1.
Baltic states
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The Baltic states cooperate on a regional level in several intergovernmental organizations. While the native populations of Latvia and Lithuania are known as Baltic people, another Baltic identity, Baltic German, began to develop during the Middle Ages after the Livonian Crusade. After the collapse of Livonia, parts of Latvia and Estonia came under influence of the Commonwealth and this lasted until the 18th century, when the lands of all three modern countries were gradually absorbed into the Russian Empire. The Baltic states gained independence after World War I, but were occupied by the Soviet Union during World War II, all three countries are members of the European Union, NATO and the Eurozone. They are classified as high-income economies by the World Bank and maintain high Human Development Index, Estonia and Latvia are also members of the OECD, while Lithuania is a prospective candidate. The term Baltic stems from the name of the Baltic Sea – a hydronym dating back to the 11th century, although there are several theories about its origin, most ultimately trace it to Indo-European root *bhel meaning white, fair. This meaning is retained in modern Baltic languages, where baltas, however the modern names of the region and the sea, that originate from this root, were not used in either of the two languages prior to the 19th century. In English Ost is East, and in fact, the Baltic Sea mostly lies to the east of Germany, Denmark, Norway, in the 13th century pagan Baltic and Finnic peoples in the region became a target of the Northern Crusades. In the aftermath of the Livonian crusade, a crusader state officially named Terra Mariana and it was divided into four autonomous bishoprics and lands of the Livonian Brothers of the Sword. After the Brothers of the Sword suffered defeat at the Battle of Saule, Northern Estonia initially became a Danish dominion, but it was purchased by the Teutonic Order in the mid-14th century. The Lithuanians were also targeted by the crusaders, however they were able to resist and it allied with the Kingdom of Poland. After the Union of Krewo in 1385 created a union between the two countries, they became ever more closely integrated and finally merged into the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in 1569. After victory in the Polish–Lithuanian–Teutonic War, the Polish–Lithuanian union became a political power in the region. In 1558 Livonia was attacked by the Tsardom of Russia and the Livonian war broke out, the rulers of different regions within Livonia sought to ally with foreign powers, which resulted in Polish–Lithuanian, Swedish and Danish involvement. In the aftermath of conflicts of the 17th century, much of the Duchy of Livonia. These newly acquired Swedish territories, as well as Ingria and Kexholm, at the beginning of the 18th century the Swedish Empire was attacked by a coalition of several European powers in the Great Northern War. Among these powers was Russia, seeking to restore its access to the Baltic Sea, during the course of the war it conquered all of the Swedish provinces on the Eastern Baltic coast. This acquisition was legalized by the Treaty of Nystad in which the Baltic Dominions were ceded to Russia, under Russian rule these territories came to be known as Ostsee Governorates
2.
Nazi Germany
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Nazi Germany is the common English name for the period in German history from 1933 to 1945, when Germany was governed by a dictatorship under the control of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Under Hitlers rule, Germany was transformed into a fascist state in which the Nazi Party took totalitarian control over all aspects of life. The official name of the state was Deutsches Reich from 1933 to 1943, the period is also known under the names the Third Reich and the National Socialist Period. The Nazi regime came to an end after the Allied Powers defeated Germany in May 1945, Hitler was appointed Chancellor of Germany by the President of the Weimar Republic Paul von Hindenburg on 30 January 1933. The Nazi Party then began to eliminate all opposition and consolidate its power. Hindenburg died on 2 August 1934, and Hitler became dictator of Germany by merging the powers and offices of the Chancellery, a national referendum held 19 August 1934 confirmed Hitler as sole Führer of Germany. All power was centralised in Hitlers person, and his word became above all laws, the government was not a coordinated, co-operating body, but a collection of factions struggling for power and Hitlers favour. In the midst of the Great Depression, the Nazis restored economic stability and ended mass unemployment using heavy military spending, extensive public works were undertaken, including the construction of Autobahnen. The return to economic stability boosted the regimes popularity, racism, especially antisemitism, was a central feature of the regime. The Germanic peoples were considered by the Nazis to be the purest branch of the Aryan race, millions of Jews and other peoples deemed undesirable by the state were murdered in the Holocaust. Opposition to Hitlers rule was ruthlessly suppressed, members of the liberal, socialist, and communist opposition were killed, imprisoned, or exiled. The Christian churches were also oppressed, with many leaders imprisoned, education focused on racial biology, population policy, and fitness for military service. Career and educational opportunities for women were curtailed, recreation and tourism were organised via the Strength Through Joy program, and the 1936 Summer Olympics showcased the Third Reich on the international stage. Propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels made effective use of film, mass rallies, the government controlled artistic expression, promoting specific art forms and banning or discouraging others. Beginning in the late 1930s, Nazi Germany made increasingly aggressive territorial demands and it seized Austria and Czechoslovakia in 1938 and 1939. Hitler made a pact with Joseph Stalin and invaded Poland in September 1939. In alliance with Italy and smaller Axis powers, Germany conquered most of Europe by 1940, reichskommissariats took control of conquered areas, and a German administration was established in what was left of Poland. Jews and others deemed undesirable were imprisoned, murdered in Nazi concentration camps and extermination camps, following the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, the tide gradually turned against the Nazis, who suffered major military defeats in 1943
3.
Soviet Union
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The Soviet Union, officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics was a socialist state in Eurasia that existed from 1922 to 1991. It was nominally a union of national republics, but its government. The Soviet Union had its roots in the October Revolution of 1917 and this established the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and started the Russian Civil War between the revolutionary Reds and the counter-revolutionary Whites. In 1922, the communists were victorious, forming the Soviet Union with the unification of the Russian, Transcaucasian, Ukrainian, following Lenins death in 1924, a collective leadership and a brief power struggle, Joseph Stalin came to power in the mid-1920s. Stalin suppressed all opposition to his rule, committed the state ideology to Marxism–Leninism. As a result, the country underwent a period of rapid industrialization and collectivization which laid the foundation for its victory in World War II and postwar dominance of Eastern Europe. Shortly before World War II, Stalin signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact agreeing to non-aggression with Nazi Germany, in June 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, opening the largest and bloodiest theater of war in history. Soviet war casualties accounted for the highest proportion of the conflict in the effort of acquiring the upper hand over Axis forces at battles such as Stalingrad. Soviet forces eventually captured Berlin in 1945, the territory overtaken by the Red Army became satellite states of the Eastern Bloc. The Cold War emerged by 1947 as the Soviet bloc confronted the Western states that united in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization in 1949. Following Stalins death in 1953, a period of political and economic liberalization, known as de-Stalinization and Khrushchevs Thaw, the country developed rapidly, as millions of peasants were moved into industrialized cities. The USSR took a lead in the Space Race with Sputnik 1, the first ever satellite, and Vostok 1. In the 1970s, there was a brief détente of relations with the United States, the war drained economic resources and was matched by an escalation of American military aid to Mujahideen fighters. In the mid-1980s, the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, sought to reform and liberalize the economy through his policies of glasnost. The goal was to preserve the Communist Party while reversing the economic stagnation, the Cold War ended during his tenure, and in 1989 Soviet satellite countries in Eastern Europe overthrew their respective communist regimes. This led to the rise of strong nationalist and separatist movements inside the USSR as well, in August 1991, a coup détat was attempted by Communist Party hardliners. It failed, with Russian President Boris Yeltsin playing a role in facing down the coup. On 25 December 1991, Gorbachev resigned and the twelve constituent republics emerged from the dissolution of the Soviet Union as independent post-Soviet states
4.
Background of the occupation of the Baltic states
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The background of the occupation of the Baltic states covers the period before the first Soviet occupation on 14 June 1940, stretching from independence in 1918 to the Soviet ultimatums in 1939–1940. The Baltic states gained their independence during and after the Russian revolutions of 1917 and they managed to sign non-aggression treaties in the 1920s and 1930s. Despite the treaties, the Baltic states were incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1940 in the aftermath of the German–Soviet pact of 1939. The Russian Empire acquired the Baltic areas as autonomous Duchies administered by Baltic German nobility via the Treaty of Nystad in 1721, in 1914, World War I broke out and by 1915 German armies had occupied Lithuania and Courland incorporating the areas into Ober Ost. As the Russian Empire began to collapse, independence movements sprung up on many regions. Later in 1918, the area was drawn into the Russian Civil War and proclamations of independence were issued in Lithuania on 16 February, in Estonia on 24 February, between years of 1918–1920, the bolsheviks tried to establish Soviet republics in the Baltic area. In November 1918 the Red Army conquested Narva and they proclaimed the Commune of the Working People of Estonia, but it was able to function only for six weeks. In December, the Latvian communists controlled Riga and proclaimed the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic, in May 1919, the communist control ended when the city was taken by combined German, Latvian and White Russian troops. By 1920, German troops had withdrawn and the Russian Civil War was in its final phase, consequently, the Baltic states signed peace treaties with Soviet Russia. Estonia signed the Treaty of Tartu on 2 February, Lithuania signed the Soviet–Lithuanian Peace Treaty on 12 July, in 1920, all three Baltic states adopted constitutions including universal suffrage, a multi-party system and parliamentary with a president. However, the communists were prohibited from participation in politics, the Bolsheviks could not prevent the independence of the Baltic states, but the West had to be persuaded to accept it. By 1921 Lithuania, and by 1922 Estonia and Latvia, all obtained de jure international recognition, all three states joined the League of Nations in 1921. The Baltic states begin to build an alliance system with their neighbours in Scandinavia. In the south, Poland was reconstituted with consolidation of territories from Germany, furthermore, in summer 1920, Lithuania cooperated with Bolsheviks trying to seize Vilnius, what poisoned Lithuanian relations with their neighbours. In the north, Finland had also been under Russian control from 1809 until its independence in 1918, in the west, Sweden followed a policy of neutrality, but during the 1920s it took a more active regional role. Between 1917 and 1934 the Baltic states worked to improve security, the Estonians and Latvians concluded a military convention in 1923, which Lithuania joined in 1934. Further, the Estonians and Latvians held a joint military exercise in 1931, however, the Finns and the Estonians had secret military exercises in the early 1930s, reconstructing the tsarist naval batteries. Finally in 1934 the three Baltic states reached the Baltic Entente agreement, in spite of the Vilnius issue, the Baltic states were open to the Polish option
5.
Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1940)
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The Soviet occupation of the Baltic states covers the period from the Soviet–Baltic mutual assistance pacts in 1939, to their invasion and annexation in 1940, to the mass deportations of 1941. In September and October 1939 the Soviet government compelled the much smaller Baltic states to conclude mutual assistance pacts which gave the Soviets the right to military bases there. Following invasion by the Red Army in the summer of 1940, the presidents of Estonia and Latvia were imprisoned and later died in Siberia. Under Soviet supervision, new puppet communist governments and fellow travelers arranged rigged elections with falsified results, shortly thereafter, the newly elected peoples assemblies passed resolutions requesting admission into the Soviet Union. In June 1941 the new Soviet governments carried out mass deportations of enemies of the people, consequently, at first many Balts greeted the Germans as liberators when they occupied the area a week later. The Soviets pressured Finland and the Baltic states to conclude mutual assistance treaties, the Soviets questioned the neutrality of Estonia following the escape of a Polish submarine from Tallinn on 18 September. A week later, on 24 September 1939, the Estonian foreign minister was given an ultimatum in Moscow, the Soviets demanded the conclusion of a treaty of mutual assistance to establish military bases in Estonia. The Estonians had no choice but to allow the establishment of Soviet naval, air, the corresponding agreement was signed on 28 September 1939. Latvia followed on 5 October 1939 and Lithuania shortly thereafter, on 10 October 1939, in 1939 Finland had rejected similar Soviet demands for Finland ceding or leasing parts of its territory. Consequently, the Soviet Union attacked Finland, starting the Winter War in November, the war ended in March 1940 with Finnish territorial losses exceeding the pre-war Soviet demands, but Finland kept its sovereignty. The Baltic states were neutral in the Winter War and the Soviets praised their relations with the USSR as exemplary. The Soviet troops allocated for military actions against the Baltic states numbered 435,000 troops, around 8,000 guns and mortars, over 3,000 tanks. On 3 June 1940 all Soviet military forces based in Baltic states were concentrated under the command of Aleksandr Loktionov, on 14 June 1940 the Soviets issued an ultimatum to Lithuania. The Soviet military blockade of Estonia went into effect while the attention was focused on the fall of Paris to Nazi Germany. Two Soviet bombers downed the Finnish passenger airplane Kaleva flying from Tallinn to Helsinki carrying three diplomatic pouches from the U. S. legations in Tallinn, Riga and Helsinki, the US Foreign Service employee Henry W. Antheil Jr. was killed in the crash. Molotov had accused the Baltic states of conspiracy against the Soviet Union, the occupation of the Baltic states coincided with a communist coup détat in each country, supported by the Soviet troops. On 15 June the USSR invaded Lithuania, the Soviet troops attacked the Latvian border guards at Masļenki. On 16 June 1940 the USSR invaded Estonia and Latvia, Soviet troops in the hundreds of thousands entered Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania
6.
