History of Latvia: Encyclopedia II - History of Latvia - Soviet Period

History of Latvia - Soviet Period

After the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between Soviet Russia and Nazi Germany on August 23, 1939, Latvia became a strategic interest of the USSR. On June 15, 1940 at 03:00 AM Soviet troops stormed Latvian border posts Masļeņiki and Smaiļi. During the following year Soviet Union placed several army garrisons in the territory of Latvia. On June 17, 1940 Soviet Union orchestrated and supported communist uprisings in all three Baltic nations, a puppet government was installed which a few months later requested Latvia to be incorporated into the Soviet Union as the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic. The whole sequence of events, though technically not an occupation, is commonly regarded as such by the international community.

During the night from the 13th to the 14th of June, 1941, thousands of Latvian inhabitants were violently deported to Siberia. 35,000 people suffered from Soviet repressions in the first year of Soviet occupation.

With the beginning of World War II (WWII), Latvia was taken from Soviets by German forces. Immediately after the installment of German authority (the beginning of July,1941) a process of eliminating the Jewish and Gypsy population began, with many killings taking place in Rumbula. The killings were committed by the Einsatzgruppen A, the Wehrmacht and Marines (in Liepaja), as well as by Latvian collaborators, including the 500-1,500 members of the infamous Arajs Commando, which alone killed around 26,000 Jews, and the 2,000 or more Latvian members of the SD (“The Holocaust in Latvia” by Andrievs Ezergailis)[2]. By the end of 1941 the almost the entire Jewish population was exterminated. In addition, some 25,000 Jews were brought from Germany, Austria and the present-day Czech Republic, of whom around 20,000 were killed.

A large number of Latvians resisted the German occupation. The resistance movement was divided between the pro-independence units under the Latvian Central Council and the pro-soviet units under the Central Staff of the Partisan Movement in Moscow. Their Latvian commander was Artūrs Sproģis.

In 1943 and 1944 two divisions of Waffen SS were formed largely from Latvian soldiers to fight the Soviet army. In 1944, heavy fighting took place in Latvia between German and Soviet troops, the USSR gained the upper hand. During the course of the war, both occupying forces conscripted Latvians into their armies, in this way increasing the loss of the nation's "live resources". In 1944, part of the Latvian territory once more came under Soviet control. Soviets immediately began to reinstate pre-war order. After German surrender it become clear that Soviet forces are there to stay, and pro-independence partisans (Forest Brothers), soon to be joined by German collaborators, begun their fight against another occupant - Soviet Union

The first post war years were noted by particularly dismal and sombre events in the fate of the Latvian nation. 120,000 Latvian inhabitants were imprisoned or deported to Soviet concentration (GULAG) camps. Some managed to escape arrest and joined Forest Brothers 130,000 took refuge from the Soviet army by fleeing to the West. On March 25, 1949, 43,000 rural residents were deported to Siberia in a sweeping repressive action.

An extensive russification campaign began in Latvia, many administrative obstacles were implemented to hinder the use of the Latvian language.

In the post war period Latvia was forced to adopt Soviet farming methods and the economic infrastructure developed in the 1920s and 1930s was purposefully destroyed. Rural areas were forced into collectivisation.

Because Latvia had still maintained a well-developed infrastructure and educated specialists it was decided in Moscow that some of the Soviet Union's most advanced manufacturing factories were to be based in Latvia. New industry was created in Latvia, including a major machinery factory RAF and electrotechnical factories, as well as some food and oil processing plants. However, there was not enough workforce to run the newly built factories. In order to run these factories, Russian workers were flooded into the country, noticeably decreasing the proportion of ethnic Latvians. By the end of the 1980s, the ethnic Latvians comprised only about 50% of the population (1,387,757), however before WWII, they comprised around 80% (1,467,035) of all inhabitants. Interesting, that in 2005 there are 1,357,099 ethnic Latvians, so the number is even less than was in 1989. However, proportionately it is already a little more than 60% of the total population of Latvia (2,375,000).

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Soviet Period", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki