Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940

1940, Red Army tanks enter Riga...

File:Riga 1941 Wermacht.jpg

...and in 1941 troops of Nazi Germany in the same city.

Occupied Latvia (1940-1941) refers to, according to the the European Court of Human Rights, Government of Latvia USA , EU, to the military occupation of the Republic of Latvia by the Soviet Union under the provisions of the 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany.

When World War II started in September 1939 with the Invasion of Poland, the fate of Latvia had been already decided in the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and its Secret Additional Protocol of August 1939.

In the reassessment period of the Soviet history that began during Perestroika, the USSR condemned in 1989 the 1939 secret protocol between Nazi Germany and itself that had led to the invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries including Latvia.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union Latvia's struggle for independence came to a conclusion, the sovereignty of the country was restored in 1991. The last Soviet troops withdrew from the Republic of Latvia in August 1994.

Occupations of Latvia constitutes a part of the Occupation of Baltic states.

Controversies

Views diverge on history of Latvia.

The core of the controversy lies in the different interpretations of the historical events during WWII and after.

During Perestroika, the reassessment era of the Soviet history in USSR, in 1989 the USSR condemned the 1939 secret protocol between Nazi Germany and itself that had led to the invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the restoration Republic of Latvia's sovereignty in 1991.

According to the European Court of Human Rights, Government of Latvia USA , EU: in 1940 the USSR illegally occupied Baltic States. The lawful government of Latvia was overthrown in 1940 and Soviet rule was imposed by force. The totalitarian communist regime of the Soviet Union conducted large-scale and systematic actions against Latvian population. Rigged elections were organized in which only Soviet-supported candidates were permitted to run As reported by the Time Magazine In 1940: Those who had failed to have their passports stamped for voting Latvia into the USSR were allowed to be shot in the back of the head by Soviet tribunals, The country remained occupied by the Soviet Union until restoration of independences in 1991. The 48 years of Soviet occupation and annexation of the Baltic States was never recognized as legal by the Western democracies. USA had applied the earlier-adopted Stimson Doctrine to the events, leading to its becoming an established precedent of International Law.

However, the Russian Federation, legal successor state of the USSR, does not recognize the occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union. In reference to Latvia, the Russian Duma has passed a resolution to "remind deputies of the Latvian Saeima that Latvia's being a part of the Soviet Union was grounded by fact and by law from the international juridical point of view."

The government of Russia maintains that the Soviet Union liberated, not occupied, Latvia in 1944. For example, Pravda (October 5, 2004) stated that Latvia does not celebrate May 9 as the Soviet defeat of Nazism, noting: "One of the leaders of Latvian veterans Association Alexander Komarovsky wrote in "Chas" Russian-language Latvian newspaper that 154,000 Soviet soldiers died when fighting for Latvia's liberation." Latvian Russians are reported in the Russian press as saying, "Soviet soldiers were greeted with flowers and songs. If it weren't for the Soviets, then the Nazis would be here."

Preface

File:Riga Liberty Statue.jpg

Liberty Statue of Riga, Latvia

Crossroads

Mēs esam kā starp vārtiem,

Starp vārtiem uzcēluši savas mājas

Kur tautām pāri staigāt.

      We are as if between gates,

      Between gates we have built our home

      For other peoples to trample over.

—Anna Brigadere, Latvian poet

"The historical mission of the Baltic provinces is to serve as a battlefield for the problems of the highest politics in Europe."

—Russian Governor-General of the Baltic Provinces, Count Shuvalov

Latvia and the rest of the Baltics were a crossroads overrun by foreign domination for over seven centuries prior to achieving independence after the start of the 20th century, at the end of World War I.

1918-1939: Historical background

In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution of 1917, Latvia declared its independence on November 18, 1918. After a prolonged War of Independence, Latvia and Soviet Russia (the predecessor of the Soviet Union) signed a Peace Treaty on August 11, 1920. In its Article 2 Soviet Russia "unreservedly recognises the independence and sovereignty of the Latvian State and voluntarily and forever renounces all sovereign rights (...) to the Latvian people and territory." The independence of Latvia was diplomatically recognised by the Allied Supreme Council (France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Belgium) on January 26, 1921. Other states followed the suit. On September 22, 1921 Latvia was admitted to membership in the League of Nations and remained a member until the formal dissolution of the League in 1946. On February 5, 1932, a Non-Aggression Treaty with the Soviet Union was signed, based on the August 11, 1920 treaty whose basic agreements inalterably and for all time form the firm basis of the relationship of the two states. On September 1, 1939, the day World War II began, Latvia declared its neutrality.