1940 Soviet ultimatum to Lithuania
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The Soviet Union issued an ultimatum to Lithuania before midnight of June 14,1940. The Soviets, using a formal pretext, demanded to allow a number of Soviet soldiers to enter the Lithuanian territory. Lithuania, along with Latvia and Estonia, fell into the Russian sphere, despite the threat to the independence, Lithuanian authorities did little to plan for contingencies and were unprepared for the ultimatum. With Soviet troops already stationed in the according to the Mutual Assistance Treaty. On June 15, Lithuania unconditionally accepted the ultimatum and lost its independence, therefore, the Soviets followed semi-legal procedures, they took control of the government institutions, installed a new puppet government, and carried out show elections to the Peoples Seimas. During its first session, the Seimas proclaimed creation of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, the petition was officially accepted by the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union on August 3,1940. At the same time almost identical processes took place in Latvia and Estonia, Lithuania would not regain its independence until the proclamation of the Act of the Re-Establishment of the State of Lithuania on March 11,1990. The Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia were part of the Russian Empire during the 19th century, the rise of Nazi Germany during the 1930s created Russian fears of a German invasion. The Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Germany in August 1939, Germany shortly initiated World War II by invading Poland on September 1. A Lithuanian delegation was invited to Moscow, where it signed the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty on October 10,1939, official Soviet sources claimed that the presence of the Soviet military was necessary to strengthen defenses of a weak nation against possible attacks by Nazi Germany. In reality, it was the first step toward the occupation of Lithuania and was described by The New York Times as a virtual sacrifice of independence. Despite the pacts, the Soviet Unions fears continued, pursuing this strategy, the Soviet Union initiated the Winter War in Finland after that country rejected a similar Moscow-offered mutual assistance treaty. Stalin was unnerved by German successes in Europe, since they had taken Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, according to Nikita Khrushchev, after the fall of France in May, Joseph Stalin expressed the concern that Adolf Hitler would beat our brains in. The political situation in Lithuania, however, remained stable between October 1939 and March 1940, the Soviets did not interfere with Lithuanias domestic affairs and the Russian soldiers were well-behaved in their bases. The popular attitude was reflected in the slogan Vilnius – mūsų, the Lithuanian government had been debating its options and discussing the possibility of occupation since November 1939. At that time, the Lithuanian envoys Stasys Lozoraitis, Petras Klimas and they advised strengthening the army, depositing funds abroad, reinforcing the 1934 Baltic Entente alliance with Latvia and Estonia, and investigating the establishment of a government-in-exile. Although various resolutions were forwarded, nothing tangible was accomplished, during winter 1940 the Baltic Entente nations discussed greater cooperation. Tensions between the Soviet Union and Lithuania escalated along with Germanys successes, by mid-March 1940, the Winter War with Finland was over and the Soviets could concentrate their attention on gaining control of the Baltic states
7.
Sovietization of the Baltic states
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The Sovietization of the Baltic states refers to the sovietization of all spheres of life in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania when they were under control of the Soviet Union. The first section deals with the occupation from June 1940 to July 1941 when the German occupation began, the second period covers 1944 when the Soviet forces pushed the German out, until 1991 when independence was declared. After the Soviet invasion of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania in 1940 the repressions followed with the deportations carried out by the Soviets. The local Communist parties emerged from underground with 1500 members in Lithuania,500 in Latvia and 133 members in Estonia, the Soviets began a constitutional metamorphosis of the Baltic states by first forming transitional Peoples Governments. The new cabinets at first denied any intention of setting up Soviet regimes, not to mention incorporation into the Soviet Union, in late June and early July, the cabinets announced that the Communist Parties were the only legal political parties. Police forces were replaced by specially recruited militias, formed Peoples Armies were rapidly Sovietized in preparation for their eventual absorption into the Red Army. On July 14–15,1940, rigged elections for the Peoples Parliaments were conducted by local Communists loyal to the Soviet Union. Because of newly installed election restrictions, only the Communists and their allies were allowed to run. The new assemblies met for the first time in late July and this belied claims prior to the elections that no such action would be taken. In each case, the petitions passed, in due course, the Soviet Union accepted all three petitions and formally annexed the three countries. Public tribunals were set up to punish traitors to the people. Immediately after the elections, NKVD units under the leadership of Ivan Serov arrested more than 15,000 hostile elements, arrests and deportations began slowly, partly because of the language problems, not enough Soviet officials capable of reading the local language documents. A large-scale operation was planned for the night of 27–28 June 1941 and it was postponed until after the war when the Germans invaded the USSR on June 22,1941 – Operation Barbarossa. A Lithuanian government official claimed to have seen a Soviet document suggesting that 700,000 deportations were envisaged from Lithuania alone, the new Soviet-installed governments in the Baltic states began to align their policies with current Soviet practices. According to the doctrine in the process, the old bourgeois societies were destroyed so that new socialist societies, run by loyal Soviet citizens. The reconstituted parliaments quickly proclaimed the nationalization of industries, transportation, banks, private housing. Although land was now considered the property of the people, for the time being, the Red Army quickly absorbed the military forces of the Baltic states. Soviet security forces such as the NKVD, imposed strict censorship, between July and August 1940, Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian envoys to the United States and the United Kingdom made official protests against Soviet occupation and annexation of their countries
8.
Soviet deportations from Estonia
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Soviet deportations from Estonia were a series of mass deportations by the Soviet Union of approximately 33,000 people from Estonia in 1941 and 1945–1951. The two largest waves of deportations occurred in June 1941 and March 1949 simultaneously in all three Baltic states, the deportations targeted various categories of anti-Soviet elements and enemies of the people, nationalists, bandits, kulaks, and others. There were deportations based on nationality and religion, estonians residing in the Leningrad Oblast had already been subjected to deportation since 1935. People were deported to areas of the Soviet Union, predominantly to Siberia and Kazakhstan. Entire families, including children and the elderly, were deported without trial or prior announcement, of March 1949 deportees, over 70% of people were women and children under the age of 16. The Estonian Internal Security Service has brought to justice several past organizars of these events, the deportations have been repeatedly declared to constitute a crime against humanity by the Parliament of Estonia and also acknowledged to be so by the European Court of Human Rights. The deportation procedure was established by the Serov Instructions, the first repressions in Estonia affected Estonias national elite. On 17 July 1940, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces Johan Laidoner and his family, the country political and military leadership was deported almost entirely, including 10 of 11 ministers and 68 of 120 members of parliament. Only 4,331 persons returned to Estonia,11,102 people were to be deported from Estonia according to the order of 13 June but some managed to escape. Identical deportations were carried out in Latvia and Lithuania at the same time, the first wave of deportation has always been well documented, as many witnesses were subsequently able to flee abroad during the Second World War. Deportations after 1944 were, however, much harder to document, in July 1941 Estonia was conquered by Nazi Germany, who were forced out by advancing Soviet troops in 1944. As soon as the Soviets had returned the deportations resumed, in August 1945,407 persons, most of them of German descent, were transferred from Estonia to Perm Oblast. 18 families were transferred to Tyumen Oblast in October,37 families in November and other 37 families in December 1945 as Traitors, during the collectivization period in the Baltic republics, on 29 January 1949, the Council of Ministers issued top secret decree No. 390–138ss, which obligated the Ministry for State Security to exile the kulaks, lieutenant General Pyotr Burmak, commander of the MGB Internal Troops, was in generally charge for the operation. In Estonia the deportations were coordinated by Boris Kumm, Minister of Security of the Estonian SSR, over 8,000 managed to escape, but 20,722 were sent to Siberia during three days. Slightly more than 10 percent were men of working age, the deported included disabled people, pregnant women, newborns and children separated from their parents. The youngest deportee was 1-day-old Virve Eliste from Hiiumaa island, who died a year later in Siberia, nine trainloads of people were directed to Novosibirsk Oblast, six to Krasnoyarsk Krai, two to Omsk Oblast, and two to Irkutsk Oblast. Many perished, most have never returned home and this second wave of the large-scale deportations was aimed to facilitate collectivization, which was implemented with great difficulties in the Baltic republics
9.
Soviet deportations from Lithuania
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Soviet deportations from Lithuania were a series of 35 mass deportations carried out in the Lithuanian SSR, a republic of the Soviet Union, in 1941 and 1945–1952. Among the deportees were about 4,500 Poles and these deportations do not include Lithuanian partisans or political prisoners deported to Gulags. Deportations of the civilians served a purpose, repressing resistance to Sovietization policies in Lithuania. Approximately 28,000 of Lithuanian deportees died in exile due to living conditions. After Stalins death in 1953, the deportees were slowly and gradually released, the last deportees were released only in 1963. Some 60,000 managed to return to Lithuania, while 30,000 were prohibited from settling back in their homeland, similar deportations took place in Latvia, Estonia, and other parts of the Soviet Union. Lithuania observes the annual Mourning and Hope Day on June 14 in memory of those deported, in August 1939, Nazi Germany and Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact whereby dividing Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. The Baltic states became part of the Russian sphere, the Soviet Union began preparations for the occupation and incorporation of these territories. First, it imposed mutual assistance treaties by which the Baltic states agreed to allow bases for Soviet soldiers within their territory. Further steps were delayed by Winter War with Finland, by spring 1940, the war was over and Soviet Union increased its rhetoric accusing the Baltics of anti-Soviet conspiracy. Lithuania received Soviet ultimatum on June 14,1940, almost identical ultimatums to Latvia and Estonia followed two days later. Soviet Union demanded to allow a number of Soviet troops to enter the state territory. The Soviets followed semi-constitutional procedures while transforming independent Baltic states into the soviet socialist republics and they formed pro-Soviet Peoples Governments and held show elections to Peoples Parliaments. The annexation of the Lithuanian SSR, Latvian SSR, and Estonian SSR was completed by August 6,1940, the Soviets took control of political, economic, and cultural life in the three states. Economic life was disrupted and standard of living decreased, political activists and other people labeled as enemy of the people were arrested and imprisoned. In June 1941, some 17,000 Lithuanians were deported during the first deportation, further repressions were prevented by Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union. Within a week Lithuania was under Nazi regime, at first the Germans were greeted as liberators from the oppressive Soviet rule. In 1944, Nazi Germany was losing the war and Soviet Russia was making steady advances, in July 1944, Red Army reached the Lithuanian borders as part of the Operation Bagration
10.
June deportation
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The June deportation was a mass deportation by the Soviet Union of tens of thousands of people from the territories occupied in 1940–1941, Baltic states, occupied Poland, and Moldavia. The deportation took place from May 22 to June 20,1941, however, the goal of the deportations was to eliminate political opponents of the Soviet regime, not to strengthen security in preparation for the German attack. In occupied Poland, it was the wave of mass deportations and was intended to combat the counter-revolutionary Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The procedure for the deportations was approved by Ivan Serov in the so-called Serov Instructions, people were deported without trials in whole families. The mortality rate among the Estonian deportees was estimated at 60%, the number of deported people include, The June deportation has been the subject of several Baltic films from the 2010s. The 2013 Lithuanian film The Excursionist dramatises the events through a 10-year-old girl who escapes from her camp, estonias 2014 In the Crosswind is an essay film based on the memoirs of a woman who was deported to Siberia, and is told through staged tableaux vivants filmed in black-and-white. Estonias Ülo Pikkov also addressed the events in the short film Body Memory from 2012. Soviet deportations from Estonia Soviet deportations from Lithuania
11.
Welles Declaration
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It was an application of the 1932 Stimson Doctrine of non-recognition of international territorial changes that were executed by force. It was consistent with U. S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s attitude towards territorial expansion, after the pact, the Soviets engaged in a series of ultimatums and actions ending in the annexation of the Baltic states during the summer of 1940. While the area held little strategic importance to the United States, the United States and Britain anticipated future involvement in the war, but U. S. isolationism and a foreseeable British-Soviet alliance deterred open confrontation over the Baltics. Welles, concerned with postwar border planning, had been authorized by Roosevelt to issue public statements gauging a move towards more intervention. The Welles Declaration established a five-decade non-recognition of the Baltic states annexation, the document had major significance for overall U. S. policy toward Europe in the critical year of 1940. Its essence was supported by all subsequent U. S. presidents, the Baltic states re-established their independence in 1990–91. In the late 18th into the early 20th Century, the Russian Empire annexed the regions that now comprise the three Baltic States as well as Finland and their national awareness movements began to gain strength, and each declared itself independent in the wake of World War I. All of the States were recognized by the League of Nations during the early 1920s, the Estonian Age of Awakening, the Latvian National Awakening, and the Lithuanian National Revival expressed the peoples wishes to create independent states. After World War I the three states declared their independence – Lithuania re-established its independence on February 16,1918, Estonia on February 24,1918, the Baltic countries often were seen as a unified group, despite dissimilarities in their languages and histories. Lithuania was recognized as a state in 1253, Estonia and Latvia emerged from territories held by the Livonian Confederation, all three states were admitted into the League of Nations in 1921. The U. S. had granted full de jure recognition to all three Baltic states by July 1922, the recognitions were granted during the shift from the Democratic administration of Woodrow Wilson to the Republican administration of Warren Harding. The U. S. had suffered over 100,000 deaths during World War I and pursued an isolationist policy, the situation changed after the outbreak of World War II. Poland was invaded in September 1939, great Britain became involved, and a series of German victories in Denmark, Norway, and the Netherlands during spring 1940 were alarming. Britain was clearly threatened and its leadership discussed the possibility of an alliance with the Soviet Union, under the circumstances, direct British confrontation over the Baltic issue was difficult. Roosevelt did not wish to lead the U. S. into the war, his 1937 Quarantine Speech denouncing aggression by Italy and Japan had met mixed responses. Welles felt freer in this regard, looking towards postwar border issues, Roosevelt saw Welless stronger public statements as experiments that would test the public mood in regard to U. S. foreign policy. The secret protocol contained in the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Germany and the Soviet Union had relegated Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to the Soviet sphere of influence. During the course of late 1939 and early 1940, the Soviet Union issued a series of ultimatums to the Baltic governments that led to the illegal annexation of the states
12.
