Russia continues to maintain that the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states was legal[4] and that the Soviet Union liberated the countries from the Nazis,[5] ignoring the fact that it had already occupied the Baltics according to the terms of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between Hitler and Stalin.[6]
After the occupation and partition of Poland, the Soviet Union started pressuring Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to accept Soviet bases on their soil. Eventually all states except Finland signed pacts of "defense and mutual assistance", which permitted the Soviet Union to station troops on their soil. 25,000 Soviet soldiers marched into Estonia, 30,000 into Latvia, and 20,000 into Lithuania in October 1939. These military forces far outnumbered the armies of each country [7]. On 11 October 1939, Lavrenty Beria gave the order to "stamp out anti-Soviet and antisocialist elements" in the countries. The Soviet military police made their first arrests [7]. After moving Red Army units into the Baltic states, the Soviet Union tried to occupy Finland by force in the Winter War of 1940, but had to settle for annexing Finnish Karelia and renting an isolated base in Hanko at the southwestern cape of mainland Finland.
The spring of 1940 saw the German invasion of Denmark and Norway as well as a blitz through the Low Countries to France. Direct Soviet aggression against the Baltic countries occurred between 14-17 June, 1940, when the world’s attention was focused on the military actions in Western Europe, where Paris fell to the Germans on 14 June.
Threatening an invasion and accusing Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania of violating the terms of mutual assistance pacts as well as forming a conspiracy against the Soviet Union, the latter presented ultimatums, demanding new concessions, which included the replacement of governments and allowing an unlimited number of troops to enter the three countries.[8][9][10]
In the conditions of international isolation, the governments acceded to demands without offering any military resistance, and within a few days, the countries were invaded and occupied by several hundred thousand[11] soldiers of the Red Army. A few days later, led by Stalin’s close associates,[12] the local communist supporters and those brought in from Russia, proclaimed new "people's governments" in the three occupied countries. In the following month, mock parliamentary elections were conducted by local communists loyal to the Soviet Union and all non-communist candidates were disqualified.[13] The election results were completely fabricated: the Soviet press service released them early, with the result that they had already appeared in print in a London newspaper a full 24 hours before the polls closed.[14][15] The result was that all three Baltic states had communist majorities in their parliaments, and in August, despite claims prior to the elections that no such action would be taken,[13] they unanimously petitioned the Soviet government to join the Soviet Union. The petitions were granted and the three republics were formally annexed by the Soviet Union.
Immediately after the elections, NKVD units under the leadership of Ivan Serov arrested more than 15,000 "hostile elements" and members of their families [7]. In the first year of Soviet occupation, from June 1940 to June 1941, the number confirmed executed, conscripted, or deported is minimally estimated at 124,467: 59,732 in Estonia, 34,250 in Latvia, and 30,485 in Lithuania.[16] This included 8 former heads of state and 38 ministers from Estonia, 3 former heads of state and 15 ministers from Latvia, and the current president, 5 prime ministers and 24 other ministers from Lithuania.[17]
The last large-scale cleansing operation was planned for the night of 27-28 June 1941. It was delayed for several years by the the German invasion (Operation Barbarossa) [7]. According to historian Robert Conquest, the selective deportations from the Baltic States represented the policy of "the decapitation of the nation by removing its spokesmen", "as was later evidently to be the motive for the Katyn massacre" [18]
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. The United States,[19] in accordance with the principles of the Stimson Doctrine (Sumner Welles' Declaration of July 23, 1940[20][15]), as well as most other Western countries[21][22] never formally recognized the annexation, but did not directly interfere with Soviet control. The Baltic States continued their de jure existence in accordance with international law[23][24]. Diplomatic and consular representations of the Baltic States continued to function between 1940 - 1991 in some Western countries (USA, Australia, Switzerland).[25] Members of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian diplomatic services in Western countries continued to formulate and express the official opinion of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and protected the interests of these countries and their citizens abroad between 1940–1991, i.e., until the restoration of independence of the Baltic States.
The events in the Baltic Republics were not isolated. In Finland and the Scandinavian peninsula the great powers demanded concessions infringing their neutrality or sovereignty: Germany had pressured Sweden to grant transit rights for material and personnel transportation between Norway and ports of southern Sweden during the fighting in Norway, and achieved this after Norway's defeat. Immediately thereafter, the Soviet Union began to pressure Finland for transfer rights over land between the Hanko naval base and the Soviet border, established as a Finnish concession in the Moscow Peace Treaty, as well as for control of the Petsamo nickel mine.
In August, Finland granted transfer rights to German troops traveling between Northern Norway and ports of the Gulf of Bothnia in a diplomatic effort to improve relations with Nazi Germany that had been chilly since the mid-1930s, due to ideological differences, which was clearly demonstrated when the Third Reich sided with the Soviet Union during the Winter War. Finland now managed to increase the political contacts with Germany, which were seen as the only hope against Soviet occupation. In September, Finland and the Soviet Union came to an agreement on Hanko transitations. When the Soviet foreign minister, Vyacheslav Molotov, in November 1940, requested German acceptance and passive support for invasion of Finland, Hitler declined as he saw Finland as a potential ally in the upcoming invasion of the Soviet Union. The negotiations for the Petsamo mines stalled for several months, until indirect German support allowed the Finns to let those negotiations lapse.