Relevant Treaties between USSR and Latvia

Before the World War II, the Republic of Latvia and USSR had both signed and ratified following treaties:

Kellogg-Briand Pact

August 27, 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact renouncing war as an instrument of national policy

Non-aggression treaty

Latvia, USSR on February 5, 1932

The Convention for the Definition of Aggression

On July 3, 1933 for the first time in the history of international relations, aggression was defined in a binding treaty signed at the Soviet Embassy in London by USSR and among others, Latvia.

Article II defines forms of aggression. There shall be recognized as an aggressor that State which shall be the first to have committed one of the following actions:

Relevant chapters:

• Second — invasion by armed forces of the territory of another State even without a declaration of war.
• Fourth — a naval blockade of coasts or ports of another State.

1939-1940: The road to loss of independence

Molotov signing the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact

Hitler and Stalin divide Eastern Europe

The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, signed August 23, 1939 cleared the path for Germany and the Soviet Union to pursue their territorial interests in Eastern Europe. Secret protocols of this pact split up the territory separating Germany and the Soviet Union between the two powers. According to these protocols, the Soviet Union had a right to Finland, Estonia and Latvia, Germany had a right to Poland and Lithuania. (The Soviet Union continued to deny the existence of these protocols until, under pressure from the Baltic SSRs, on December 24, 1989, the Congress of the USSR People’s Deputies officially recognized the secret deals illegal and invalid from their inception.)

Hitler and Stalin invade Poland, starting WWII

Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 with Stalin's support.

France and Britain, which were obligated by treaty to protect Poland, responded with notes of protest requesting the Germans withdraw. Following French-British indecision, Britain acted alone moving forward with a two-hour ultimatum at 9:00am on September 3, which France was then forced to follow, issuing its own ultimatum. Nevertheless, despite declarations that a state of war now existed with Germany, the inter-Allied military conferences of September 4-6 determined there was no possibility of supporting an eastern front in Poland. France subsequently requested Britain not bomb Germany, fearing military retaliation against the French populace. It was determined to do nothing, so as to not provoke a transfer of German forces to the western front. Chamberlain declared on September 12 "There is no hurry as time is on our side." The abandonment of Poland was complete.

File:German Soviet.jpg

Soviet and German officers meeting after the invasion of Poland.

Stalin then moved forward with his part of the Pact, ordering the Red Army on September 17 to cross the Soviet-Polish frontier under the pretense of protecting the Belarusians and Ukrainians in the territory of Poland which Soviets argued "ceased to exist" in the wake of German successes. Stalin then suggested a "trade" to Hitler to solve the "Baltic problem." On September 28, 1939, Germany and the Soviet Union having partitioned Poland signed a border agreement, including a second secret protocol, handing Lithuania to Stalin in exchange for two Polish provinces. Shortly thereafter, on October 3, 1939 Schulenburg had also suggested to Molotov that various changes in the borders of the Lithuanian territory wait until the "Soviet Union incorporates Lithuania, an idea on which, I believe, the arrangement concerning Lithuania was originally based." Subsequently, the Soviet Union further agreed to compensate Nazi Germany 7,500,000 gold dollars (or 31,500,000 Reichsmarks) for the Reich renouncing its "claims" on the Lithuanian territory it was to originally possess based on the September 28th agreement.

The Soviet Union now occupied just over half of all Polish territory, and the Allied powers had demonstrated themselves incapable of military intervention on the Eastern front. There were no impediments remaining to Stalin, in concert with Hitler, achieving his aims in the Baltics.

Soviets threaten and issue ultimatums to the Baltics as Poland falls

On September 24, 1939, warships of the Red Navy appeared off Latvia's northern neighbor, Estonian ports, Soviet bombers began a threatening patrol over Tallinn and the nearby countryside. USSR then violated the air space of all three Baltic states, flying massive intelligence gathering operations on September 25. Moscow demanded that Baltic countries allow the USSR to establish military bases and station troops on their soil for the duration of the European war.

During talks in Moscow, on October 2, 1939, Stalin told Vilhelms Munters, the Latvian foreign minister: "I tell you frankly, a division of spheres of interest has already taken place. As far as Germany is concerned we could occupy you." The Baltics took this threat seriously.