German occupation of Estonia during World War II
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After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22,1941, Army Group North reached Estonia in July. Initially the Germans were perceived by most Estonians as liberators from the USSR and its repressions, although hopes were raised for the restoration of the countrys independence, it was soon realized that they were but another occupying power. The Germans pillaged the country for their war effort and unleashed The Holocaust in Estonia during which they, for the duration of the occupation, Estonia was incorporated into the German province of Ostland. Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22,1941, three days later, on June 25, Finland declared herself to once again be in a state of war with the USSR, starting the Continuation War. On July 3, Joseph Stalin made his public statement over the radio calling for scorched-earth policy in the areas to be abandoned. Because the northernmost areas of the Baltic states were the last to be reached by the Germans, the Estonian forest brothers, numbering about 50,000, inflicted heavy casualties on the remaining Soviets, as many as 4,800 were killed and 14,000 captured. On that day, a group of forest brothers attacked Soviet trucks on a road in the district of Harju, the Soviet 22nd Rifle Corps was the unit that lost most men, as a large group of Estonian soldiers and officers deserted from it. An Estonian writer Juhan Jaik wrote in 1941, These days bogs and forests are more populated than farms, the forests and bogs are our territory while the fields and farms are occupied by the enemy. The 8th Army, retreated in front of the 2nd corps of the German Army behind the Pärnu River - the Emajõgi River line on July 12. As German troops approached Tartu on July 10 and prepared for battle with the Soviets. The Wehrmacht stopped its advance and hung back, leaving the Estonians to do the fighting, the battle of Tartu lasted two weeks, and destroyed most of the city. Under the leadership of Friedrich Kurg, the Estonian partisans drove out the Soviets from Tartu on their own, in the meanwhile, the Soviets had been murdering citizens held in Tartu Prison, killing 192 before the Estonians captured the city. At the end of July the Germans resumed their advance in Estonia working in tandem with the Estonian Forest Brothers, both German troops and Estonian partisans took Narva on August 17 and the Estonian capital Tallinn on August 28. On that day, the Soviet flag shot down earlier on Pikk Hermann was replaced with the Flag of Estonia by Fred Ise, after the Soviets were driven out from Estonia, German troops disarmed all the partisan groups. The Estonian flag was replaced with the flag of Nazi Germany. Most Estonians greeted the Germans with relatively open arms and hoped for the restoration of independence, Estonia set up an administration, led by Jüri Uluots as soon as the Soviet regime retreated and before German troops arrived. Estonian partisans that drove the Red Army from Tartu made it possible and that all was for nothing since the Germans had made their plans as set out in Generalplan Ost, they disbanded the provisional government and Estonia became a part of the German-occupied Ostland. A Sicherheitspolizei was established for internal security under the leadership of Ain-Ervin Mere, according to Rosenberg a future policy was created, Germanization of the racially suitable elements
13.
The Holocaust in Estonia
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The Holocaust in Estonia refers to the Nazi crimes during the occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany. Prior to the war, there were approximately 4,300 Estonian Jews, after the Soviet 1940 occupation about 10% of the Jewish population was deported to Siberia, along with other Estonians. Roma people of Estonia were also murdered and enslaved by the Nazi occupiers, the Nazis and their allies also killed around 6,000 ethnic Estonians and 1,000 ethnic Russians who were accused of being communist sympathizers or the relatives of communist sympathizers. In addition around 25,000 Soviet prisoners of war and Jews from other parts of Europe were killed in Estonia during the German occupation, round-ups and killings of the remaining Jews began immediately as the first stage of Generalplan Ost which would require the removal of 50% of Estonians. Arrests and executions continued as the Germans, with the assistance of local collaborators, Estonia became a part of the Reichskommissariat Ostland. A Sicherheitspolizei was established for internal security under the leadership of Ain Mere in 1942, Estonia was declared Judenfrei quite early by the German occupation regime at the Wannsee Conference. Jews that had remained in Estonia were killed, fewer than a dozen Estonian Jews are known to have survived the war in Estonia. The Estonian state archives contain death certificates and lists of Jews shot dated July, August, and early September 1941. For example, the death certificate of Rubin Teitelbaum, born in Tapa on January 17,1907. By a decision of the Sicherheitspolizei on September 4,1941, teitelbaums crime was being a Jew and thus constituting a threat to the public order. On September 11,1941 an article entitled Juuditäht seljal – A Jewish Star on the Back appeared in the Estonian mass-circulation newspaper Postimees and it stated that Dr. in diameter on the left side of their chest and back. Jews were prohibited from changing their place of residence, walking along the sidewalk, using any means of transportation, going to theatres, museums, cinema, or school. The professions of lawyer, physician, notary, banker, or real estate agent were declared closed to Jews, the regulations also declared that the property and homes of Jewish residents were to be confiscated. These regulations also provided for the establishment of a camp near the south-eastern Estonian city of Tartu. A later decisions provided for the construction of a Jewish ghetto near the town of Harku, but this was never built, the Estonian State Archives contain material pertinent to the cases of about 450 Estonian Jews. They were typically arrested either at home or in the street, taken to the police station. They were either outright or sent to concentration camp and shot later. An Estonian woman, E. S. Consequently, Jews from countries outside the Baltics were shipped there to be killed, and an estimated 10,000 Jews were killed in Estonia after having been deported to camps there from elsewhere in Eastern Europe
14.
German occupation of Latvia during World War II
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The occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany was completed on July 10,1941 by Germanys armed forces. Latvia became a part of Nazi Germanys Reichskommissariat Ostland — the Province General of Latvia, the killings were committed by the Einsatzgruppe A, and the Wehrmacht. Latvian collaborators, including the 500–1,500 members of the Arājs Commando,30,000 Jews were shot in the autumn of 1941 with most of the remaining Jewish people being rounded up and put into ghettos. Germany, Austria and the present-day Czech Republic Jews, now located in the Riga ghetto were put to work, the Kaiserwald concentration camp was built in 1943 at Mežaparks on the edge of Riga which took most of the inmates from the ghetto. In the camp the inmates were put to work by large German companies, before the Soviet forces returned, all Jews under 18 or over 30 were shot, with the remainder moved to Stutthof concentration camp. During the years of Nazi occupation, special campaigns killed 90,000 people in Latvia and those who were not Jews or Gypsies were mostly civilians whose political opinions and activity were unacceptable to the German occupiers. Jewish and Gypsy civilians were eliminated as a result of the Nazi theory of races as set out in the Nazi Generalplan Ost plan. And lastly there were people who felt persecuted, mainly the Jews, many resistance people ended up joining either the German and some, the Soviet armies, as a means of fighting. Very few were able to live as independent bands in the forests, when the Germans first arrived in Latvia they found anti Soviet guerrilla bands operating in may areas, of varying quality, some swollen by deserters from Soviet units. The largest and most effective was led by Kārlis Aperāts who moved on to become a Standartenführer, some Latvians resisted the German occupation undertaking solo acts of bravery, like Žanis Lipke who risked his life to save more than 50 Jews. The Latvian resistance movement was divided between the units under the Latvian Central Council and the pro-Soviet forces under the Central Staff of the Partisan Movement in Moscow. Their Latvian commander was Arturs Sproģis, the Latvian Central Council published the outlawed publication Brīvā Latvija. The periodical promoted the idea of renewing democracy in Latvia after the war, public displays of resistance such as the 15 May 1942 in Riga resulted in the young nationalists being arrested, others were prevented when their plans were discovered. However much partisan activity was centred of forcing civilians to provide food and these reports were used as propaganda by the Soviets. Resistance continued at a level after the return of the Red army in July 1944, with perhaps 40,000 Latvians involved. Many Latvian soldiers deserted when Germany attacked Latvia, a few, especially Jews, continued to serve happily with the Soviet forces. 130th Latvian Rifle Corps of the Order of Suvorov and this Red Army national formation was formed, for the third time, on June 5,1944, shortly before the Red Army attacked Latvia. Their strength was about 15,000 men, which consisted three divisions – 43rd Guards, 308th Latvian Rifle Division and a Soviet division, the Corps units fought against Latvian Legion 19th Division units
15.
The Holocaust in Latvia
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The Holocaust in Latvia refers to the war crimes of Nazis and Nazi collaborators victimizing Jews during the occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany. The German army crossed the Soviet frontier early in the morning on Sunday,22 June 1941, the German army advanced quickly through Lithuania towards Daugavpils and other strategic points in Latvia. In advance of the invasion, the SD had organised four Special Assignment Units, the name of these units was a euphemism, as their real purpose was to kill large numbers of people whom the Nazis regarded as undesirable. These included Communists, Gypsies, the ill, and especially. The SD in Latvia can be distinguished in photographs and descriptions by their uniforms, the full black of the Nazi SS was seldom worn, instead the usual attire was the grey Wehrmacht uniform with black accents. They wore the SD patch on the sleeve, a yellowish shirt. The SD ranks were identical to the SS, the SD did not wear the SS lightning rune symbol on their right collar tabs, but replaced it with either the Totenkopf or the letters SD. The SD first established its power in Latvia through Einsatzgruppe A, the KdS took orders both from RSHA in Berlin and from another official called the Befehlshaber der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD, or BdS. Both the KdS and the BdS were subordinate to another official called the Ranking SS and Police Commander, the lines of authority were overlapping and ambiguous. The eastern part of Latvia, including Daugavpils and the Latgale region, was assigned to Einsatzkommandos 1b and 3, EK 1b had about 50 to 60 men and was commanded by Erich Ehrlinger. In Latvia, the Holocaust started on the night of 23 to 24 June 1941, on the following days 35 Jews were exterminated in Durbe, Priekule and Asīte. On June 29 the Nazi invaders started forming the first Latvian SD auxiliary unit in Jelgava, mārtiņš Vagulāns, member of the Pērkonkrusts organisation, was chosen to head it. In the summer of 1941,300 men in the unit took part in the extermination of about 2000 Jews in Jelgava, the killing was supervised by the officers of the German SD Rudolf Batz and Alfred Becu, who involved the SS people of the Einsatzgruppe in the action. The main Jelgava Synagogue was burnt down through their joint effort, after the invasion of Riga, Walter Stahlecker, assisted by the members of Pērkonkrusts and other local collaborationists, organised the pogrom of Jews in the capital of Latvia. Viktors Arājs, aged 31 at the time, possible former member of Pērkonkrusts and he was an idle eternal student who was supported by his wife, a rich shop owner, who was ten years older than he was. Arājs had worked in the Latvian Police for a period of time. He stood out with his power-hungry and extreme thinking, the man was well fed, well dressed, and with his students hat proudly cocked on one ear. On 2 July Viktors Arājs started to form his unit of men who were responding to the appeal of Pērkonkrusts to take arms and to clear Latvia of Jews
16.
German occupation of Lithuania during World War II
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The occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany lasted from the German invasion of Soviet Union on June 22,1941 to the end of the Battle of Memel on January 28,1945. At first the Germans were welcomed as liberators from the repressive Soviet regime which occupied Lithuania prior to the German arrival, in hopes of re-establishing independence or regaining some autonomy, Lithuanians organized their Provisional Government. Soon the Lithuanian attitudes towards the Germans changed into passive resistance, in August 1939, the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany signed the German–Soviet Nonaggression Pact and its Secret Additional Protocol, dividing Central and Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. Lithuania was initially assigned to the German sphere, likely due to its dependence on German trade. After the March 1939 ultimatum regarding the Klaipėda Region, Germany accounted for 75% of Lithuanian exports, to solidify its influence, Germany suggested a German–Lithuanian military alliance against Poland and promised to return the Vilnius Region, but Lithuania held to its policy of strict neutrality. When Germany invaded Poland in September 1939, the Wehrmacht took control of the Lublin Voivodeship and eastern Warsaw Voivodeship, almost immediately after the German–Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty, Soviets pressured Lithuanians into signing the Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty. According to this treaty, Lithuania gained about 6,880 square kilometres of territory in the Vilnius Region in return for five Soviet military bases in Lithuania, the Soviet–Lithuanian Treaty was described by The New York Times as virtual sacrifice of independence. Similar pacts were proposed to Latvia, Estonia, and Finland, Finland was the only state to refuse such a treaty and that sparked the Winter War. This war delayed the occupation of Lithuania, the Soviets did not interfere with Lithuanias domestic affairs, despite Lithuanian attempts to negotiate and resolve the issues, Soviet Union issued an ultimatum on June 14,1940. Lithuanians accepted the ultimatum and Soviet military took control of cities by June 15. The following day identical ultimatums were issued to Latvia and Estonia, to legitimize the occupation, the Soviets staged elections to the so-called Peoples Seimas, which then proclaimed establishment of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic. This allowed Soviet propaganda to claim that Lithuania voluntarily joined the Soviet Union, soon after the occupation started, Sovietization policies were implemented. On July 1, all political, cultural, and religious organizations were closed, with only the Communist Party of Lithuania and its youth branch allowed to exist. All banks, real estate larger than 170 square metres, private enterprises with more than 20 workers or more than 150,000 litas of gross receipts were nationalized and this disruption in management and operations created a sharp drop in production. Russian soldiers and officials were eager to spend their appreciated rubles, to turn small peasants against large landowners, collectivization was not introduced in Lithuania. All land was nationalized, farms were reduced to 30 hectares, in preparation for eventual collectivization, new taxes between 30% and 50% of farm production were enacted. The Lithuanian litas was artificially depreciated 3–4 times its actual value, before the elections to the Peoples Parliament, Soviets arrested some 2,000 of most prominent political activists. These arrests paralyzed any attempts to create anti-Soviet groups, an estimated 12,000 were imprisoned as enemies of the people
17.
Resistance in Lithuania during World War II
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During World War II, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany, and the Soviet Union again in 1944. Resistance during this period took many forms, significant parts of the resistance were formed by Polish and Soviet forces, some of which fought with Lithuanian collaborators. This article presents a summary of the organizations, persons and actions involved, in 1940, President Antanas Smetona fled to Germany, not wanting his government to become a puppet of the Soviet occupation. Soviet attempts to him were unsuccessful, and he was able to settle in the United States. In 1940, Chiune Sugihara, the Japanese consul in Kaunas, in 1941, the Lithuanian Activist Front formed an underground government, and following the June uprising, the Provisional Government of Lithuania maintained sovereignty for a brief period. Soviet partisans began sabotage and guerrilla operations against German forces immediately after the Nazi invasion of 1941, the Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force was eventually formed in 1944 under Lithuanian command, but was liquidated by the Nazis only a few months later for refusing to subordinate to their command. There was no significant violent resistance directed against the Nazis, some Lithuanians, encouraged by Germanys vague promises of autonomy, cooperated with the Nazis. Pre-war tensions over the Vilnius Region resulted in a civil war between Poles and Lithuanians. Nazi-sponsored Lithuanian units, primarily the Lithuanian Secret Police, were active in the region, the conflict culminated in the massacres of Polish and Lithuanian civilians in June 1944 in the Glitiškės and Dubingiai villages. See also Polish-Lithuanian relations during World War II, also in 1943, several underground political groups united under the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania. The committee issued a declaration of independence that went largely unnoticed and it became active mostly outside Lithuania among emigrants and deportees, and was able to establish contacts in Western countries and get support for resistance operations inside Lithuania. It would persist abroad for years as one of the groups representing Lithuania in exile. Jewish partisans also fought against the Nazi occupation, in July 1944, as part of its Operation Tempest, the Polish Home Army launched Operation Ostra Brama, an attempt to recapture that city. See also Polish–Lithuanian relations during World War II, as of January 2008,723 Lithuanians were recognized by Israel as Righteous among the Nations for their efforts in saving Lithuanias Jews from the Holocaust. The total number of people who helped the Jews may be much higher, Lithuanian partisans, known as the Forest Brothers, began guerrilla warfare against the Soviet forces as soon as the front passed over them in 1944, and continued an armed struggle until 1953. The core of this movement was made up of soldiers from the Territorial Defense Force who had disbanded with their weapons and uniforms and members of the Lithuanian Freedom Army, the underground had extensive clandestine radio and press. Thousands of people engaged in active and passive resistance against the Soviet authorities, the most famous of these partisans is probably Juozas Lukša, author of several books during the resistance and the subject of a recent film. While armed resistance ended in the 1950s, nonviolent resistance continued in various forms, February 16, the date that Lithuania first declared its independence in 1918, played an important symbolic role during this period
18.
