Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest Latvia in the Eurovision Song Contest Latvia has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 19 times since making its debut at the contest in 2000, where the group Brainstorm finished third with the song "My Star". Latvia won the contest in 2002, with Marie N and the song "I Wanna", defeating Malta by 12 points. Latvia is the second former Soviet country to win the contest. The 2003 contest was held in the Latvian capital Riga. The country achieved its third top 10 result in , when Walters and Kazha finished fifth with "The War Is Not Over". Latvia did
Museum of the Occupation of Latvia after Paulis Lazda, a History Professor at the University of Wisconsin–Eau Claire, proposed the idea to the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Latvia to create a museum covering the occupation period of Latvia, from 1940-1991. This led to the establishment of the Occupation Museum Foundation (OMF), now the Occupation Museum Association (OMB), in spring 1993. The OMF was made of 11 people who aimed to establish, administer and finance the museum. The first exhibition of the museum opened on 1 July 1993. The exhibition covered the period of the first Soviet occupation of Latvia from 1940 to 1941.