The government of Estonia accepted the ultimatum signing the corresponding agreement on September 28. 1939; Latvia following on October 5, 1939; and Lithuania shortly thereafter, on October 10, 1939. In Latvia's case, the agreement called for Latvia to:

• lend bases to the Soviet Union at Liepāja, Ventspils, and Pitrags until 1949;
• build special airfields for Soviet requirements; and
• grant the stationing of Soviet military garrisons totalling 30,000 troops.

At face value, this pact did not impinge upon Latvian sovereignty. Section 5 of the Pact reads as follows: "The carrying into effect of the present pact must in no way affect the sovereign rights of the contracting parties, in particular their political structure, their economic and social system, and their military measures. The areas set aside for the bases and airfields remain the territory of the Latvian Republic."

With Baltic sovietization imminent, Hitler issued the "call home" to ethnic Germans. Latvia entered into agreement with Nazi Germany on the repatriation of citizens of German nationality on October 30, 1939.

Publicly, on October 31, 1939, the Soviet Supreme Council called fears of Baltic sovietization "all nonsense." Privately, this stationing of Soviet troops in Latvia under the terms of the mutual assistance pact marked the beginning of the fruition of long-standing Soviet desires to gain control of the Baltics.

Soviets invade Finland

Winter War: Finland's Concessions

Similar demands were forwarded to Finland. On October 5, 1939, the Finns had been invited to Moscow to "discuss mutual problems." The Finns refused to sign a pact of mutual assistance, and on November 30, the Soviet Union attacked Finland, launching the Winter War. Because the Soviet attack was judged as illegal, the Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations on December 14. Finland succeeded in resisting and on March 12, 1940 signed the Moscow Peace Treaty with the Soviet Union. Finland was forced to cede nearly all of Finnish Karelia (with Finland's industrial center, including Vyborg/Viipuri, Finland's second largest city; in total, nearly 10% of the territory), even though large parts were still held by Finland's army. Military troops and remaining civilians were hastily evacuated to inside the new border. 422,000 Karelians, 12% of Finland's population, lost their homes. Finland also had to cede a part of the Salla area, the Finnish part of the Kalastajansaarento (Rybachi) peninsula in the Barents Sea, and in the Gulf of Finland the islands of Suursaari, Tytärsaari, Lavansaari and Seiskari. Finally, the Hanko Peninsula was leased to the Soviet Union as a naval base for 30 years. In June 1941, hostilities between Finland and USSR resumed in the Continuation War.

1940-1941: The first Soviet occupation

Political background

Apparent escape from Finland's fate may have led to a false sense of security for Latvia. Four months after the arrival of Soviet troops in Latvia, Vilhelms Munters, addressing an audience at the University of Latvia on February 12, 1940, stated, "We have every reason to describe the relations existing between Latvia and the Soviet Union as very satisfactory. There are people who will say that these favourable conditions are of a temporary nature only, and that sooner or later we shall have to reckon with internal-political and foreign-political pressure on the part of the Soviet Union. The foundation on which they base these prophesies is a secret of the prophets themselves. The experience of our Government certainly does not justify such forebodings."

With Soviet failure in Finland sealed for the moment, it was little more than a month after Munters' positive expressions that Molotov, speaking on March 25, 1940, essentially announced Soviet intentions to annex the Baltic States, stating, "...the execution of the pacts progressed satisfactorily and created conditions favorable for a further improvement of the relations between Soviet Russia and these States." Improvement of the relations being a euphemism for Soviet takeover.

In March and April, 1940, immediately after Molotov's speech, the Soviet press commenced attacks on the Latvian government. Next, the NKVD orchestrated a series of strikes in Rīga and Liepāja. When those failed to develop into a general strike, the Soviets blamed that failure on the "irresponsible element which spoils the good neighborly relations."

Fearing Soviet action, on May 17, 1940, the Latvian government secretly issued emergency powers to the Latvian minister in London, Kārlis Zariņš, designating Alfreds Bilmanis, the Latvian minister in Washington, as his substitute.

Soviet invasion

On May 28, 1940, the Lithuanian Minister in Moscow received a note from Molotov which dealt with the alleged kidnapping of two Soviet soldiers in Vilna. The Lithuanian government sought to clear up this matter by a Soviet-Lithuanian commission under the terms of the mutual assistance pact. Moscow rejected this proposal and cut off further discussion, soon showing and rapidly playing their hand:

• On June 12, 1940 the order for a total military blockade on Estonia to the Soviet Baltic Fleet was given: according to the director of the Russian State Archive of the Naval Department Pavel Petrov (C.Phil.) referring to the records in the archive

• June 14, 1940 - While world attention is focused on the fall of Paris to Nazi Germany a day earlier, Molotov accuses the Baltic countries of conspiracy against the Soviet Union and delivers an ultimatum to Lithuania for the establishment of a government the Soviets approve of. On the same day the Soviet blockade of Estonia went into effect. According to eyewitness accounts pieced together by Estonian and Finnish investigators, two Soviet bombers downed 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.
• June 15, 1940 - Soviet troops invade Lithuaniaand position troops to invade Latvia.
• June 15, 1940 - Soviet troops attacked the Latvian border guards at Maslenki, killing three border guards and two civilians, as well as taking 10 border guards and 27 civilians as hostages to the Soviet Union.
• June 16, 1940 - the Soviet Union invaded Latvia, Estonia. Soviets delivered ultimatums to Estonia and Latvia, to be answered within 6 hours, demanding: (1) the establishment of pro-Soviet Governments which, under the protection of the Red Army, would be better capable of carrying out the Pacts of Mutual Assistance; (2) the free passage of Soviet troops into Estonia and Latvia in order to place them in the most important centers and to avoid possible provocatory acts against Soviet garrisons. Unable to resist on their own, Latvia and Estonia capitulate.
• June 17, 1940 - Soviet troops invade Latvia and occupy bridges, post/telephone, telegraph, and broadcasting offices.
• June 17, 1940 - Andrei Vishinski, Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the Soviet Union (and prosecutor of Stalin's show trials in 1937-1938) introduces himself to President Kārlis Ulmanis as Soviet special envoy.

Loss of independence

Soviet orchestration of events continued following the invasion, complete with protestors, who had arrived with the Red Army troops, organizing mass marches and meetings in order to create the impression of popular unrest:

• June 19, 1940 - Vishinski visits Ulmanis again, this time, to deliver the list, pre-approved by Moscow, of the new members of the cabinet of the Latvian government.
• June 20, 1940 - Ulmanis forced to approve pro-Soviet government which takes office. Jailed members of the formerly illegal communist party released. Public "processions of thanksgiving" organized in honor of Stalin.
• June 30, 1930 - The Lithuanian Foreign Minister, Vincas Kreve-Mickevicius, meets with Molotov. Molotov is blunt in communicating the Soviet intent to occupy the entire region: “You must take a good look at reality and understand that in the future small nations will have to disappear. Your Lithuania along with the other Baltic nations, including Finland, will have to join the glorious family of the Soviet Union. Therefore you should begin now to initiate your people into the Soviet system, which in the future shall reign everywhere, throughout all Europe; put into practice earlier in some places, as in the Baltic nations, later in others.”
• July 5, 1940 - Decree issued announcing new elections; the Latvian democratic parties organize under the National Committee and attempt to participate.
• July 9, 1940 - Vilis Lācis, the Soviet-appointed Minister of Internal Affairs, orders the National Committee shut down, its most prominent members deported. Deportations are already taking place from territory not (yet) part of the Soviet Union.
• July 14-15, 1940 - Rigged elections held in Latvia and the other Baltic states. Only one pre-approved list of candidates was allowed for elections for the Latvian parliament, the Saeima. The ballots held following instructions: "Only the list of the Latvian Working People's Bloc must be deposited in the ballot box. The ballot must be deposited without any changes." The alleged voter activity index was 97.6%. Most notably, the complete election results were published in Moscow 12 hours before the election closed. Soviet electoral documents found later substantiated that the results were completely fabricated.

Tribunals were set up to punish "traitors to the people." those who had fallen short of the "political duty" of voting Latvia into the USSR. Those who failed to have their passports stamped for so voting were allowed to be shot in the back of the head.

• July 21, 1940 - The fraudulently installed Saeima votes unanimously to petition to join the Soviet Union. (The consideration of such an action was denied throughout the election.) This petition was illegal under the Latvian Constitution, still in effect, which required a plebiscite referendum for approving such an action: two thirds of all eligible participating and a plain majority approving. Ulmanis is forced to resign.
• July 22, 1940 - Ulmanis deported to the Soviet Union. Land is nationalized (see also below).
• July 23, 1940 - the US Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles condemns the "devious processes" by which "the political independence and territorial integrity of the three small Baltic republics were to be deliberately annihilated by one of their more powerful neighbors."
• July 31, 1940, Minister of Defense Jānis Balodis and family deported to Soviet Union (order hand-written by Vilis Lācis).
• August 3, 5, and 6, 1940 - The Soviet Union grants the petitions of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia, respectively, to join. Latvia was incorporated as the 15th Republic of the Soviet Union. Aside from Germany, no western nation recognizes the annexion as legitimate de jure.