The Holocaust in Lithuania
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Out of approximately 208, 000-210,000 Jews, an estimated 190, 000–195,000 were murdered before the end of World War II, most between June and December 1941. More than 95% of Lithuanias Jewish population was massacred over the three-year German occupation — a more complete destruction than any other country affected by the Holocaust. Historians attribute this to the collaboration in the genocide by the non-Jewish local paramilitaries. The Holocaust resulted in the loss of life in so short a period of time in the history of Lithuania. The German invasion of the Soviet Union, on 22 June 1941, the Nazis were welcomed as liberators and received support from Lithuanias irregular militia against retreating Soviet forces. Many Lithuanians believed Germany would allow the re-establishment of the countrys independence, in order to appease the Germans, some people expressed significant antisemitic sentiments. For a brief period it appeared that the Germans were about to grant Lithuania significant autonomy, however, after about a month, the more independently minded Lithuanian organizations were disbanded around August and September 1941, as the Germans seized more control. It is difficult to estimate the number of casualties of the Holocaust. Chronologically, the genocide in Lithuania can be divided into three phases, phase 1) summer to the end of 1941, phase 2) December 1941 – March 1943, phase 3) April 1943 – mid-July 1944. The Lithuanian port city of Klaipėda had historically been a member of the German Hanseatic League, the city was semi-autonomous during the period of Lithuanian independence, and under League of Nations supervision. Approximately 8,000 Jews lived in Memel when it was absorbed into the Reich on March 15,1939 and its Jewish residents were expelled, and most fled into Lithuania proper. In 1941, German killing squads, the Einsatzgruppen, followed the advance of the German army units, most Lithuanian Jews perished in the first phase during the first months of the occupation and before the end of 1941. Approximately 800 Jews were shot that day in what is known as the Garsden Massacre, approximately 100 non-Jewish Lithuanians were also executed, many for trying to aid their Jewish neighbors. About 80,000 Jews were killed by October and about 175,000 by the end of the year. The majority of Jews in Lithuania were not required to live in ghettos nor sent to the Nazi concentration camps which at time were just in the preliminary stages of operation. Instead they were shot in pits near their places of residence with the most infamous mass murders taking place in the Ninth Fort near Kaunas, by 1942 about 45,000 Jews survived, largely those who had been sent to ghettos and camps. In the second phase, the Holocaust slowed, as Germans decided to use the Jews as forced labor to fuel the German war economy. In the third phase, the destruction of Jews was again given a priority, it was in that phase that the remaining ghettos
19.
Soviet occupation of the Baltic states (1944)
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The Soviet Union occupied most of the territory of the Baltic states in its 1944 Baltic Offensive during World War II. The German forces were deported and the Latvian forces were executed as traitors, after the war, the Soviet Union reestablished control over the Baltic territories in line with its forcible annexations as communist republics in 1940. By 2 February 1944 the siege of Leningrad was over and the Soviet troops were on the border with Estonia, having failed to break through, the Soviets launched the Tartu Offensive on 10 August, and the Baltic Offensive on 14 September with forces totalling 1.5 million. The High Command of the German Army issued Operation Aster on 16 September, the NKVD also targeted members of the National Committee of the Republic of Estonia. The Estonian Forest Brothers initially maintained a low profile during the Soviet reoccupation, the 1945 VE Day did not bring a restoration of independence to Estonia, and the Forest Brothers then renewed their campaign of killing Soviet senior armed forces and NKVD officers. In Latvia, NKVD units were the main force fighting against 10,000 active members of the resistance forces. The Soviets introduced conscription immediately after their occupation of Vilnius in July 1944, only 14 percent of those eligible responded to the summons. The Soviets tracked down draft dodgers and killed over 400 people, during 1944 and 1945 the Soviets conscripted 82,000 Lithuanians. In Northern Europe, the fate of small countries during World War II varied considerably, Denmark and Norway were occupied by Germany, Sweden had to make some concessions but with skillful foreign policy and a credible military it was able to stay out of the war. Both Denmark and Norway restored their sovereignty after the German capitulation, finland, which geographically was in a less advantageous position than Sweden, had to endure two wars – the Winter War and the Continuation War – with territorial losses. There were efforts to restore independence during the German occupation, in 1941, the Lithuanians had overthrown Soviet rule two days before the Germans arrived in Kaunas. The Germans allowed the Provisional Government to function for over a month, towards the end of the war, once it became clear that Germany would be defeated, many Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians joined the Germans once again. It was hoped that by engaging in such a war the Baltic countries would be able to attract Western support for the cause of independence from the USSR, in Latvia an underground nationalist Central Council of Latvia was formed on August 13,1943. An analogous body, the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania, on March 23,1944, the underground National Committee of the Estonian Republic was founded. Thousands of Estonians not willing to side with the Nazis joined the Finnish Defence Forces to fight against the Soviet Union, the Finnish Infantry Regiment 200 was formed out of the volunteers known colloquially as the Finnish Boys. On 2 February 1944, the front reached the former Estonian border, the call drew support from across the country,38,000 conscripts jammed registration centers. In 1943 and 1944, two divisions of Waffen SS were formed from Latvians, predominantly conscripts, to fight against the Red Army, the battles of Narva were perceived by Estonian people as the fight for their country, a consolation for the humiliation of 1940. Over the radio, in English, the Estonian government declared its neutrality in the war, the government issued two editions of the State Gazette
20.
Battle of Narva (1944)
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The campaign took place in the northern section of the Eastern Front and consisted of two major phases, the Battle for Narva Bridgehead and the Battle of Tannenberg Line. The Soviet Kingisepp–Gdov Offensive and Narva Offensives were part of the Red Army Winter Spring Campaign of 1944, following Joseph Stalins Broad Front strategy, these battles coincided with the Dnieper–Carpathian Offensive and the Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive. A number of volunteers and local Estonian conscripts participated in the battle as part of the German forces. The Soviet units established a number of bridgeheads on the bank of the river in February while the Germans maintained a bridgehead on the eastern bank. Subsequent attempts failed to expand their toehold, German counterattacks annihilated the bridgeheads to the north of Narva and reduced the bridgehead south of the town, stabilizing the front until July 1944. The Soviet Narva Offensive led to the capture of the city after the German troops retreated to their prepared Tannenberg Defence Line in the Sinimäed Hills 16 kilometres from Narva, in the ensuing Battle of Tannenberg Line, the German army group held its ground. Stalins main strategic goal—a quick recovery of Estonia as a base for air and seaborne attacks against Finland, as a result of the tough defence of the German forces the Soviet war effort in the Baltic Sea region was hampered for seven and a half months. Terrain played a significant role in operations around Narva, the elevation above sea level rarely rises above 100 meters in the area and the land is cut by numerous waterways, including the Narva and Plyussa Rivers. The bulk of the land in the region is forested and large swamps inundate areas of low elevation, the effect of the terrain on operations was one of channelization, because of the swamps, only certain areas were suitable for large-scale troop movement. On a strategic scale, a choke point was present between the northern shore of Lake Peipus and the Gulf of Finland. The 45 kilometre wide strip of land was bisected by the Narva River and had large areas of wilderness. The primary transportation routes, the Narva–Tallinn highway and railway, ran on an east-west axis near, there were no other east-west transportation routes capable of sustaining troop movement on a large scale in the region. On 14 January 1944, the Leningrad Front launched the Krasnoye Selo–Ropsha Offensive, on the third day of the offensive, the Soviets broke through German lines and pushed westward. The Army Group North evacuated the population of Narva. By 1944 it was fairly routine practice for Stavka to assign its operating fronts new, the rationale was that relentless pressure might trigger a German collapse. This was applied in consonance with his rationale that, if the Red Army applied pressure along the entire front. The Soviet winter campaign included major assaults across the entire expanse the front in the Ukraine, Belorussia, breaking through the Narva Isthmus situated between the Gulf of Finland and Lake Peipus was of major strategic importance to the Soviet Armed Forces. For the Baltic Fleet trapped in a bay of the Gulf of Finland
21.
Baltic Offensive
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The result of the series of battles was the isolation and encirclement of the Army Group North in the Courland Pocket and Soviet re-occupation of the Baltic States. In 1944, the Wehrmacht was pressed back along its entire frontline in the east, in February 1944, it retreated from the approaches to Leningrad to the prepared section of the Panther Line at the border of Estonia. In June and July, Army Group Centre was thrown back from the Belorussian SSR into Poland by Operation Bagration and this created the opportunity for the Red Army to attack towards the Baltic Sea, thereby severing the land connection between the German Army Groups. By 5 July, the Šiauliai Offensive commenced, as a follow-on from Operation Bagration, the Soviet 43rd, 51st, and 2nd Guards Armies attacked towards Riga on the Baltic coast with 3rd Guards Mechanized Corps in the van. By 31 July, the coast on the Gulf of Riga had been reached, 6th Guards Army covered Riga, the German reaction was rapid, and initially successful. A counterattack, code-named Operation Doppelkopf, was conducted on 16 August by XXXX, a follow-on attack, code-named Operation Cäsar, and launched on 16 September, failed in the same manner. After a brief period of respite, STAVKA issued orders for the Baltic Strategic Offensive, the Tallinn Offensive was carried out by the Leningrad Front to drive German forces from mainland Estonia. The Moonsund Landing Operation was the landing on the Estonian islands of Hiiumaa, Saaremaa and Muhu. According to Soviet data Germany lost 7.000 dead soldiers and 700 captured, the Memel Offensive was an attack by the 1st Baltic Front aimed at severing the connection between the German Army Groups Centre and North. The Baltic Offensive operation resulted in the expulsion of German forces from Estonia and Lithuania, the Soviet fronts involved in the battle lost a total of ca.280,000 men to all causes. Communication lines between Army Group North and Army Group Centre were permanently severed, and the former was relegated to an occupied Baltic seashore area in Latvia. On 25 January, Adolf Hitler renamed Army Group North to Army Group Courland implicitly recognising that there was no possibility of restoring a new land corridor between Courland and East Prussia. Operations by the Red Army against the Courland Pocket continued until the surrender of the Army Group Courland on 9 May 1945, the German command released thousands of native conscripts from military service. However the Soviet command began conscripting Baltic natives as areas were brought under Soviet control, while some ended up serving on both sides, many partisans hid in the woods to avoid conscription. 112 Hero of the Soviet Union awards were given out during the offensive, Soviet rule of the Baltic states was re-established by force, and sovietisation followed, which was mostly carried out in 1944–1950. The forced collectivisation of agriculture began in 1947, and was completed after the deportation of civilians in March 1949. All private farms were confiscated, and farmers were made to join the collective farms, an armed resistance movement of forest brothers was active until the mass deportations. Tens of thousands participated or supported the movement, thousands were killed, the Soviet authorities fighting the forest brothers suffered also hundreds of deaths
22.
Courland Pocket
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The Courland Pocket refers to the Red Armys blockade or isolation of Axis forces on the Courland Peninsula from July 1944 through May 1945. The Soviet commander was General Ivan Bagramyan and this action isolated the German Army Group North from the rest of the German forces between Tukums and Liepāja in Latvia. Renamed Army Group Courland on 25 January, the Army Group remained isolated until the end of the war. When they were ordered to surrender to the Soviet command on 8 May, they were in blackout and did not get the order before 10 May. It was one of the last German groups to surrender in Europe, Courland, along with the rest of the Baltic eastern coast and islands, was overrun by Army Group North during 1941. Army Group North spent most of the two years attempting to take Leningrad, without success. In January 1944, the Soviet Army lifted the siege of Leningrad, on 22 June 1944, the Red Army launched the Belorussian Strategic Offensive, codenamed Operation Bagration. The goal of this offensive was to liberate the Belorussian SSR from the German occupation, Operation Bagration was extremely successful, resulting in the almost complete destruction of Army Group Centre, and ended on 29 August. In its final stages, Operation Bagration saw Soviet forces strike deep towards the Baltic coast, after Operation Bagration ended, the Soviet forces continued the clearing of the Baltic coast, despite German attempts to restore the front in Operation Doppelkopf. The Red Army fought the Memel Offensive Operation with the goal of isolating Army Group North by capturing the city of Memel, on 9 October 1944, the Soviet forces reached the Baltic Sea near Memel after over-running headquarters of the 3rd Panzer Army. As a result, Army Group North was cut off from East Prussia, hitlers military advisors—notably Heinz Guderian, the Chief of the German General Staff—urged evacuation and utilisation of the troops to stabilise the front in central Europe. This would allow German forces to focus on the Eastern Front, Soviet forces launched six major offensives against the German and Latvian forces entrenched in the Courland Pocket between 15 October 1944, and 4 April 1945. From 15 to 22 October 1944 — Soviets launched the Riga Offensive Operation on the 15th at 10,00 after conducting a heavy artillery barrage. Hitler permitted the Army Group Commander, Ferdinand Schoerner, to commence withdrawal from Riga on 11 October, the front stabilised with the main remnant of Army Group North isolated in the peninsula. From 27 October to 25 November — Soviets launched an offensive trying to break through the front toward Skrunda and Saldus including, Soviets also attacked southeast of Liepāja in an attempt to capture that port. 80 divisions assaulted the Germans from 1 to 15 November in a front 12 km wide, despite a 10,1 advantage in manpower at critical sectors, the Soviet breakthrough stalled after roughly 4 kilometers. The 3rd grand battle started on 21 December with a Soviet attack on Germans near Saldus, the Soviet 2nd Baltic and 1st Baltic Fronts commenced a blockade, precipitating the German defence of the Courland perimeter during Soviet attempts to reduce it. In this battle, serving with the 2nd Baltic Fronts 22nd Army, the battle ended on 31 December and the front was stabilized
23.
