Valentin Krimelis fought in Belgium as a Latvian in the Wehrmacht (German Army) . Many soldiers during the Second World War have complex stories as a result of the overlapping geopolitical situation, Valentins Krimelis was one of those soldiers.
Valentins Krimelis was a Private in the Wehrmacht born on 30 September 1908. He was a person of Latvian descent. The identity of Private Krimelis was unknown on the Latvian side for decades due to incomplete files.
In 2017, a team from the Museum of the Occupation of Latvia went to Lommel to investigate the identity of the Latvians buried here.
Latvia, prior to being invaded by Nazi Germany, was occupied by the Soviet Union. In the subsequent “’iberation’ from Soviet forces, some Latvians took arms in the Wehrmacht with hopes of pushing back against Stalin’s regime. This resulted in Latvian soldiers being deployed elsewhere, including Belgium where Private Krimelis fought.
Private Krimelis died after the end of the Second World War on 27 November 1945. He was possibly one of the ill or wounded soldiers who were being treated at a hospital in Ostend specifically for Latvian legionnaires.
Before that, he was imprisoned at the Zeldegem PoW-Camp. The Latvians who are buried in Lommel came from the German Military Cemetary in Ostend.
The German Military Cemetary in Lommel is the largest of its kind in Western Europe. Soldiers from around 15 nations who fought on the side of Germany are buried here, amounting to nearly 40,000 people. 89 of those were of Latvian descend.
Private Krimelis’ story highlights the complexity of the Second World War and how varied the stories and circumstances of the soldiers in Lommel can be.