Accurate numbers for the losses the Soviets inflicted on Latvia are not available. They can, however, be conservatively estimated at 290,000 dead from military action, executions, or deportation. Many more found refuge abroad. These losses all began during the first Soviet occupation. This has also been referred to, in Latvian, as "Baigais Gads" (Year of Terror). (This term was also used in anti-Soviet propaganda of the period—these two uses should not be confused or allied in purpose. "Baigais Gads" is also a title of an openly antisemitic, false account of the events of the year penned by Pauls Kovalevskis, a Nazi sympathiser, in 1942.)

Soviet Terror

Plaque commemorating the Victims of Soviet NKVD in Bauska, Latvia.

The Soviet authorities, having gained control over Latvia, immediately imposed a regime of terror. Order № 001223 "On the Procedure for carrying out the Deportation of Anti-Soviet Elements from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia" was issued. Hundreds of men were arrested, including all leaders of the Republic of Latvia that the NKVD could lay hands on. Tribunals were set up to punish "traitors to the people." Traitors to the people included not only active opponents of sovietization but all those who have fallen short of their political and economic duties, including the political duty of voting Latvia into the USSR. in 1940 rigged elections. Those who failed to have their passports stamped for so voting were allowed to be shot in the back of the head. Under arrest and liable to prompt liquidation were Latvia's President Karlis Ulmanis and Foreign Minister Vilhelms Munters. Immediate confiscation of property and execution within 24 hours was decreed for diplomats abroad who refused to recognize the new regimes and return to Latvia.

Mass deportations took place on June 13 and June 14, 1941, estimated at 15 600 men, women, and children, and including 20% of Latvia's last legal government. Approximately 35 000 total (1.8% of Latvia's population) were deported during the first Soviet occupation. Stalin's deportations also included thousands of Latvian Jews. Hitler was not the first catastrophe to afflict that community. (The mass deportation totalled 131 500 across the Baltics.)

The deportations were swift and efficient and came in the middle of the night. Deportees were given an hour or less to get ready to leave. They were allowed to take with them their belongings not exceeding 100 kg in weight (money, food for a month, cooking appliances, clothing). The families would then be taken to the railway station. That was when they discovered that the men were to be separated from the women and children: "In view of the fact that a large number of deportees must be arrested and distributed in special camps and that their families must proceed to special settlements in distant regions, it is essential that the operation of removal of both the members of the deportee's family and its head shall be carried out simultaneously, without notifying them of the separation confronting them.... The convoy of the entire family to the station shall be effected in one vehicle and only at the station of departure shall the head of the family be placed separately from his family in a car specially intended for heads of families."

The trains were escorted by a NKVD officer and military convoy. Packed into barred cattle cars, with holes in the floor for sanitation, the deportees were taken to Siberia. Many died before even reaching their final destination because of harsh conditions. Many more perished their first winter.

Aftermath

Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany 1941-1944

Main article: Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany

The Soviet-Nazi war cut short this first year of Soviet occupation. The Nazi offensive, launched June 22, 1941, just over a week after the mass deportations were executed, entered Riga on July 1, 1941. This disrupted documented NKVD plans to deport several hundred thousand more from the Baltic states on June 27 and 28, 1941.

Residents of Riga welcome the arrival of Nazi troops

With memories of the mass deportations of a week before still fresh, the German troops were widely greeted at their arrival by the Latvians as liberators. The Latvian national anthemn played on the radio. Nazi Germany, however, had no plan or desire to restore autonomy to Latvia. Jewish fears of the Nazis—which had led some to look upon the Soviet occupation as a measure of security—were to prove tragically well founded. [more TBD]

By July 10, 1941, German armed forces had occupied all of Latvia's territory. Latvia became a part of Nazi Germany's Reichskommissariat Ostland – the Province General of Latvia (Generalbezirk Lettland). Anyone who was disobedient to the German occupation regime as well as those who had co-operated with the Soviet regime were killed or sent to concentration camps.

Second Soviet occupation 1944-1991

Main article: Latvian SSR

Latvian residents welcome the Red Army troops liberating the republic from the Nazi occupation.

