Occupation of the Baltic states

Part of a series of articles on
Occupation and annexation of the Baltic states
Baltic states · Nazi Germany · Soviet Union
Background Baltic–Soviet relations Soviet–Estonian Non-Aggression Pact Soviet–Latvian Non-Aggression Pact Soviet–Lithuanian Non-Aggression Pact German–Estonian Non-Aggression Pact German–Latvian Non-Aggression Pact Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact
First Soviet occupation Soviet–Estonian Mutual Assistance Treaty Soviet–Latvian Mutual Assistance Treaty Soviet–Lithuanian Mutual Assistance Treaty Orzeł incident · Ultimatum to Estonia Ultimatum to Latvia · Ultimatum to Lithuania People's Parliament Sovietization · June deportation
Nazi occupation Estonia: Occupation · Resistance · Holocaust Latvia: Occupation · Resistance · Holocaust Lithuania: Occupation · Resistance · Holocaust
Second Soviet occupation Battle of Narva · Baltic Offensive Courland Pocket · Forest Brothers Lithuanian partisans · Operation Priboi Operation Jungle
Under Soviet rule Estonian SSR · Latvian SSR Lithuanian SSR · Territorial changes Baltic Way · Singing Revolution · Sąjūdis · Rahvarinne · Congress of Estonia
State continuity Estonian Government in Exile United States House Select Committee Helsinki Accords
Aftermath Estonia–Russia relations Latvia–Russia relations Lithuania–Russia relations Russians in Estonia Russians in Latvia Russians in Lithuania

The occupation of the Baltic states was the military occupation of the three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by the Soviet Union under the auspices of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact on 14 June 1940 followed by their forcible incorporation into the USSR as constituent republics,^[1] as well as subsequent occupation of the Baltic republics by the Nazi Germany since 22 June 1941 and incorporation into the Reichskommissariat Ostland of the Third Reich which lasted until the Soviet Union regained full control of the Baltics in May 1945. The Baltic states regained independence on 20–21 August 1991.

The Governments of Baltic states,^[2][3] the United States^[4][5] and its courts of law,^[6] the European Parliament,^[7][8][9] the European Court of Human Rights^[10] and the United Nations Human Rights Council,^[11] state that these three countries were invaded, occupied and illegally incorporated into the Soviet Union under provisions^[12] of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact first by the Soviet Union, then by Nazi Germany from 1941–1944, and again by the Soviet Union from 1944–1991.^{[13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20]} This policy of non-recognition gave rise to the principle of legal continuity, which held that de jure, the Baltic states remained independent states under illegal occupation throughout the period 1940–91.^[21][22]

In the reassessment of Soviet history that began during perestroika in 1989, the USSR condemned the 1939 secret protocol between Germany and itself.^[23] However, the USSR never formally acknowledged its presence in the Baltics as an occupation, and considered the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics as its constituent republics. The Russian government and state officials maintain that the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states was legitimate.^[24][25]

The Baltic states were restored as sovereign countries in 1991 during the break-up of the Soviet Union. The full withdrawal of troops deployed by Moscow occurred in August 1994.^[26]

Background

Planned and actual divisions of Europe, according to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, with later adjustments

Early in the morning of August 24, 1939, the Soviet Union and Germany signed a 10-year non-aggression pact, called the Molotov–Ribbentrop pact. Most notably, the pact contained a secret protocol to which the states of Northern and Eastern Europe were divided into German and Soviet "spheres of influence".^[27] In the North, Finland, Estonia and Latvia were assigned to the Soviet sphere.^[27] Poland was to be partitioned in the event of its "political rearrangement"—the areas east of the Narev, Vistula and San Rivers going to the Soviet Union while Germany would occupy the west.^[27] Lithuania, adjacent to East Prussia, would be in the German sphere of influence, although a second secret protocol agreed in September 1939 assigned majority of Lithuania to the Soviet Union.^[28] According to the secret protocol, Lithuania would retrieve its historical capital Vilnius, subjugated during the inter-war period by Poland.

After the end of Soviet invasion of Poland on 6 October, the Soviets pressured Finland and the Baltic states to conclude mutual assistance treaties. The Soviets questioned the neutrality of Estonia following the escape of a Polish submarine on 18 September. A week after on 24 September, the Estonian foreign minister was given an ultimatum in Moscow. The Soviets demanded the conclusion of a treaty of mutual assistance to establish military bases in Estonia.^[29][30] The Estonians had no choice but to accept naval, air and army bases on two Estonian islands and at the port of Paldiski.^[29] The corresponding agreement was signed on 28 September 1939. Latvia followed on 5 October 1939 and Lithuania shortly thereafter, on 10 October 1939. The agreements permitted the Soviet Union to establish military bases on the Baltic states' territory for the duration of the European war^[30] and station 25,000 Soviet soldiers in Estonia, 30,000 in Latvia and 20,000 in Lithuania from October 1939.

Soviet occupation and annexation 1940–1941

In September and October 1939, the Soviet government compelled the Baltic states to conclude mutual assistance pacts which gave the right to establish Soviet military bases.^[31] In May 1940, the Soviets turned to the idea of direct military intervention, but still intended to use a puppet regime.^[32] Their model was the Finnish Democratic Republic, a puppet regime set up by the Soviets on the first day of the Winter War.^[33] The Soviets organised a press campaign against the allegedly pro-Allied sympathies of the Baltic governments. In May, the Germans invaded France; the country was overrun and occupied a month later. In late May and early June, the Baltic states were accused of military collaboration against the Soviet Union. On 15 June, the Lithuanian government had no choice but to agree to the Soviet ultimatum and permit the entry of an unspecified number of Soviet troops. President Antanas Smetona proposed armed resistance to the Soviets but the government refused, proposing their own candidate to lead the regime.^[32] However, the Soviets refused and sent Vladimir Dekanozov to take charge of affairs while the Red Army occupied the state.^[34]

On 16 June, Latvia and Estonia also received ultimatums. The Red Army occupied the two remaining Baltic states shortly thereafter. The Soviets installed Andrey Vyshinsky as leader of Latvia and Andrei Zhdanov in Estonia. New Baltic state governments were formed on 18 and 21 June along popular front lines.^[34] Under Soviet surveillance, new governments of Communists and fellow travelers arranged rigged elections. Soon new governments requested admission to the Soviet Union. Lithuania was incorporated into the Soviet Union on 3 August, Latvia on 5 August, and Estonia on 9 August.^[34] The presidents of Estonia and Latvia were imprisoned, and later died in Siberia. In June 1941, the new Soviet governments carried out mass deportations of "enemies of the people". Consequently, at first many Balts greeted the Germans as liberators, when they occupied the area in June 1941.^[31]

German occupation 1941–1944

Ostland province and Holocaust

On 22 June 1941 the Germans invaded the Soviet Union. The Baltic states, recently Sovietized by threats, force, and fraud, generally welcomed the German armed forces when they crossed the frontiers.^[35] In Lithuania, a revolt broke out and an independent provisional government was established. As the German armies approached Riga and Tallinn, attempts to reestablish national governments were made. It was hoped that the Germans would reestablish Baltic independence. Such political hopes soon evaporated and Baltic cooperation became less forthright or ceased altogether.^[36] The Germans aimed to annex the Baltic territories to the Third Reich where the suitable elements would be assimilated and the unsuitable elements exterminated. In reality, the occupation policy was more complicated and the Baltic states were lumped together with Belorussia for administrative convenience in the Reichskommissariat Ostland.^[37] The area was ruled by Hinrich Lohse who was obsessed with bureaucratic regulations.^[37] The Baltic area was the only eastern region intended to become a full province of the Third Reich.^[38]

Nazi racial attitudes to Baltic people differed between Nazi authorities. In practice, racial policies was directed not against the majority of Balts but against the Jews. Large numbers of Jews lived in the major cities, notably in Vilnius, Kaunas and Riga. The German mobile killing units slaughtered hundreds of thousands of Jews; Einsatzgruppe A, assigned to the Baltic area, was the most effective of four units.^[38] German policy forced Jews into ghettos. In 1943 Heinrich Himmler ordered his forces to liquidate ghettos and transfer survivors to concentration camps. Many Balts collaborated actively in the killing of Jews, and Nazis managed to provoke pogroms locally, especially in Lithuania.^[39] Only about ten percent of Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Jews survived the war. However, for the majority of Baltic people, German rule was less harsh than Soviet rule had been. Also it was less brutal than German occupations elsewhere in eastern Europe.^[40] Local puppet regimes carried out administrative acts and schools were permitted to function. However, most people were denied the right to own land or businesses.^[41]

Attempts to restore independences and Soviet offensive

There were efforts to restore independences during the occupation. The Lithuanians had overthrew Soviet rule two days before Germans arrived in Kaunas. The Germans allowed Provisional Government to function over a month.^[41] The Latvian Central Council was set up as undeground organisation in 1943, but it was destroyed by Gestapo in 1945. In Estonia, Jüri Uluots proposed restoration of independence in 1941. Later, he was a key figure in secret National Committee in 1944. In September 1944, Uluots briefly became acting president of independent Estonia.^[42] Unlike French and Polish, the Baltic states had no governments in exile located in West. Consequently, the Great Britain and the United States lacked the interest for Baltic cause, as the war against Germany was remaining undecided.^[42] The discovery of the Katyn massacre in 1943 and callous conduct towards the Warsaw uprising in 1944 were casting shadows to relations. Still, all three victors displayed their solidarity in the Yalta conference in 1945.^[43]

By the 1 March 1944 the siege of Leningrad was over and the Soviet troops were on the border with Estonia.^[44] The Soviets launched the Baltic Offensive, a twofold military-political operation to rout German forces on 14 September. On 16 September the High Command of the German Army issued a plan, where the Estonian forces would cover the German withdrawal.^[45] Soon the Soviets arrived the Estonian capital Tallinn. The first mission of the NKVD was to stop anyone escaping from the state. However, many refugees escaped to the West. The NKVD also targeted the members of the National Committee of the Republic of Estonia.^[46] The German and Latvian forces capitulated in the Courland pocket in May 1945 and stayed to the rest of the war.

