Occupation of Latvia in 1940

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Expansion of the German and Soviet sphere of influence in Central and Eastern Europe (1938–1941)

The occupation of Latvia in 1940 marks the violent occupation of the Republic of Latvia by the Soviet Union during World War II .

procedure

Conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty

Concrete plans for a military expansion of the Soviet Union to the west had existed since 1938. With the conclusion of the German-Soviet non-aggression pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact), the dictator Josef Stalin was given a free hand to incorporate the small Eastern European states of the former Cordon sanitaire . In the autumn of 1939, Stalin made the following statements to the Latvian Foreign Minister Vilhelms Munters regarding the recognition of Latvia for ever in the peace of Riga :

“What happened in 1920 doesn't have to stay that way. Peter the Great was concerned about access to the sea. We haven't had access recently, this situation has to change. "

- Josef Stalin : shorthand of the conversation between Josef Stalin, Vyacheslav Molotov and the Latvian delegation in Moscow on October 2, 1939. Glazunova, p. 76

The Red Army then concentrated strong forces on the border with the Baltic States. In September 1939 the Red Army occupied the eastern part of Poland . In October 1939, the governments of Lithuania , Latvia, Estonia and Finland received delayed ultimatums demanding the establishment of Soviet military bases in these countries. Stalin had around 170,000 soldiers of the 7th Army deployed on the Latvian border. They had orders to advance on Riga if the Latvian government did not bow to the ultimatum. Under this pressure, the Latvian President Kārlis Ulmanis forcibly signed a series of contracts, which among other things resulted in the stationing of around 30,000 Red Army soldiers, twice the strength of the Latvian army.

On the German side it was assumed that a Soviet occupation was imminent, and on the initiative of the Estonian German National Socialist Erhard Kroeger , Hitler was convinced to resettle the Baltic Germans . The Baltic Germans were unprepared and improvised in agreement with the Soviet Union under the motto Heim ins Reich after the conclusion of the resettlement agreement with Latvia on October 30, 1939, under the direction of the Reich Commissioner for the Consolidation of German Volkstum Heinrich Himmler in the Wartheland and in Danzig. West Prussia settled. Out of consideration for this, Stalin initially waited to take further steps towards Latvia. The annexation of Latvia was initially planned for April 1940, but was postponed again because the impending attack by the Wehrmacht in the west would draw the world's attention to this arena.

In the summer of 1940 several Soviet armies were ready to occupy the Baltic States, if necessary by force. At dawn on June 15, 1940, units of the NKVD attacked the Latvian border post Masļenki and two other border posts ("Masļenki raid"). They killed three border guards, a woman and a child. 37 civilians were deported to the Soviet Union.

On June 16, the Latvian envoy in Moscow received a new ultimatum from Molotov. Ulmanis had to resign immediately and agree to the unlimited increase in the Soviet military contingent. People listed by Moscow should be appointed to a new government. Without waiting for the end of the ultimatum, the deployed and invading Red Army units had already begun to occupy important points in the country. Ulmanis ordered no resistance and, as requested, appointed a new government and Augusts Kirhenšteins as his successor. On June 19, Stalin's agent for the Anschluss, Andrei Januaryievich Vyshinsky , appeared in Riga. Although Latvia was still an independent state, members of the leading social classes were arrested en masse by Soviet chekists, deported to Russia or even shot.

On July 14 and 15, 1940, sham elections were held for a new people 's parliament. Only one electoral list was allowed to vote, the “bloc of the working people of the people” (Darba tautas bloks) controlled by the Soviet Union. The only task of the people's parliament was to prepare for the Soviet annexation of Latvia. A delegation of the new parliamentarians traveled to Moscow and “asked” for “admission” to the Soviet Union. On August 5, 1940, the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union decided to incorporate Latvia into the Soviet Union. With the establishment of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic , the Republic of Latvia de facto ceased to exist.

Aftermath and significance in domestic politics from 1990

The Latvian diplomatic corps in the western world did not recognize its incorporation into the Soviet Union. In order to maintain the state continuity, the ambassador in London Kārlis Zariņš took over the representation of the interests of the Latvian state. The annexation of the Baltic States by the USSR was never recognized by international law on the part of the great Western powers, especially the USA.

In order to simulate such legitimacy under international law, the events were prepared and accompanied by propaganda on the Soviet side . The procedure here had a lot in common with the annexation of Austria to the German Reich the year before , which was also emphasized by contemporary commentators. The Soviet Union claimed that Latvia was in a revolutionary situation in 1940 . The “rotten fascist Ulmanis regime” collapsed through spontaneous demonstrations and strikes by the working class . The working class under the leadership of the banned LKP was also the one who called the brotherly soldiers of the Red Army to help in order to maintain public order. The existence of an additional protocol to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Treaty was concealed. For several decades until the collapse of the Soviet Union , publicly pronounced deviations from this falsification of history had serious consequences and / or imprisonment for people who had become dissidents. During the time of glasnost and perestroika , the former Red Army soldier, communist and contemporary witness Mavriks Vulfsons did so for the first time in a sensational way with impunity.