Nazi occupation
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Germany occupied the Baltic states after invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 during Operation Barbarossa. German policy in the area was also harsh, culminating in the Holocaust in the Baltic lands. German occupation authorities collaborated with parts of local population in the area who, especially in the first stages of the occupation, saw Germans as a chance to avoid domination by the USSR and communists. As it became clear that the Nazis would not agree with the re-establishment of independent statehood and the occupation became increasingly brutal, growing proportion of local population turned against the Germans.
The Nazis grafted all of the Baltic states (except for the Memel (Klaipeda) region annexed into Greater Germany in 1939) and most of Belarus into the Reichskommissariat Ostland, a colony in all but name in which the four predominant nationalities had little role in governance. Hinrich Lohse, a German Nazi politician, was Reichskommissar until fleeing the Soviet advance.
One of the Nazi plans for the colonisation of conquered territories in the East, referred to as Generalplan Ost, called for the wholesale deportation of some two thirds of the native population from territories of the Baltic states in the event of a German victory. The remaining third were either to be exterminated in situ, used as slave labour or Germanised if deemed sufficiently Aryan, while hundreds of thousands of German settlers were to be moved into the conquered territories.
Soviet re-occupation
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The Soviet Union reoccupied the Baltic states as part of the Baltic Strategic Offensive Operation, a two fold military-political operation to rout German forces and the "liberation of the Soviet Baltic peoples"[26] beginning in summer-autumn 1944, lasting until the capitulation of German and Latvian forces in Courland pocket in May 1945, and they were gradually absorbed into Soviet Union. On 12 January 1949 the Soviet Council of Ministers issued a decree "on the expulsion and deportation" from Baltic states of "all kulaks and their families, the families of bandits and nationalists", and others [7]. More than 200,000 people are estimated to be deported from the Baltic in 1940-1953. In addition, at least 75,000 were sent to Gulag. 10 percent of the entire adult Baltic population was deported or sent to labor camps. [7]
Historical considerations
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.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union and it was 50 years before they regained their independence. Finland, which geographically was in less advantageous position than Sweden, had to endure two wars: the (Winter War and the Continuation War) with territorial losses, and had to bend its foreign policy in favor of the Soviet Union after the war (Finlandization), but it remained independent, capitalist and maintained democratic political system after World War II.
Timeline of the occupation
December, 1938 Elections to the local council in Memel result in Nazis obtaining an absolute majority (26 of 29 seats).
March 23, 1939 German ultimatum to Lithuania, Lithuania compelled to cede Memel region.
September 24, 1939 Soviet Union demands demands mutual assistance pact and establishment of military bases in Estonia.
September 28, 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop pact amended pursuant to German-Soviet Boundary and Friendship Treaty; most of Lithuania falls into the Soviet sphere of influence.
September 28, 1939 Estonia compelled to accept Soviet military bases.
October 2, 1939 Soviet Union demands mutual assistance pact and establishment of military bases in Latvia.
October 5, 1939 Latvia compelled to accept Soviet bases.
October 5, 1939 Soviet Union starts negotiations with Finland for bases and territory exchanges.
October 10, 1939 Lithuania compelled to accept Soviet bases.
Memorial to deported Latvian children who died in exile, 1941-1949October 11, 1939 NKVD issues Order No. 001223 for deportations of anti-Soviet elements from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to Russia.
October 18, 1939 First Red Army units enter Estonia.
June 14, 1940 Soviet air force shoots down Finnish passenger plane "Kaleva" flying from Tallinn to Helsinki.
June 14, 1940 Soviet air and naval blockade of Estonia starts.
June 14, 1940 Soviet Union gives ultimatum to Lithuania to form a new government and allow free access for Red Army. The president of Lithuania, Antanas Smetona, proposes armed resistance but as he doesn't get support from government or armed forces, he decides to leave the country so that he could not be used to legalise the occupation.
June 15, 1940 Soviet Union occupies Lithuania. President Smetona flees through Germany first to Switzerland then to USA, 1941, where he dies on January 9, 1944, in Cleveland. Prime minister Antanas Merkys following Soviet demands tries to catch Smetona. Vladimir Dekanozov lands in Kaunas to supervise process of annexation of Lithuania.
June 15, 1940 at 03:00 Soviet troops storm and capture Latvian border posts Masļenkos (Maslenkis) and Smaiļi.
June 16, 1940 Similar ultimatums were given to Estonia and Latvia.
June 16, 1940 Prime minister of Lithuania Antanas Merkys removes Antanas Smetona from the post of president and illegally assumes presidency himself.
June 17, 1940 Estonia and Latvia gave in to the Soviet demands and are occupied. Prime minister of Lithuania Antanas Merkys assigns Justas Paleckis as new prime minister, resigns and is arrested.
June 18, 1940 Sweden and Germany sign treaty allowing transfer of German soldiers from Norway using Swedish territory.