Forest Brothers
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Similar anti-Soviet Eastern European resistance groups fought against Soviet and communist rule in Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, and western Ukraine. The Red Army occupied the independent Baltic states in 1940–1941 and, after a period of German occupation, as Stalinist repression intensified over the following years,50,000 residents of these countries used the heavily forested countryside as a natural refuge and base for armed anti-Soviet resistance. The term Forest Brothers first came into use in the Baltic region during the chaotic Russian Revolution of 1905, varying sources refer to forest brothers of this era either as peasants revolting or as schoolteachers seeking refuge in the forest. Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania gained their independence in 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire, the ideals of nationalism and self-determination had taken hold with many people as a result of having independent states of Estonia and Latvia for the first time since the 13th century. Allied declarations such as the Atlantic Charter had offered promise of a world in which the three Baltic nations could re-establish themselves. Having already experienced occupation by the Soviet regime followed by the Nazi regime, unlike Estonia and Latvia where the Germans conscripted the local population into military formations within Waffen-SS, Lithuania never had its own Waffen-SS division. In 1944 the Nazi authorities had created an ill-equipped but 20, the Germans, however, quickly came to see this force as a nationalist threat to their occupation regime. The senior staff were arrested on May 15,1944, with General Plechavičius being deported to the camp in Salaspils. Many Estonian and Latvian soldiers, and a few Germans, evaded capture, others, such as Alfons Rebane and Alfrēds Riekstiņš escaped to the United Kingdom and Sweden and participated in Allied intelligence operations in aid of the Forest Brothers. The Latvian government has asserted that the Latvian Legion, primarily composed of the 15th and 19th Latvian Waffen-SS divisions, was neither a criminal nor collaborationist organization. The ranks of the resistance swelled with the Red Armys attempts at conscription in the Baltic states after the war, the widespread harassment of disappearing conscripts families pushed more people to evade authorities in the forests. Many enlisted men deserted, taking their weapons with them, with the German invasion of the Soviet Union on June 22,1941, Joseph Stalin made a public statement on the radio calling for a scorched earth policy in the areas to be abandoned on July 3. The battle of Tartu lasted for two weeks, and destroyed a part of the city. Under the leadership of Friedrich Kurg, the Forest Brothers drove out the Soviets from Tartu, thus they secured South Estonia under Estonian control by July 10. The NKVD murdered 193 people in Tartu Prison on their retreat on July 8, the German 18th Army crossed the Estonian southern border on July 7–9. The Germans resumed their advance in Estonia by working in cooperation with the Forest Brothers, in North Estonia, the destruction battalions had the greatest impact, being the last Baltic territory captured from the Soviets. The joint Estonian-German forces took Narva on August 17 and the Estonian capital Tallinn on August 28. On that day, the red flag shot down earlier on Pikk Hermann was replaced with the flag of Estonia by Fred Ise only to be changed by a German Reichskriegsflagge a few hours later
24.
Latvian partisans
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Latvian national partisans were the Latvian national partisans who waged guerrilla warfare against Soviet rule during and after Second World War. This was a task, given the territorial interests of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Second Polish Republic. On June 10,1919 the Lithuanian army reached the territory controlled by the partisan, Latvian national partisans waged guerrilla warfare against Soviet rule during the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 during World War II, and the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic after the war. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups fought against Soviet rule in Estonia, Lithuania, Belarus, Poland, the Red Army occupied the formerly independent Latvia in 1940–1941 and, after the period of occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany, again in 1944–1945. Latvia had gained her independence in 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire, the ideals of self-determination had taken hold with many people as a result of having established an independent country for the first time in history. Allied declarations such as the Atlantic Charter had offered promise of a world in which Latvia could re-establish itself. Having already experienced occupation by the Soviet regime followed by the Nazi regime, in the first weeks of Operation Barbarossa Latvia was overrun by German Army Group North. The German advance had been so swift that thousands of Red Army troops had been by-passed without taking them as prisoners, thousands of Latvians joined partisan units which were organized by Latvian officers in the rear of the German front line. The Latvians now collected the Reds and sometimes fierce battles with those who resisted. The national partisans ahead of the German front line took Sigulda on July 2 and they secured Alūksne on July 5, but that evening strong Red Army forces, retreating from the Germans, reached the town, and the partisans withdrew without a fight. The next morning the Reds departed, and the partisans re-occupied the town, the Germans occupied Alūksne on July 7. At the village of Mālupe the partisans attacked the headquarters of the 183rd Rifle Division, killing its commander and several officers and capturing their supplies. By July 8 the Red Army had retreated beyond the Latvian border, preparations for partisan operations in Courland were begun during the German occupation, but the leaders of these nationalist units were arrested by Nazi authorities. Longer-lived resistance units began to form during the last months of the war, after the capitulation of Germany on May 8,1945 approximately 4000 legionaries went to the forests. Others, such as Alfons Rebane and Alfrēds Riekstiņš escaped to the United Kingdom and Sweden, the ranks of the resistance swelled with the Red Armys attempts at conscription in Latvia after the war, with fewer than half the registered conscripts reporting in some districts. The widespread harassment of disappearing conscripts families pushed more people to evade authorities in the forests, many enlisted men deserted, taking their weapons with them. There was not any significant support to the partisans from the West. Most of the agents sent by the Western- British, American, the conflict between the Soviet armed forces and the Latvian national partisans lasted over a decade and cost at least thousands of lives
25.
Lithuanian partisans
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The Lithuanian partisans were partisans who waged a guerrilla warfare in Lithuania against the Soviet Union in 1944–1953. Similar anti-Soviet resistance groups, also known as Forest Brothers and cursed soldiers, fought against Soviet rule in Estonia, Latvia, Poland and it is estimated that a total of 30,000 Lithuanian partisans and their supporters were killed. At the end of World War II, the Red Army pushed the Eastern Front towards Lithuania, the Soviets invaded and occupied Lithuania by the end of 1944. As forced conscription into Red Army and Stalinist repressions intensified, thousands of Lithuanians used forests in the countryside as a natural refuge and these spontaneous groups became more organized and centralized culminating in the establishment of the Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters in February 1948. In their documents, the partisans emphasized that their goal is recreation of independent Lithuania. As the partisan war continued, it clear that the West would not interfere in Eastern Europe. Eventually, the made a explicit and conscious decision not to accept any new members. The leadership of the partisans was destroyed in 1953 thus effectively ending the partisan war, Lithuania had regained its independence in 1918 after the collapse of the Russian Empire. As pre-war tensions rose in Europe, Nazi Germany and Soviet Union signed the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, subsequently, Lithuania was occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940. The Soviets instituted Sovietization policies and repressions, in June 1941, the Soviets deported over 17,000 Lithuanians for forced labor to remote areas in Siberia. When a few days later Germany launched an invasion of Russia, initially, the Lithuanians greeted the Germans as liberators from the repressive Soviet rule and made plans to reestablish independent Lithuania. However, the attitudes soon changed as the occupation of Lithuania by Nazi Germany continued, in 1944, the Nazi authorities created a 10, 000-strong Lithuanian Territorial Defense Force under General Povilas Plechavičius to combat Soviet partisans led by Antanas Sniečkus and Polish partisans. The Germans, however, quickly came to see this force as a nationalist threat to their occupation regime, the senior staff were arrested on May 15,1944, and General Plechavičius was deported to the concentration camp in Salaspils, Latvia. These men formed the basis for the Lithuanian partisans, the resistance in Lithuania was well organized, and the uniformed with chain of command guerrilla units were effectively able to control whole regions of the countryside until 1949. Their armaments included Czech Skoda guns, Russian Maxim heavy machine guns, assorted mortars, captured Lithuanian Forest Brothers themselves often faced torture and summary execution while their relatives faced deportation to Siberia. Reprisals against pro-Soviet farms and villages were harsh, the NKVD units, Destruction battalions used shock tactics to discourage further resistance such as displaying executed partisans corpses in village courtyards. In the first year of the warfare, while World War II was still ongoing. Men avoided conscription to the Red Army and instead hid in the forests, not all groups were armed or intended to actively fight the Soviets
26.
Guerrilla war in the Baltic states
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The Guerrilla war in the Baltic states or the Forest Brothers resistance movement was the armed struggle against Soviet rule that spanned from 1944 to the mid-1950s. After the conquest of the Baltic territories by the Soviets in 1944, according to some estimates,10,000 partisans in Estonia,10,000 partisans in Latvia and 30,000 partisans in Lithuania and many more supporters were involved. This war continued as a struggle until 1956 when the superiority of the Soviet military caused the native population to adopt other forms of resistance. While estimates related to the extent of movement vary, but there seems to be a consensus among researchers that by international standards. Proportionally, the movement in the post-war Baltic states was of a similar size as the Viet Cong movement in South Vietnam. Cursed soldiers Forest Brothers Operation Jungle Operation Priboi Occupation of the Baltic states Tauras, Guerrilla Warfare on the Amber Coast
27.
Operation Priboi
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Operation Priboi was the code name for the Soviet mass deportation from the Baltic states on 25–28 March 1949. The action is known as the March deportation by Baltic historians. More than 90,000 Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, labeled as enemies of the people, were deported to forced settlements in areas of the Soviet Union. Over 70% of the deportees were women and children under the age of 16, the deportation fulfilled its purposes, by the end of 1949, 93% and 80% of the farms were collectivized in Latvia and Estonia. In Lithuania, the progress was slower and the Soviets organized another large deportation known as Operation Osen in fall 1951, the deportations were for eternity with no rights to return. The mortality rate for the deportees was estimated at less than 15%, based on the Martens Clause and the principles of the Nuremberg Charter, the European Court of Human Rights has held that the March deportation constituted a crime against humanity. Collectivisation in the Baltic states was introduced in early 1947, despite new heavy taxes on farmers and intense propaganda, only about 3% of farms in Lithuania and Estonia joined kolkhozes by the end of 1948. Borrowing from the experiences of the early 1930s, kulaks were named as the primary obstacle. It is unclear when the idea of a mass deportation was advanced, on 18 January 1949, leaders of all three Baltic republics were called to report to Joseph Stalin. That day, during a session of the Politburo of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, on 29 January, the top secret decision No. 390-138 ss was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, approving the deportation of kulaks, nationalists, bandits, their supporters and families from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Lists of kulaks to be deported were to be compiled by each republic, given just two months for preparations, the various agencies began marshaling resources. On 28 February 1949, Viktor Abakumov, the minister of MGB, Lieutenant General Pyotr Burmak commanded the MGB troops while Lieutenant General Sergei Ogoltsov, Deputy Minister of MGB, was in charge of the overall MGB role in the deportation. Burmak set up his headquarters in Riga, the success of the operation depended on its suddenness to prevent mass panic, escape attempts, or retaliations by the Forest Brothers. Therefore, secrecy was of paramount importance, special MGB representatives were dispatched to various local offices of MGB to form operative staff that would select the deportees and compile a file on each family. This led to confusion and uncertainty as to what offenses warranted deportation. Deportees often blamed local informants of MGB who, they believed, acted out of petty revenge or greed and this caused much confusion during the operation. Local MGB offices would prepare summary certificates for each family and send them for approval to the republican MGB office, for example, by 14 March, Estonian MGB approved summary certificates for 9,407 families which created a reserve of 1,907 families above the quota
28.
Operation Jungle
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Operation Jungle was an program by the British Secret Intelligence Service early in the Cold War for the clandestine insertion of intelligence and resistance agents into Poland and the Baltic states. The agents were mostly Polish, Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian exiles who had trained in the UK. The naval operations of the program were carried out by the Royal Navy, the American-sponsored Gehlen Organization also got involved in the draft of agents from Eastern Europe. The KGB penetrated the network and captured or turned most of the agents, in the late 1940s the MI6 established a special center in Chelsea, London, to train agents to be sent to the Baltic states. The operation was codenamed Jungle and led by Henry Carr, director of the Northern European Department of MI6 and they were sent to Portsmouth where one of them was modified to reduce its weight and increase its power. To preserve deniability, a former German E-boat captain, Hans-Helmut Klose, the boats proceeded to their destinations, typically several miles offshore, under cover of darkness and met with shore parties in dinghies returning agents were received at some of these rendezvous. The operation evolved into a number of phases, the first transport of agents occurred in May 1949, with six agents boarding the boat at Kiel. The vessel was manned by Klose and a German crew, the British officers on board, Lieutenant Commanders Harvey-Jones and Shaw, handed over the command of the boat to Swedish officers in Simrishamn, Southern Sweden. The German crew then proceeded via the cover of Öland Island, then east to Palanga, north of Klaipeda, arriving around 10, within 300m of shore the six agents disembarked in a rubber dingy and made their way to shore. The boat returned to Gosport, picking up the British officers at Simrishamn, following the success of the initial operation, MI6 followed up with several more improvised landings via rubber dingy. Two agents were landed at Ventspils on 1 November 1949, three agents landed south of Ventspils on April 12,1950 and two agents in December at Polanda. In late 1950, British Naval Intelligence and MI6 created a permanent organisation with Klose hiring a crew of 14 sailors. The British Baltic Fishery Protection Service was thus invented as a cover story given the harassment of West German fishermen by the Soviets. The operation evolved with a task of visual and electronic reconnaissance of the Baltic coast from Saaremaa in Estonia to Rügen in East Germany. For this purpose the boat was re-fitted with additional tanks for extended range. During this phase, four landings were performed between 1951 and 1952 with 16 agents inserted and five agents retrieved, eight Polish agents were inserted during this period using sea-borne balloons. During the period 1954-55, three new German-built motorboats of the Silbermöwe class replaced the old E-boats and they were christened Silvergull, Stormgull and Wild Swan. The operation was compromised by Soviet counter-intelligence, primarily through information provided by the British Cambridge Five
29.
Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic
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The Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Estonia or Estonia was a republic of the Soviet Union, administered by a subordinate of the Government of the Soviet Union. The Estonian SSR was subsequently incorporated into the USSR on August 9,1940, the territory was occupied by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944. Most countries did not recognise the incorporation of Estonia de jure, a number of these countries continued to recognize Estonian diplomats and consuls who still functioned in the name of their former government. This policy of non-recognition gave rise to the principle of legal continuity, on 16 November 1988, the Estonian SSR became the first republic within the Soviet sphere of influence to declare state sovereignty from Moscow. On 30 March 1990, the Estonian SSR declared that Estonia had been occupied since 1940, the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic was renamed as the Republic of Estonia on May 8,1990. As part of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, Estonia came within the Soviet sphere of interest and was incorporated into the Soviet Union as a Soviet Socialist Republic, the history of Soviet Estonia formally begins with the establishment of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic in 1941. The Secret Additional Protocol of the German–Soviet Nonaggression Pact signed on August 23,1939, on September 24,1939, warships of the Soviet Navy appeared off Estonian ports and Soviet bombers began patrolling over the area around Tallinn. Moscow demanded that Estonia allow the USSR to establish Soviet military bases, the government of Estonia accepted the ultimatum, signing the corresponding mutual assistance agreement on September 28,1939. On June 12,1940, according to the director of the Russian State Archive of the Naval Department Pavel Petrov, on June 14, the Soviet military blockade of Estonia went into effect while the world’s attention was focused on the fall of Paris to Nazi Germany. Two Soviet bombers downed a Finnish passenger airplane Kaleva flying from Tallinn to Helsinki carrying three diplomatic pouches from the U. S. legations in Tallinn, Riga and Helsinki, on June 16, Soviet NKVD troops raided border posts in Estonia. The Estonian government decided, according to the Kellogg–Briand Pact, to not respond to the Soviet ultimatums by military means, given the overwhelming Soviet force both on the borders and inside the country, the order was given not to resist in order to avoid bloodshed and open war. Most of the Estonian Defence Forces and the Estonian Defence League surrendered according to the orders and were disarmed by the Red Army, only the Estonian Independent Signal Battalion stationed at Raua Street in Tallinn showed resistance. As the Red Army brought in additional reinforcements supported by six armoured fighting vehicles, there was one dead, several wounded on the Estonian side and about 10 killed and more wounded on the Soviet side. Finally the military resistance was ended with negotiations and the Independent Signal Battalion surrendered and was disarmed, by June 18, military operations of the occupation of the Baltic States were complete. Thereafter, state administrations were liquidated and replaced by Soviet cadres, time magazine reported on June 24, that Half a million men and countless tanks of the Soviet Red Army moved to safeguard frontier against conquest-drunk Germany, one week before the Fall of France. On June 21,1940, the Soviet occupation of the Republic of Estonia was complete, the Flag of Estonia was replaced with a Red flag on Pikk Hermann tower. On July 14–15, rigged, extraordinary, single-party parliamentary elections were held, only peoples enemies stay at home on election day. Each ballot carried only the Soviet-assigned candidates name, with the way to register opposition being to strike out that name on the ballot
30.
Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic
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The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Latvia or Latvia, was a republic of the Soviet Union. Its territory was conquered by Nazi Germany in June–July 1941. Soviet rule came to the end during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and restoring its former state symbols - flag and anthem. The full independence of the Republic of Latvia was restored on 21 August 1991, during the 1991 Soviet coup détat attempt, on September 24,1939, the USSR entered the airspace of Estonia, flying numerous intelligence gathering operations. On September 25, Moscow demanded that Estonia sign a Soviet–Estonian Mutual Assistance Treaty that would allow the USSR to establish military bases, Latvia was next in line, as the USSR demanded the signing of a similar treaty. The authoritarian government of Kārlis Ulmanis accepted the ultimatum, signing the Soviet–Latvian Mutual Assistance Treaty on October 5,1939. On June 16,1940, after the USSR had already invaded Lithuania, hundreds of thousands Soviet troops entered Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. These additional Soviet military forces far outnumbered the armies of each country, the Latvian army did not fire a shot and was quickly decimated by purges and included in the Red Army. Ulmanis government resigned and was replaced by a government created under instructions from the USSR embassy. Up until the elections of the Peoples Parliament on July 14–15,1940 there were no public statements about governmental plans to introduce a Soviet political order or to join the Soviet Union. Soon after the occupation, the Communist Party of Latvia was legalized as the legal party. It was the only permitted participant in the election, after an attempt by other politicians to include the Democratic Bloc on the ballot was prevented by the government and its office was closed, election leaflets confiscated and its leaders arrested. The election results themselves were fabricated, the Soviet press service released them so early that they appeared in a London newspaper a full 24 hours before the polls had closed, all Soviet army personnel present in the country were allowed to vote. The newly elected Peoples Parliament convened on 21 July to declare the creation of the Latvian SSR, on August 5, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union completed the process of annexation by accepting the Latvian petition, and formally incorporated Latvia into the Soviet Union. Some of the Latvian diplomats stayed in the West and the Latvian Diplomatic Service continued to advocate the cause of Latvias freedom for the next 50 years. Therefore, the history of Soviet Latvia can broadly be divided in the periods of rule by the First Secretaries, Jānis Kalnbērziņš, Arvīds Pelše, Augusts Voss, in the following months of 1940 the Soviet Constitution and criminal code were introduced. The sham elections of July 1940 were followed by elections to the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union in January 1941, the remaining Baltic Germans and anyone who could claim to be one emigrated to the German Reich. On August 7,1940 all print media and printing houses were nationalized, most of the existing magazines and newspapers were discontinued or appeared under new, Soviet names
31.
Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic
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The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Lithuania or Lithuania was a republic of the Soviet Union. It existed from 1940 to 1990, between 1941 and 1944, the German invasion of the Soviet Union caused its de facto dissolution. However, with the retreat of the Germans in 1944–1945, Soviet hegemony was re-established, on 18 May 1989, the Lithuanian SSR declared state sovereignty within its borders during perestroika. On 11 March 1990, the Republic of Lithuania was declared to be re-established as an independent state, Soviet Union itself recognized Lithuanian independence on 6 September 1991. There had been an attempt to establish a Soviet government in Lithuania by the Bolshevik Red Army in 1918–1919. The Lithuanian SSR was first proclaimed on 16 December 1918, by the revolutionary government of Lithuania. The Lithuanian SSR was supported by the Red Army, but it failed to create a de facto government with any support as the Council of Lithuania had successfully done earlier. It has been suggested that the failure to conquer Poland in the Polish–Soviet War prevented the Soviets from invading Lithuania, the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, stated that Lithuania was to be included into the German sphere of influence. However soon after World War II began in September 1939, and this was granted in exchange for Lublin and parts of the Warsaw province of Poland, originally ascribed to the Soviet Union, but by that time already occupied by German forces. Following the 1940 Soviet ultimatum to Lithuania and subsequent invasion of 15 June 1940, before doing so, in accordance with the Lithuanian constitution, he turned over his duties on a provisional basis to Prime Minister Antanas Merkys. The day after Smetonas departure, Merkys announced he had deposed Smetona and had taken over the presidency in his own right, on 17 June, at the behest of the Soviets, Merkys appointed a left-wing journalist, Justas Paleckis, as prime minister. Merkys then himself resigned, making Paleckis acting president as well, for all intents and purposes, Lithuania had lost its independence. Paleckis appointed a Communist-dominated peoples government with Vincas Krėvė-Mickevičius as prime minister and this government dissolved the Fourth Seimas and announced elections for a Peoples Seimas on 14 July. Voters were selected with a single list provided by the Union of the Working People of Lithuania, on 3 August, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR accepted the petition and admitted the Lithuanian SSR as the 14th republic of the Soviet Union. Lithuania now maintains that since Smetona never resigned, Merkys takeover of the presidency was illegal, Lithuania was subsequently invaded and occupied by Nazi Germany in June 1941. With the 1944 Soviet Baltic offensive, Soviet rule was re-established in July 1944, after both Soviet occupations, mass deportation of the Lithuanians into gulags and other forced settlements ensued. The United States refused to recognize the annexation of Lithuania or the other Baltic States, by the Soviet Union, all legal ties of the Soviet Unions sovereignty over the republic were cut as Lithuania declared the restitution of its independence. The Soviet Union claimed that this declaration was illegal, as Lithuania had to follow the process of secession mandated in the Soviet Constitution if it wanted to leave
32.
Territorial changes of the Baltic states
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Territorial changes of the Baltic states refers to the redrawing of borders of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia after 1940. After a two-front independence war fought against both Bolshevist Russian and Baltic German nationalist forces, the countries concluded peace and border treaties with Soviet Russia in 1920 and this has been the source of political tensions after they regained their independence with the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Some of the disputes remain unresolved, in addition, some territories that were not controlled by the independent Baltic republics were also annexed during the Soviet era. Most notable case is Vilnius taken from Poland by the USSR to become the capital of Lithuania, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union the issue of these territories was raised by the Estonian and Latvian governments. Lithuania has never raised the question of its borders and has border treaties with all its neighbors. Only marginal political groups use the issue of borders in their political rhetoric and this is a list of actual territorial changes that happened when Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were incorporated into the Soviet Union and became the Baltic Soviet Socialist Republics. All the boundaries established by these changes exist up to modern days, the Russian-Estonian boundary that used to run in the middle of Lake Peipus did not change, while the boundary south of Lake Peipus was also moved westwards. Overall, about 2000 km² of land changed hands, including Ivangorod, the town of Pechory, and areas in and around Izborsk, Lavry, and Rotovo, and the Kolpina Island in southern Lake Peipus. In the late 1944, a territory in northeastern Latvian SSR of about 1,300 square kilometers was ceded to Russian SFSR and this area includes towns of Pytalovo and four rural districts. All these areas during the interwar constituted the eastern part of the Abrene district of Latvia and they were added to Pskov Oblast of Russian SFSR. Russian-Latvian boundary in the southeastern Latvia did not change, after the annexation of Lithuania into the Soviet Union in 1940, a new eastern boundary of Lithuania was delimited. Lithuania, however, continued to claim the 1920 border as official, in 1940, when Lithuania was incorporated into the Soviet Union, a new boundary was drawn, enlarging the de facto Lithuanian territory, though not to the full extent of the republics claim. The notable gain was the city of Vilnius, which again became Lithuanias capital, the control of the Vilnius region was partitioned between the Lithuanian SSR, the Belarusian SSR and Nazi Germany. Main cities that were recognised by Soviets as a part of Lithuania by the 1920 treaty but were not added to Lithuanian SSR include Hrodna, Lida, Smarhon, Pastavy, Ašmiany, Brasłaŭ, Suwałki. In Latvia and Estonia, territories which had not belonged to the Governorate of Estonia, unlike Soviet Socialist Republics, however, imperial gubernyas were not based on ethnicity, so this historical reasoning is not accepted by Latvians and Estonians. In Lithuanias case, the detaching did not have any historical foundation and they saw a significant migration of Russian-speaking people. In some of the territories became part of Poland Lithuanian language schools existed. The territories were not returned to the Baltic states after they gained independence and remain parts of Russia, Belarus and it was assumed that the Russian-Latvian border treaty would be signed in year 2005
33.
Baltic Way
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The Baltic Way or Baltic Chain was a peaceful political demonstration that occurred on 23 August 1989. The demonstration originated in Black Ribbon Day protests held in the cities in the 1980s. It marked the 50th anniversary of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany, the pact and its secret protocols divided Eastern Europe into spheres of influence and led to the occupation of the Baltic states in 1940. The event was organised by Baltic pro-independence movements, Rahvarinne of Estonia, the Tautas fronte of Latvia, the protest was designed to draw global attention by demonstrating a popular desire for independence for each of the entities. It also illustrated solidarity among the three nations and it has been described as an effective publicity campaign, and an emotionally captivating and visually stunning scene. Within seven months of the protest, Lithuania became the first of the Soviet republics to declare independence, the Soviet Union denied the existence of the secret protocols to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, even though they were widely published by western scholars after surfacing during the Nuremberg Trials. The Baltic states claimed that they were forcefully and illegally incorporated into the Soviet Union, Popular opinion was that the secret protocols proved that the occupation was illegal. Such an interpretation of the Pact had major implications in the Baltic public policy, if Baltic diplomats could link the Pact and the occupation, they could claim that the Soviet rule in the republics had no legal basis and therefore all Soviet laws were null and void since 1940. This would open the possibility of restoring legal continuity of the independent states existed in the interwar period. Claiming all Soviet laws had no power in the Baltics would also cancel the need to follow the Constitution of the Soviet Union. In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, tensions were rising between the Baltics and Moscow, lithuanian Romualdas Ozolas initiated a collection of 2 million signatures demanding withdrawal of the Red Army from Lithuania. The Communist Party of Lithuania was deliberating the possibility of splitting off from the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, on 8 August,1989, Estonians attempted to amend election laws to limit voting rights of new immigrants. This provoked mass strikes and protests of Russian workers, Moscow gained an opportunity to present the events as an inter-ethnic conflict – it could then position itself as peacemaker restoring order in a troubled republic. The rising tensions in anticipation of the protest spurred hopes that Moscow would react by announcing constructive reforms to address the demands of the Baltic people, at the same time fears grew of violent clampdown. Erich Honecker from East Germany and Nicolae Ceauşescu from Romania offered the Soviet Union military assistance in case it decided to use force, on 17 August, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union published a project of new policy regarding the union republics in Pravda. However, this project offered few new ideas, it preserved Moscows leadership not only in foreign policy and defense, but also in economy, science, during the interview, Yakovlev admitted that the secret protocols were genuine. He condemned the protocols, but maintained that they had no impact on the incorporation of the Baltic states, thus Moscow reversed its long-standing position that the secret protocols did not exist or were forgeries, but did not concede that events of 1940 constituted an occupation. It was the first time that an official Soviet body challenged the legitimacy of the Soviet rule, in the light of glasnost and perestroika, street demonstrations had been increasingly growing in popularity and support
34.
