Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany

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Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany. 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.

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)^[1] ^[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.

Latvia's population perished not only on the battlefield. During the years of Nazi occupation special campaigns exterminated 18,000 Latvians, approximately 70,000 Jews and 2,000 Gypsies – in total about 90,000 people. In the case of Latvians these were mostly civilians whose political convictions were unacceptable to the German occupation force. Jewish and Gypsy civilians were eliminated as a result of the inhuman Nazi "theory of races". Persecutions were mostly carried out by special German units (Einsatzgruppe A, Sicherheitsdienst, or SD) and police units. The German occupation regime attempted to involve the local population in war crimes. Thus, Latvian self-defence units, security police units, and SD auxiliary units were created and included volunteers who carried out part of the terror campaign.

A large number of Latvians resisted the German occupation. The Latvian 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.

Many Latvians were actively involved in the resistance movement against persecutions of the German occupation regime. For instance, Žanis Lipke risked his life to save more than fifty Jews. Civic circles in Latvia were also dissatisfied with the German occupation regime and secretly plotted to reinstate a democracy. In order to carry out the independence scheme an underground organisation was established, the Latvian Central Council, which published the outlawed publication "Brīva Latvija" ("Free Latvia"). The periodical was notably democratically inclined and propagated the idea of renewing democracy in Latvia after the war.

In violation of international rights, both Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union unlawfully conscripted Latvia's inhabitants in their armed forces. During World War II more than 200,000 Latvian soldiers ended up in the rank and file of both occupation forces; approximately half of them (100,000) were killed on the battlefield.

The Soviet Union included in its army a portion of independent Latvia's former military units, as well as those Latvians who had ended up in Russia as a result of warfare or those who had formerly lived there. The authorities of Nazi Germany also mobilised the former soldiers of independent Latvia's army. Initially, German authorities organised volunteer recruitment campaigns, but when desired results were not obtained, soldiers were forcefully conscripted into the so-called Latvian Waffen SS Volunteer Legion.

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".

Nazi Germany began to suffer regular defeats on the eastern front and was pushed back to the west. Mid-July 1944 the Soviet Army once again crossed Latvia's pre-war eastern border, and by October 13 had already invaded Rīga. Mid-October the German Army, which partly also included the "Latvian Legion", was besieged in Kurzeme. Kurzeme was flooded with refugees from eastern Latvia who were fleeing Soviet rule, the Red Army and persecution.

In 1944, the Red Army lifted the siege of Leningrad and re-conquered the Baltic area along with much of Ukraine and Belarus. However, some 200,000 German troops held out in Courland. They were besieged with their backs to the Baltic Sea. They were senselessly stuck there; the Red Army naturally did not pay much attention while concentrating its men and weapons on the attacks on East Prussia, Silesia, Pomerania, and ultimately Berlin. Colonel-General Heinz Guderian, the Chief of the German General Staff, insisted to Adolf Hitler that the troops in Courland should be evacuated by sea and used for the defense of the Reich. However, Hitler refused and ordered the German forces in Courland to hold out. He believed them necessary to protect German submarine bases along the Baltic coast. On January 15, 1945, Army Group Courland (Heeresgruppe Kurland) was formed under Colonel-General Dr. Lothar Rendulic. Until the end of the war, Army Group Courland (including divisions such as the Latvian Freiwiliger SS Legion) successfully defended the Latvian peninsula. It held out until May 8, 1945, when it surrendered under Colonel-General Carl Hilpert, the army group's last commander. He surrendered to Marshal Leonid Govorov, the commander of opposing Soviet forces on the Courland perimeter. At this time the group still consisted of some 31 divisions of varying strength. After May 9 1945 approximately 203,000 troops of Army Group Courland began moving to Soviet prison camps in the East.

With no other reprieve in sight many 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 war 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.

As of 1940 most of the democratic countries in the world did not recognise the incorporation of Latvia and the other Baltic States into the Soviet Union. The only exception was Sweden, which gave to Moscow the members of the "Latvian Legion", who had ended up in Sweden at the end of the war, and handed over to the Soviets the diplomatic representative offices of the Baltic countries in Stockholm. In contrast, after the war the United States of America became the most consistent defender of the Baltic people's aspirations for renewed independence. Throughout the entire period of occupation the embassy of independent Latvia continued to function in Washington D.C.