at Riga's Freedom Monument, now kept by his widow.
On 23 August 1987, the first open protest against the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact took place at the Freedom Monument in Riga. The pact was one of the key documents that led to the occupation of the Baltic states, and publicly opposing it at the time carried serious risk.
Among the few people who managed to capture this historic moment on camera was photographer Uldis Briedis. His photographs became a valuable visual record of how the idea of an independent Latvia was kept alive even during the most difficult years of Soviet occupation. Briedis has since passed away, but his widow continues to preserve the photographs along with vivid memories of that day.
The path to recognition of independence
The 1987 protest was one of many steps on the long road toward the restoration of Latvia's independence. On 6 September 1991, following the August coup in Moscow, the USSR's Supreme Soviet recognized the independence of the Republic of Latvia. That decision implicitly acknowledged that the 1940 occupation had been unlawful.
By that time, many countries around the world had already voiced support for Latvia's right to exist as a free and sovereign nation. Still, that recognition would not have been possible without the courage of those who dared to protest publicly in 1987, and without photographers like Uldis Briedis, who preserved these historic moments for future generations.
