Culture minister urges Saeima to resume renaming of Soviet-era street names
Culture Minister Nauris Puntulis has asked a Saeima committee to revive a bill renaming streets and towns named during the Soviet occupation. The initiative builds on a 2023 proposal by former President Egils Levits.
Latvia's Culture Minister Nauris Puntulis has called on the Saeima's Education, Culture and Science Committee to resume work on a bill that would rename streets and populated places whose names date back to the communist totalitarian regime and Russification policies. The proposal was originally submitted to the Saeima in June 2023 under Article 47 of the Constitution by then-President Egils Levits.
Puntulis pointed out that many such names remain in use across Latvia today. He cited Pioneer Street, found in 11 Latvian towns, four streets named Moscow Street, five named October Street, at least six streets named after collaborator Andrejs Upītis, and streets in Riga and Jelgava named after Pauls Lejiņš, a minister in the occupation-era government. He also mentioned the populated places Holodnije Ručji and Tihaja Pristaņa.
Background
Levits' 2023 letter to the Saeima included a draft law prepared by the Public Memory Centre association addressing the renaming of occupation-era names, along with a list of specific place and street names requiring change. In July of this year, Puntulis met with the association's board chairman, historian Kārlis Kangeris, and its researchers, who have since updated the draft law and compiled a new list of names to be changed.
Puntulis argued that more than thirty years after regaining independence, it is time to move away from remnants of the Soviet past that do not fit a free, democratic state's self-understanding. He said abandoning names that glorify the communist regime or its supporters would strengthen Latvian identity and affirm the country's democratic character. The updated bill has now been forwarded to the Saeima committee for review.