Latvia was again occupied by the Soviet Union from 1944-91. Under the Soviet occupation thousands of Latvians were deported to Siberian camps, executed or forced into exile.

Many Latvians fled in fishermen's boats and ships to Sweden and Germany, from where until 1951 they drifted to various parts of the Western world (mostly Australia and North America). Approximately 150,000 Latvians ended up in exile in the West.

According to approximate estimates, as a result of the WWII the population of Latvia decreased by half a million (25% less than in 1939). In comparison with 1939 the Latvian population had diminished by about 300,000. The war also inflicted heavy losses on the economy – many historic cities were destroyed, as well as industry and the infrastructure.

In July 1989, following the dramatic events in East Germany, the Latvian Supreme Soviet adopted a "Declaration of Sovereignty" and amended the Constitution to assert the supremacy of its laws over those of the USSR.

On August 23, 1989 political demonstration Baltic Way took place. Approximately two million people joined their hands to form an over 600 kilometer long human chain across the three Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania).This demonstration was organized to draw the world's attention to the common historical fate which these three countries suffered.

In March 1990 Candidates from the pro-independence party Latvian Popular Front gained a two-thirds majority in the Supreme Council in democratic elections.

On May 4 1990, the Latvian Council declared its intention to restore full Latvian independence. Soviet political and military forces tried unsuccessfully to overthrow the Latvian government. On August 21, 1991, Latvia claimed de facto independence. International recognition, including that of the USSR, followed. The United States, which had never recognized Latvia's forcible annexation by the USSR, resumed full diplomatic relations with Latvia on September 2 1991.

In August 1994 the last Soviet troops withdrew from the Republic of Latvia.

Historical, Pre-Perestroika Soviet sources

Up to the reassessment of Soviet history in USSR that began during Perestroika, before the USSR had condemned the 1939 secret protocol between Nazi Germany and itself that had led to the invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries.

The events in 1939 according to the pre-Perestroika Soviet sources were following: The Government of the Soviet Union suggested that the Government of the Republic of Latvia conclude a mutual assistance treaty between the two countries. The pressure from Latvian working people forced the Latvian government to accept this suggestion. The Pact of Mutual Assistance was signed which allowed the USSR to station a limited number of Red Army units in Latvia. Economic difficulties, dissatisfaction with the Latvian government policies 'that had sabotaged fulfillment of the Pact and the Latvian government' political orientation towards Nazi Germany lead to a revolutionary situation in June 1940. To guarantee fulfillment of the Pact additional military units entered Latvia, welcomed by the Latvian workers who demanded the resignation of the Latvian government. In June under the leadership of the Latvian Communist Party political demonstrations by workers were held. On the same day the fascist government was overthrown, and the People's government was formed. In July 1940 elections for the Latvian Parliament were held. The "Working People’s Union", created by an initiative of the Latvian Communist Party received majority of the votes. The Parliament adopted the declaration of the restoration of Soviet power in Latvia and proclaimed the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic. The declaration of Latvias's wish to join the USSR was adopted and the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was addressed accordingly. The request was approved by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR.

Bibliography

• Latvian National Foundation, These Names Accuse-Nominal List of Latvians Deported to Soviet Russia, Stockholm: Latvian National Foundation, 2nd edition, 1982
• Meissner, Boris, Die russische Politik gegenüber der baltischen Region als Prüfstein für das Verhältnis Russlands zu Europa -- in Die Aussenpolitik der baltischen Staaten und die internationalen Beziehungen im Ostseeraum, Hamburg:Bibliotheka Baltica, 1994, S.466-504.
• Meissner, Boris Die Sowjetunion, die baltischen Staaten und das Völkerrecht - Köln: Verl. für Politik u. Wirtschaft, 1956. XI, 377 S..* Rutkis, Jānis, editor, Latvia: Country & People, Stockholm: Latvian National Foundation, 1967
• Zalts, Alberts, editor, Latvian Economic Review, No. 2 (18), April 1940, Rīga: Latvian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, 1940
• Švābe, Arveds, The Story of Latvia - A Historical Survey, Stockholm: Latvian National Foundation, 1949

See also

• Occupation of Baltic states
• European Court of Human Rights cases on Occupation of Baltic States
• Litene

External links

• The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia
• Overview of Soviet atrocities during occupation of Latvia by Soviets in 1940-1941
• Centropa Reports, Latvia, July 1, 1941, by Frank Gordon
• Vilis Lācis handwritten note (facsmile and translation) deporting General Jānis Balodis and family