Singing Revolution
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The Singing Revolution is a commonly used name for events between 1987 and 1991 that led to the restoration of the independence of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. After World War II, the Baltic States had been incorporated into the USSR after military occupation and annexation first in 1940. Glasnost rescinded limitations on political freedoms in the Soviet Union which led to problems within the non-Russian nations occupied in the build-up to war in the 1940s, hitherto unrecognised issues previously kept secret by the Moscow government were admitted to in public, causing dissatisfaction within the Baltic States. Combined with the war in Afghanistan and the fallout in Chernobyl, grievances were aired in a publicly explosive. Massive demonstrations against the Soviet regime began after widespread liberalisation of the failed to take into account national sensitivities. It was hoped by Moscow that the nations would remain within the USSR despite the removal of restrictions on freedom of speech. However, the situation deteriorated to such an extent that by 1989 there were aimed at freeing the nations from the Soviet Union altogether. On 14 May 1988, the first expression of national feeling occurred during the Tartu Pop Music Festival, five patriotic songs were first performed during this festival. People linked their hands together and a tradition had begun, on 26–28 August 1988, the Rock Summer Festival was held, and patriotic songs, composed by Alo Mattiisen, were played. On 11 September 1988, a song festival, called Song of Estonia, was held at the Tallinn Song Festival Arena. This time nearly 300,000 people came together, more than a quarter of all Estonians, on that day citizens and political leaders expressed, through the voice of Trivimi Velliste, of their ambition to regain independence. On 16 November 1988, the body of Estonia issued the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration. In 1990 Estonia was the first Soviet republic to defy the Soviet army by offering alternative service to Estonian residents scheduled to be drafted, most Estonians, however, simply began avoiding the draft. The Singing Revolution lasted over four years, with protests and acts of defiance. People acted as shields to protect radio and TV stations from the Soviet tanks. Through these actions Estonia regained its independence without any bloodshed, Independence was declared on the late evening of 20 August 1991, after an agreement between different political parties was reached. The next morning Soviet troops, according to Estonian TV, attempted to storm Tallinn TV Tower but were unsuccessful, the Communist hardliners coup attempt failed amidst mass pro-democracy demonstrations in Moscow led by Boris Yeltsin. On 22 August 1991, Iceland became the first nation to recognise the newly restored independence of Estonia, today, a plaque commemorating this event is situated on the outside wall of the Foreign Ministry, which itself is situated on Islandi väljak 1, or Iceland Square 1
35.
Popular Front of Estonia
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Edgar Savisaar introduced the idea of popular front during a TV show April 13,1988. It was to a significant degree the precursor to the current Estonian Centre Party and it was a major force in the Estonian independence movement that led to the re-establishment of the Republic of Estonia as a country independent from the Soviet Union. It was similar to the Popular Front of Latvia and the Sąjūdis movement in Lithuania, the Popular Front of Estonia was founded in 1988 by Marju Lauristin and Edgar Savisaar. Savisaar initiated the founding in April,1988 in a live broadcast on Estonian TV, Popular Front organized series of much-crowded and well-published events and actions which stressed on Estonian national pride but on democratic values as well. Huge amount of prints and newspapers were produced to popularize PF movement, the top-leaders and sub-leaders of PF were everyday guests in every kind of media to talk about several kind of problems and ideas. Popular Front of Estonia made ideas of independent Estonia acceptable and possible for masses, the idea of independence had become a somewhat impossible and unbelievable dream for the majority of Estonians during decades under the Soviet Union. At one point someway problematic character of Edgar Savisaar created growing opposition against PF among Estonians too and those people formed their own smaller organisations which grew into important element of politics of independent Estonia next decade. The Popular Front was a supporter of perestroika, while the Intermovement was seen as opposed to Gorbachevs reforms, consequently, the Estonian Popular Front changed a great deal over time, until political parties came to replace such movements in Estonia during the early nineties. This rendered the Popular Front of Estonia an anachronism, and Popular Front was dissolved 1993
36.
Congress of Estonia
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The Congress of Estonia was an innovative grassroots parliament established in Estonia as a part of the process of regaining of independence from the Soviet Union. The aim of the Congress was to restore Estonian independence based on the principle of continuity, with the pre-1940 republic of Estonia. Persons who held Estonian citizenship in June 1940, and their descendants, people who did not satisfy these criteria were invited to file applications for citizenship. By February 1990,790,000 citizens and about 60,000 applicants had been registered, in February 1990, the election of a body of representatives of these citizens – the Congress of Estonia – was conducted by those who had been registered. The Congress had 499 delegates from 31 political parties, the Estonian National Independence Party won the most seats. Other parties represented included the Popular Front of Estonia, the Heritage Society, the permanent standing committee of the Congress of Estonia – the Committee of Estonia – was chaired by Mr. Tunne Kelam. In September 1991, a Constituent Assembly was formed of numbers of members of the Supreme Soviet. The new constitution was approved by referendum in June 1992, using the replacement process specified in the 1938 constitution as a matter of legal continuity of the Republic of Estonia. Both the Congress of Estonia and the Supreme Soviet dissolved themselves in October 1992, march 1990 also saw the election of the Estonian Supreme Soviet, the first multi-party national elections in the Estonian SSR. In later discussions, the Congress of Estonia prevailed regarding the aforementioned points, a small number of the members of the Congress of Estonia were Estonians who had gone into exile during World War II, or children of such refugees. The American Committees of Correspondence played an important role in the events led to the formation of the United States of America. After the adoption of the new Constitution in 1992, a new Citizenship Law recognised the citizenship registrations of the Citizens Committees as the initial legal registry of Estonian citizens. Citizens of the Soviet Union who had filed applications with the Citizens Committees were enabled to be naturalised on the basis of a simplified procedure. By 1996, a total of 23,326 people – over 38% of those who filed a Citizenship Committee application card – had been naturalised by this procedure. Other noncitizens had to pass exams pertaining to the Estonian language, Estonian history, over the years, the conditions of naturalisation were variously changed. As of May 2007, an applicant does not need to pass an exam in Estonian history anymore
37.
State continuity of the Baltic states
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State continuity of the Baltic states describes the continuity of the Baltic states as legal entities under international law while under Soviet rule and German occupation from 1940 to 1991. This legal continuity has been recognised by most Western powers and is reflected in their state practice, thus the Baltic states continued to exist as subjects of international law. The official position of Russia is a continuation of the Soviet position that Estonia, Latvia, Russia insists that incorporation of the Baltic states gained international de jure recognition by the agreements made in the Yalta and Potsdam conferences and by the Helsinki accords. According to this position, all treaties, such as the Treaty of Tartu, are invalidated. This alternate thesis on continuity of the Baltic states and its related consequences has fueled a fundamental confrontation between Russia and the Baltic states, the legal principle, ex injuria jus non oritur, differs from the competing principle of ex factis jus oritur. The European Great Powers accorded de jure recognition of Estonia and Latvia on January 26,1921, the United States extended de jure recognition to all three states on July 28,1922. The Convention also stipulates that No political, military, economic or other consideration may serve as an excuse or justification for the aggression referred to in Article 2, Estonia adopted the Estonian Declaration of Independence on 24 February 1918. The document stated a number of such as freedom of expression, religion, assembly. These principles were elaborated in the Provisional Constitution of 1919. Popular sovereignty was to be the basis of Estonia, also, the second, presidential Constitution was based on popular sovereignty. Later the Constitution of 1938 was an attempt to return to democratic rule, overall, in spite of internal political changes, Estonia was a legal, internationally recognized state in the years prior to 1940. This independence was interrupted in June 1940, in the aftermath of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union of August 1939. The Soviet Union used a pattern with all three Baltic states, beginning with ultimatums on the basis of alleged failures to fulfill mutual assistance pacts signed the previous year. The ultimatums had to be obeyed within hours, and soon after the Soviet troops marched into the capitals, the Soviets proposed and approved their new governments. Now, the new local governments seemingly made decisions which led to the annexation, in order to create an image of legitimacy, new elections were imposed under the presence of Soviet troops. The United States, along with a number of other states, Latvia adopted the Declaration Establishing a Provisional Government of Latvia on 18 November 1918. In 1920, the freely elected Constituent assembly adopted two basic laws, the first Constitution was adopted in 1922. However, Prime Minister Kārlis Ulmanis took power by a coup détat, after a century of foreign domination the Council of Lithuania adopted the Act of Independence of Lithuania on 16 February 1918
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Helsinki Accords
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Thirty-five states, including the USA, Canada, and all European states except Albania and Andorra, signed the declaration in an attempt to improve relations between the Communist bloc and the West. The Helsinki Accords, however, were not binding as they did not have treaty status, although the USSR was looking for a rapid resolution, none of the parties were quick to make concessions, particularly on human rights points. Throughout much of the negotiations, U. S. leaders were disengaged and uninterested with the process, T is meaningless—it is just a grandstand play to the left. We are going along with it, President Ford was concerned about this as well and sought clarification on this issue from the U. S. National Security Council. The U. S. Senate was also worried about the fate of the Baltic States, several Senators wrote to President Ford requesting that the final summit stage be delayed until all matters had been settled, and in a way favorable to the West. Shortly before President Ford departed for Helsinki, he held a meeting with a group of Americans of Eastern European background, according to Ford, The Helsinki documents involve political and moral commitments aimed at lessening tension and opening further the lines of communication between peoples of East and West. If it all fails, Europe will be no worse off than it is now, if even a part of it succeeds, the lot the people in Eastern Europe will be that much better, and the cause of freedom will advance at least that far. The speech, however, did not have much effect, the volume of mail against the Helsinki agreement continued to grow. The American public was unconvinced that U. S. policy on the incorporation of the Baltic States would not be changed by the Helsinki Final Act. Despite protests from all around, Ford decided to move forward, soon after the return from Helsinki, A. Denis Clift of the National Security Council urged Secretary Kissinger to support the creation of a report by the NSC Under Secretaries Committee on Helsinki Final Act compliance. Clift believed that the administration needed to be prepared for criticism from American Eastern European ethnic groups, Kissinger and President Ford agreed and an order was issued to the committee. Considering objections from Canada, Spain, Ireland and other states, U. S. President Gerald Ford also reaffirmed that US non-recognition policy of the Baltic states forced incorporation into the Soviet Union had not changed. Leaders of other NATO member states made similar statements, Soviet propaganda presented the Final Act as a great triumph for Soviet diplomacy and for Brezhnev personally. According to the Cold War scholar John Lewis Gaddis in his book The Cold War, A New History, Leonid Brezhnev had looked forward, Anatoly Dobrynin recalls, when the Soviet public learned of the final settlement of the postwar boundaries for which they had sacrificed so much. Gradually became a manifesto of the dissident and liberal movement, what this meant was that the people who lived under these systems — at least the more courageous — could claim official permission to say what they thought. The Helsinki Accords served as the groundwork for the later Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, established under the Paris Charter
39.