June 20, 1940 New Latvian government of Moscow-approved ministers is formed.
June 21, 1940 New Estonian government containing only left-wing activists is formed. Soviet Union arrange a number of Red Army backed demonstrations in several cities.
July 23, 1940 Heads of Baltic diplomatic missions in London and Washington protest against Soviet occupation and annexation of their countries.
July 23, 1940 Sumner Welles' (US Under-Secretary of State) Declaration. United States pursues the policy of non-recognition of annexation of the Baltic States de iure. Most other Western countries maintain similar position until restoration of Baltic states' sovereignty in 1991.
July 30, 1940 The president of Estonia, Konstantin Päts, is imprisoned by NKVD and deported to Russia where he dies in the mental hospital of Kalinin on January 18, 1956.
July 17, 1941 State Commissariat Ostland formed in Riga, Hinriche Lohse appointed State Commissar.
July 21, 1941 Stalin seeks Churchill's de jure recognition of the Soviet Union's new western border, Churchill does not respond.
August 14, 1941 Roosevelt and Churchill announce the Atlantic Charter.
August 31, 1941 Mainland Baltics now fully occupied by German forces.
September 20, 1941 Heinrich Himmler visits Estonia.
November 25, 1941 US deputy Secretary of State, Sumner Welles, re-affirms the US policy in regard to non-recognition of Baltic annexation.
December 19, 1941 Alfred Rosenberg, the German State Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories, enacts civil labour obligation for all 18 to 45 year old inhabitants of the occupied territories.
December, 1941 Within six months of German occupation, 10000 people, including 1000 Estonian Jews, are either imprisoned or executed.
January 20, 1942 Heydrich declares at the Wannsee Conference that Estonia is "Judenfrei".
February 25, 1942 German law comes into force in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, but are only applied to ethnic Germans.
March 16, 1942 Goebbels writes in his diary that the Baltic people are naive to believe that the Germans will allow them to re-establish national governments.
March 30, 1942 Himmler proposes plan to Germanise the Eastern Territories including establishing German settlements after the war.
May 20, 1942 Molotov visits London, Great Britain refuses to recognise the legality of the new western border of the Soviet Union.
References
^Saburova, Irina (1955). "The Soviet Occupation of the Baltic States". Russian Review. 14 (1): 36–49. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^See, for instance, position expressed by European Parliament, which condemned "the fact that the occupation of these formerly independent and neutral States by the Soviet Union occurred in 1940 following the Molotov/Ribbentrop pact, and continues." European Parliament (January 13, 1983). "Resolution on the situation in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania". Official Journal of the European Communities. C 42/78. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^"After the German occupation in 1941-44, Estonia remained occupied by the Soviet Union until the restoration of its independence in 1991." KOLK AND KISLYIY v. ESTONIA (European Court of Human Rights 17 January 2006), Text.
^Mangulis, Visvaldis (1983). "VIII. September 1939 to June 1941". Latvia in the Wars of the 20th Century. Princeton Junction: Cognition Books. ISBN0912881003. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
^ abŠvābe, Arveds. The Story of Latvia. Latvian National Foundation. Stockholm. 1949.
^Dunsdorfs, Edgars. The Baltic Dilemma. Speller & Sons, New York. 1975
^Küng, Andres. Communism and Crimes against Humanity in the Baltic States. 1999 [1]
^see, for instance, "Concurrent Resolution of the House and Senate: H. CON. RES. 128"(PDF). July 25, 2005. Retrieved 2006-12-09. [e]xpressing the sense of Congress that the Government of the Russian Federation should issue a clear and unambiguous statement of admission and condemnation of the illegal occupation and annexation by the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1991 of the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.{{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^Then acting U.S. Secretary of State, Sumner Wells described Soviet activities in the Baltic states as: "the devious process whereunder the political independence and territorial integrity of the three small Baltic republics - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania - were to be deliberately annihilated by one of their more powerful neighbors."
^European Parliament (January 13, 1983). "Resolution on the situation in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania". Official Journal of the European Communities. C 42/78. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)"whereas the Soviet annexations of the three Baltic States still has not been formally recognized by most European States and the USA, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia and the Vatican still adhere to the concept of the Baltic States".
^Van Elsuwege, P. (2003). "State Continuity and its Consequences: The Case of the Baltic States". Leiden Journal of International Law. 16: 377–388. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^Malksoo, Lauri (2005). "Illegal Annexation and State Continuity: The Case of the Incorporation of the Baltic States by the USSR". The American Journal of International Law. 99 (3): 734–736. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^Juda, Lawrence (1975). "United States' nonrecognition of the Soviet Union's annexation of the Baltic States: Politics and law". Journal of Baltic Studies. 6 (4): 272–290. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
^Д. Муриев, Описание подготовки и проведения балтийской операции 1944 года, Военно-исторический журнал, сентябрь 1984. Translation available, D. Muriyev, Preparations, Conduct of 1944 Baltic Operation Described, Military History Journal (USSR Report, Military affairs), 1984-9, pp. 22-28
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