Gallows Hill: Remembering the 11 Valmiera Communists Shot

The article, titled 'You Can't Drive Away the Left with Bullets,' references the shootings of Valmiera communists at a site known as Gallows Hill. It notes that Nazis shot, burned, and gassed; communists shot, terrorized, and deported; Hutus in Rwanda macheted; and Ottomans raped and hanged. However, it states with irony that Latvians did nothing of the sort—'only once, so to speak, they had a little shootout.' This refers to the execution of 11 communists in Valmiera. The piece serves as a historical reflection on the futility of political repression.