Russians in Estonia
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The population of Russians in Estonia is estimated at 320,000. Most Russians live in Estonias capital city Tallinn and the northeastern cities of Narva. The Estonian name for Russians vene, venelane derives from an old Germanic loan veneð referring to the Wends, speakers of a Slavic language who lived on the southern coast of the Baltic sea. Prince Yaroslav the Wise of Kievan Rus defeated Chuds in 1030 and established fort of Yuryev, a medieval proto-Russian settlement was in Kuremäe, Vironia. The Orthodox community in the built an church in the 16th century. Proto-Russian cultural influence had its mark on Estonian language, with a number of such as turg. In 1217, an allied Ugaunian-Novgorodian army defended the Ugaunian stronghold of Otepää from the German knights, novgorodian prince Vyachko died in 1224 with all his druzhina defending the fortress of Tarbatu together with his Ugaunian and Sackalian allies against the Livonian Order led by Albert of Riga. In 1481, Ivan III of Russia laid siege to the castle of Fellin, between 1558 and 1582, Ivan IV of Russia captured much of mainland Livonia in the midst of the Livonian War but eventually the Russians were driven out by Lithuanian-Polish and Swedish armies. Tsar Alexis I of Russia once again captured towns in eastern Livonia, including Dorpat, the second period of influx of Russians followed the Imperial Russian conquest of the northern Baltic region, including Estonia, from Sweden in 1700–1721. After the First World War, the share of ethnic Russians in the population of independent Estonia was 7. 3%, the state was tolerant of the Russian Orthodox Church and became a home to many Russian émigrés after the Russian October Revolution in 1917. After the Occupation and annexation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union in 1940, according to Sergei Isakov, almost all societies, newspapers, organizations of ethnic Estonians were closed in 1940 and their activists persecuted. The country remained annexed to the Soviet Union until 1991 except Nazi Germany occupation between 1941 and 1944, during the era the government initiated a population transfer. Thousands of citizens were deported to areas and various Russophone populations were relocated to Estonia. Between 1945–1991 the Russian population in Estonia grew from about 23,000 to 475,000 people, most of the present-day Russians are migrants from the recent settlement, and their descendants. Following the terms of the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed the Baltic States in 1940, the authorities carried out repressions against many prominent ethnic Russians activists and White emigres in Estonia. Many Russians were arrested and executed by different Soviet war tribunals in 1940–1941, after Germany attacked the Soviet Union in 1941, the Baltics quickly fell under German control. By 1989, ethnic Russians made up 30. 3% of the population in Estonia, today most Russians live in Tallinn and the major northeastern cities of Narva, Kohtla-Järve, Jõhvi, and Sillamäe. The rural areas are populated almost entirely by ethnic Estonians, except for Lake Peipus coast, in 2011, University of Tartu sociology professor Marju Lauristin found that 21% were successfully integrated, 28% showed partial integration, and 51% were unintegrated or little integrated
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Russians in Latvia
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Russians have been the largest ethnic minority in Latvia for the last two centuries. The number of Russians in Latvia increased significantly during the Soviet occupation of Latvia when the size of the community grew from 10. 5% of the population in 1935 to 34. 0% in 1989. It started to decrease in size again after Latvia regained independence in 1991 falling to 26. 0% in 2014, the Latvian word krievi for Russians and Krievija for Russia is thought to have originated from Krivichs, one of the tribal unions of Early East Slavs. During the 11th–12th centuries, Jersika and Koknese, principalities in Eastern Latvia paid tribute to the Principality of Polatsk, Koknese was taken by the Livonian Brothers of the Sword in 1208 and Jersika in 1209 and later both incorporated into Terra Mariana. East Slavic presence remained, primarily as merchants in cities, trading ties to Muscovy, the Polotsk principality and the merchants of Novgorod Republic established trade relations with the Hanseatic League, of which Riga was a member, and merchants through the Riga Merchant Guild. Nevertheless, Russian prospects for profit remained limited in the German-dominated trade league, circumstances changed in 1392, when under the Nyborg agreement, it was agreed that German and Russian merchants would enjoy freedom of movement. Russian trade contributed significantly to the development of Livonia over the following century, in 1481, Ivan III of Russia briefly captured Dünaburg castle in southeastern Livonia in response to a Livonian attack on north-west Russia. During the Livonian War Russian tsar Ivan the Terrible captured several castles and towns in Eastern Latvia, from the second half of the seventeenth century religiously repressed Old Believers from Russia settled in Latgale which was part of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Russia had to yield the area to Poland following the Treaty of Andrusovo, count Sheremetevs capture of Riga in the Great Northern War in 1710 completed Peter Is conquest of Swedish Livonia. Russian trade through Latvia began to flourish and an active Russian merchant class began to settle in Latvia, the first Russian school in Riga was founded in 1789. Latgale was incorporated into the Russian Empire after the first Partition of Poland in 1772, Kurzeme, Russian capital was invested in trade through the Baltic countries, including Latvia. Some of those profits went toward establishing a Russian-owned industry, by the middle of the 19th century, the developing industry began to attract Russian workers. While the Russian nobility also established a presence, administrative control remained in the hands of the Baltic Germans, Russian social organizations began to spring up in the 1860s, around the same time as that of the Latvian National Awakening. The reforms of Alexander II, including the abolition of serfdom in 1861 throughout the rest of the empire, further stimulated the rise of a national consciousness. Latvia had, in fact, taken a lead in this regard, as serfdom had already been abolished in 1819 except for Latgale, the first Russian newspaper in Riga –Rossiyskoe ezhenedelnoe izdanie v Rige – was founded in 1816. Cheshikhin also formed the Russian literary circle in Riga in 1876, local Russians participated in elections to town councils and later to the State Duma. Colonization was successful only in Latgale, as plans were interrupted by World War I. At the dawn of the 20th century Russians made up a part of the working population in the biggest industrial cities
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Military occupation
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Military occupation is effective provisional control by a certain ruling power over a territory which is not under the formal sovereignty of that entity, without the volition of the actual sovereign. Military government may be characterized as the administration or supervision of occupied territory. Military government is distinguished from law, which is the temporary rule by domestic armed forces over disturbed areas. The rules of government are delineated in various international agreements, primarily the Hague Convention of 1907. A country that establishes a government and violates internationally agreed upon norms runs the risk of censure, criticism. In the current era, the practices of government have largely become a part of customary international law. Article 42 of the 1907 Hague Convention on Land Warfare specify that erritory is considered occupied when it is placed under the authority of the hostile army. The form of administration by which an occupying power exercises government authority over occupied territory is called military government, neither the Hague Conventions nor the Geneva Conventions specifically define or distinguish an act of invasion. The terminology of occupation is used exclusively, the clear distinction has been recognized among the principles of international law since the end of the Napoleonic wars in the 19th century. These customary laws of belligerent occupation which evolved as part of the laws of war gave some protection to the population under the occupation of a belligerent power. The first two articles of that state, Art. Territory is considered occupied when it is placed under the authority of the hostile army. The occupation extends only to the territory where such authority has been established, in 1949 these laws governing belligerent occupation of an enemy states territory were further extended by the adoption of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Much of GCIV is relevant to protected persons in occupied territories and Section III, Article 6 restricts the length of time that most of GCIV applies, The present Convention shall apply from the outset of any conflict or occupation mentioned in Article 2. In the territory of Parties to the conflict, the application of the present Convention shall cease on the close of military operations. GCIV emphasised an important change in international law, the Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies. S. are not signatory to this additional protocol. The military government of the occupying power will continue past the point in time when the peace treaty comes into force. Military government continues until legally supplanted is the rule, as stated in Military Government and Martial Law, by William E. Birkhimer, see Birkhimer, p. 25–26, No proclamation of part of the victorious commander is necessary to the lawful inauguration and enforcement of military government
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Estonia
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Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea, to the south by Latvia, across the Baltic Sea lies Sweden in the west and Finland in the north. The territory of Estonia consists of a mainland and 2,222 islands and islets in the Baltic Sea, covering 45,339 km2 of land and water, and is influenced by a humid continental climate. The territory of Estonia has been inhabited since at least 6500 BC, in 1988, during the Singing Revolution, the Estonian Supreme Soviet issued the Estonian Sovereignty Declaration in defiance of Soviet rule, and independence was restored on 20 August 1991. Estonia is a parliamentary republic divided into fifteen counties. Its capital and largest city is Tallinn, with a population of 1.3 million, it is one of the least-populous member states of the European Union, Eurozone, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, OECD and Schengen Area. Estonia is a country with an advanced, high-income economy that is among the fastest growing in the EU. Its Human Development Index ranks very highly, and it performs favourably in measurements of economic freedom, civil liberties, the 2015 PISA test places Estonian high school students 3rd in the world, behind Singapore and Japan. Citizens of Estonia are provided with health care, free education. Since independence the country has developed its IT sector, becoming one of the worlds most digitally advanced societies. In 2005 Estonia became the first nation to hold elections over the Internet, in the Estonian language, the oldest known endonym of the Estonians was maarahvas, meaning country people or people of the land. The land inhabited by Estonians was called Maavald meaning Country Parish or Land Parish, one hypothesis regarding the modern name of Estonia is that it originated from the Aesti, a people described by the Roman historian Tacitus in his Germania. The historic Aesti were allegedly Baltic people, whereas the modern Estonians are Finno-Ugric, the geographical areas between Aesti and Estonia do not match, with Aesti being further down south. Ancient Scandinavian sagas refer to a land called Eistland, as the country is called in Icelandic. Early Latin and other ancient versions of the name are Estia and Hestia, esthonia was a common alternative English spelling prior to 1921. Human settlement in Estonia became possible 13,000 to 11,000 years ago, the oldest known settlement in Estonia is the Pulli settlement, which was on the banks of the river Pärnu, near the town of Sindi, in south-western Estonia. According to radiocarbon dating it was settled around 11,000 years ago, the earliest human inhabitation during the Mesolithic period is connected to Kunda culture, which is named after the town of Kunda in northern Estonia. At that time the country was covered with forests, and people lived in communities near bodies of water
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Latvia
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Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe, one of the three Baltic states. It is bordered by Estonia to the north, Lithuania to the south, Russia to the east, Latvia has 1,957,200 inhabitants and a territory of 64,589 km2. The country has a seasonal climate. Latvia is a parliamentary republic established in 1918. The capital city is Riga, the European Capital of Culture 2014, Latvia is a unitary state, divided into 119 administrative divisions, of which 110 are municipalities and 9 are cities. Latvians and Livs are the people of Latvia. Latvian and Lithuanian are the two surviving Baltic languages. Despite foreign rule from the 13th to 20th centuries, the Latvian nation maintained its identity throughout the generations via the language, Latvia and Estonia share a long common history. Until World War II, Latvia also had significant minorities of ethnic Germans, Latvia is historically predominantly Protestant Lutheran, except for the Latgale region in the southeast, which has historically been predominantly Roman Catholic. The Russian population has brought a significant portion of Eastern Orthodox Christians. The Republic of Latvia was founded on 18 November 1918, however, its de facto independence was interrupted at the outset of World War II. The peaceful Singing Revolution, starting in 1987, called for Baltic emancipation of Soviet rule and it ended with the Declaration on the Restoration of Independence of the Republic of Latvia on 4 May 1990, and restoring de facto independence on 21 August 1991. Latvia is a democratic and developed country and member of the European Union, NATO, the Council of Europe, the United Nations, CBSS, the IMF, NB8, NIB, OECD, OSCE, and WTO. For 2014, Latvia was listed 46th on the Human Development Index and it used the Latvian lats as its currency until it was replaced by the euro on 1 January 2014. The name Latvija is derived from the name of the ancient Latgalians, one of four Indo-European Baltic tribes, henry of Latvia coined the Latinisations of the countrys name, Lettigallia and Lethia, both derived from the Latgalians. The terms inspired the variations on the name in Romance languages from Letonia. Around 3000 BC, the ancestors of the Latvian people settled on the eastern coast of the Baltic Sea. The Balts established trade routes to Rome and Byzantium, trading local amber for precious metals, by 900 AD, four distinct Baltic tribes inhabited Latvia, Curonians, Latgalians, Selonians, Semigallians, as well as the Livonians speaking a Finnic language
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Lithuania
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Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in Northern Europe. One of the three Baltic states, it is situated along the shore of the Baltic Sea, to the east of Sweden. It is bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, Poland to the south, Lithuania has an estimated population of 2.9 million people as of 2015, and its capital and largest city is Vilnius. The official language, Lithuanian, along with Latvian, is one of two living languages in the Baltic branch of the Indo-European language family. For centuries, the shores of the Baltic Sea were inhabited by various Baltic tribes. In the 1230s, the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, the King of Lithuania, and the first unified Lithuanian state, with the Lublin Union of 1569, Lithuania and Poland formed a voluntary two-state union, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Commonwealth lasted more than two centuries, until neighboring countries systematically dismantled it from 1772–95, with the Russian Empire annexing most of Lithuanias territory. As World War I neared its end, Lithuanias Act of Independence was signed on 16 February 1918, in the midst of the Second World War, Lithuania was first occupied by the Soviet Union and then by Nazi Germany. As World War II neared its end and the Germans retreated, Lithuania is a member of the European Union, the Council of Europe, a full member of the Eurozone, Schengen Agreement and NATO. It is also a member of the Nordic Investment Bank, the United Nations Human Development Index lists Lithuania as a very high human development country. Lithuania has been among the fastest growing economies in the European Union and is ranked 21st in the world in the Ease of Doing Business Index, the first people settled in the territory of Lithuania after the last glacial period in the 10th millennium BC. Over a millennium, the Indo-Europeans, who arrived in the 3rd – 2nd millennium BC, mixed with the local population, the first written mention of Lithuania is found in a medieval German manuscript, the Annals of Quedlinburg, in an entry dated 9 March 1009. Initially inhabited by fragmented Baltic tribes, in the 1230s the Lithuanian lands were united by Mindaugas, after his assassination in 1263, pagan Lithuania was a target of the Christian crusades of the Teutonic Knights and the Livonian Order. Despite the devastating century-long struggle with the Orders, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania expanded rapidly, by the end of the 14th century, Lithuania was one of the largest countries in Europe and included present-day Belarus, Ukraine, and parts of Poland and Russia. The geopolitical situation between the west and the east determined the multicultural and multi-confessional character of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the ruling elite practised religious tolerance and Chancery Slavonic language was used as an auxiliary language to the Latin for official documents. In 1385, the Grand Duke Jogaila accepted Polands offer to become its king, Jogaila embarked on gradual Christianization of Lithuania and established a personal union between Poland and Lithuania. It implied that Lithuania, the fiercely independent land, was one of the last pagan areas of Europe to adopt Christianity, after two civil wars, Vytautas the Great became the Grand Duke of Lithuania in 1392. During his reign, Lithuania reached the peak of its expansion, centralization of the state began
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Courland pocket
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The Courland Pocket refers to the Red Armys blockade or isolation of Axis forces on the Courland Peninsula from July 1944 through May 1945. The Soviet commander was General Ivan Bagramyan and this action isolated the German Army Group North from the rest of the German forces between Tukums and Liepāja in Latvia. Renamed Army Group Courland on 25 January, the Army Group remained isolated until the end of the war. When they were ordered to surrender to the Soviet command on 8 May, they were in blackout and did not get the order before 10 May. It was one of the last German groups to surrender in Europe, Courland, along with the rest of the Baltic eastern coast and islands, was overrun by Army Group North during 1941. Army Group North spent most of the two years attempting to take Leningrad, without success. In January 1944, the Soviet Army lifted the siege of Leningrad, on 22 June 1944, the Red Army launched the Belorussian Strategic Offensive, codenamed Operation Bagration. The goal of this offensive was to liberate the Belorussian SSR from the German occupation, Operation Bagration was extremely successful, resulting in the almost complete destruction of Army Group Centre, and ended on 29 August. In its final stages, Operation Bagration saw Soviet forces strike deep towards the Baltic coast, after Operation Bagration ended, the Soviet forces continued the clearing of the Baltic coast, despite German attempts to restore the front in Operation Doppelkopf. The Red Army fought the Memel Offensive Operation with the goal of isolating Army Group North by capturing the city of Memel, on 9 October 1944, the Soviet forces reached the Baltic Sea near Memel after over-running headquarters of the 3rd Panzer Army. As a result, Army Group North was cut off from East Prussia, hitlers military advisors—notably Heinz Guderian, the Chief of the German General Staff—urged evacuation and utilisation of the troops to stabilise the front in central Europe. This would allow German forces to focus on the Eastern Front, Soviet forces launched six major offensives against the German and Latvian forces entrenched in the Courland Pocket between 15 October 1944, and 4 April 1945. From 15 to 22 October 1944 — Soviets launched the Riga Offensive Operation on the 15th at 10,00 after conducting a heavy artillery barrage. Hitler permitted the Army Group Commander, Ferdinand Schoerner, to commence withdrawal from Riga on 11 October, the front stabilised with the main remnant of Army Group North isolated in the peninsula. From 27 October to 25 November — Soviets launched an offensive trying to break through the front toward Skrunda and Saldus including, Soviets also attacked southeast of Liepāja in an attempt to capture that port. 80 divisions assaulted the Germans from 1 to 15 November in a front 12 km wide, despite a 10,1 advantage in manpower at critical sectors, the Soviet breakthrough stalled after roughly 4 kilometers. The 3rd grand battle started on 21 December with a Soviet attack on Germans near Saldus, the Soviet 2nd Baltic and 1st Baltic Fronts commenced a blockade, precipitating the German defence of the Courland perimeter during Soviet attempts to reduce it. In this battle, serving with the 2nd Baltic Fronts 22nd Army, the battle ended on 31 December and the front was stabilized
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