The date of the occupation has an impact on the Russian population living in the country to this day. After Latvia regained independence in 1990/1991, June 16, 1940 became the date for citizenship. Anyone who or whose ancestors later came to the country was considered to have entered the country illegally and had to go through a naturalization process in order to obtain citizenship. For this reason, among other things, the pro-Russian parties adhered to the Soviet historical version of voluntary accession to the USSR or denied a violent occupation. In 2011, a speaker from the Saskaņas Centrs party uttered the words “50 years of occupation” for the first time and thus indirectly recognized it as a fact.

See also

literature

  • Björn M. Felder: Latvia in World War II. Between Soviet and German occupiers 1940–1946 . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2009, ISBN 978-3-506-76544-4 .
  • Kaspars Zellis: The occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union in 1940/41 . In: Ivars Ījabs, Jan Kusber , Ilgvars Misāns, Erwin Oberländer (eds.): Lettland 1918–2018. A century of statehood . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2018, ISBN 978-3-506-78905-1 , pp. 65-75.
  • Peter van Elsuwege: State Continuity and its Consequences: The Case of the Baltic States . In: Leiden Journal of International Law , Vol. 16 (2003), No. 2, pp. 377-388.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Björn M. Felder: Latvia in the Second World War. Between Soviet and German occupiers 1940–1946 . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2009, p. 33.
  2. ↑ a b Björn M. Felder: Latvia in the Second World War. Between Soviet and German occupiers 1940–1946 . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2009, p. 34.
  3. ↑ a b Kaspars Zellis: The occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union 1940/41 . In: Ivars Ījabs, Jan Kusber, Ilgvars Misāns, Erwin Oberländer (eds.): Lettland 1918–2018. A century of statehood . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2018, pp. 65–75, here p. 66.
  4. ↑ Markus Leniger: National Socialist “Volkstumsarbeit” and resettlement policy 1933–1945. Frank & Timme, Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-86596-082-5 , p. 59 ff.
  5. ↑ Markus Leniger: National Socialist “Volkstumsarbeit” and resettlement policy 1933–1945 , Frank & Timme, 2006, p. 75 ff.
  6. ↑ Kaspars Zellis: The occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union 1940/41 . In: Ivars Ījabs, Jan Kusber, Ilgvars Misāns, Erwin Oberländer (eds.): Lettland 1918–2018. A century of statehood . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2018, pp. 65–75, here pp. 66–67.
  7. ↑ Kaspars Zellis: The occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union 1940/41 . In: Ivars Ījabs, Jan Kusber, Ilgvars Misāns, Erwin Oberländer (eds.): Lettland 1918–2018. A century of statehood . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2018, pp. 65–75, here p. 67.
  8. ^ Matthias Knoll , Valters Nollendorfs (ed.): Latvija zem Padomju Savienības un nacionālsociālistikās Vācijas varas, 1940–1991 / Latvia under Soviet and National Socialist rule. A representation of the Latvian Occupation Museum . Latvijas 50 gadu okupacijas muzeja fonds, Riga / Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik, Cologne, 1998, ISBN 9984-9332-0-2 (Latvijas Okupācijas Muzejs) and ISBN 3-8046-8862-4 (Verlag Wissenschaft und Politik), p. 21 .
  9. ↑ Andrejs Edvīns Feldmanis: Masļenku tragedija - Latvijas tragedija . Latvijas 50 gadu okupācijas muzeja fonds, Riga 2002, ISBN 9984-9332-9-6 , p. 68.
  10. ^ Björn M. Felder: Latvia in World War II. Between Soviet and German occupiers 1940–1946 . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2009, p. 35.
  11. ^ Arveds Schwabe: Histoire du peuple letton . Bureau d'Information de la Légation de Lettonie à Londres, Stockholm 1953, p. 223.
  12. ↑ a b Björn M. Felder: Latvia in the Second World War. Between Soviet and German occupiers 1940–1946 . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2009, p. 37.
  13. ↑ a b Kaspars Zellis: The occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union 1940/41 . In: Ivars Ījabs, Jan Kusber, Ilgvars Misāns, Erwin Oberländer (eds.): Lettland 1918–2018. A century of statehood . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2018, pp. 65–75, here p. 69.
  14. ^ Björn M. Felder: Latvia in World War II. Between Soviet and German occupiers 1940–1946 . Ferdinand Schöningh, Paderborn 2009, p. 38.
  15. ↑ Rihards Trejs: Latvijas Diplomātija un diplomatic Latvijas Vēstnesis 2003 ISBN 9984-731-29-4 , S. 389th
  16. ↑ Eduards Bruno Deksnis, Tālavs Jundzis: Restoration of sovereignty and independence of the Republic of Latvia 1986-1994 . LZA Baltijas Stratēģisko Pētījumu Centrs, Riga 2015, ISBN 978-9934-8373-9-5 , p. 37.
  17. ↑ kasjauns.lv
  18. ↑ laikraksts.com