Under Soviet rule 1944–1991

Resistance and deportations

Monument of Lithuanian victims of Soviet occupation in Gediminas Avenue of Vilnius.

After regaining the Baltic states, the Soviets executed the sovietization. The effect was archieved rather in large-scale industrialisation than direct attacks of culture, religion and freedom of expression.^[47] The Soviet used massive deportations to eliminate the resistance of collectivisation and the support of partisans.^[48] The Baltic partisans, for example Forest brothers, resisted the Soviet rule via armed struggle for a number of years.^[49] The Soviets had already carried out the deportations in 1940–41, but the deportations between 1944–52 were much larger numbers.^[48] In March 1949, the top Soviet authorities organised a mass deportation of 90,000 Baltic nationals.^[50]

The total number of deported in 1944–55 has been estimated at 124,000 in Estonia, 136,000 in Latvia and 245,000 in Lithuania. The deportees were allowed to return after the secret speech of Nikita Khrushchev in 1956, however many did not survive in their years in Siberia.^[48] After the war, the Soviets outlined new borders for the Baltic republics. Lithuania gained Vilnius and Klaipeda regions, but Estonia and Latvia ceded some eastern territories to the Russian SFSR. Estonia lost 5 percent and Latvia 2 percent of its prewar territory.^[48]

Industrialization and immigration

The Soviets made large capital investments for energy resources and a manufacture of industrial and agricultural products. The purpose was to integrate the Baltic economies into the larger Soviet economic sphere.^[51] In all three republics, manufacturing industry was developed at the expense of other sectors, notably agriculture and housing. The rural economy suffered from the lack of investments and the collectivization.^[52] Baltic urban areas damaged during wartime and it took ten years to reachieved housing losses. New constructions were often poor quality and ethnic Russians immigrants were favored in housing.^[53] Estonia and Latvia received large-scale immigration of industrial workers for other parts of the Soviet Union and changed the demographics changes dramatically. Lithuania also received immigration but in a smaller scale.^[51]

Ethnic Estonians constituted 88 percent before the war, but in 1970 the figure dropped to 60 percent. Ethnic Latvians constituted 75 percent, but the figure dropped 57 percent in 1970 and further down to 50.7 percent in 1989. In contrast, the drop in Lithuania was only 4 percent.^[53] Baltic communists had supported and participated the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. However, many of them died during the Great Purge in the 1930s. The new regimes of 1944 were established mostly by native communists who had fought in the Red Army. However, the Soviets also imported ethnic Russians to fill political, administrative and managerial posts.^[54]

Restoration of independences

The period of stagnation brought the crisis of the Soviet system. The new Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985 and responded with glastnost and perestroika. They were attempts to reform the Soviet system from above to avoid revolution from below. The reforms occasioned the reawaking of nationalism in the Baltic republics.^[55] The first major demonstrations against the environment were Riga in November 1986 and the following spring in Tallinn. Small successful protests encouraged key individuals and by the end of 1988 the reform wing had gained the decisive positions in the Baltic republics.^[56] At the same time, coalitions of reformists and populist forces assembled under the Popular Fronts.^[57] The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic made the Estonian language the state language again in January 1989, and similar legistlation was passed in Latvia and Lithuania soon after. The Baltic republics declared their aim for sovereignty: Estonia in November 1988, Lithuania in May 1989 and Latvia in July 1989.^[58] The Baltic Way, that took place on 23 of August 1989, became the biggest manifestation of opposition to the Soviet rule.^[59]

On 11 March 1990 the Lithuanian Supreme Soviet declared Lithuania's independence.^[60] The pro-independence candidates received overhelming majority in the Supereme Soviet elections of March 1990.^[61] On 30 March 1990, the Estonian Supereme Soviet made declaration of indepedence. On 4 May 1990, the Latvian Supreme Soviet made a similar declaration.^[62] By mid-June the Soviets started negotiations with the Baltic republics. The Soviets had a bigger challenge elsewhere, as the Russian federal republic proclaimed of sovereignty in June.^[63] Simultaneously the Baltic republics also started to negotiate directly with the Russian federal republic.^[63] After the failed negotiations the Soviets made a dramatic but failed attempt to break the deadlock and sent military troops to Lithuania and Latvia in January 1991.^[64] In August 1991, the hard-line members attempted to take control of the Soviet Union. A day after the coup on 21 August, the Estonian proclaimed independence. The Latvian parliament made similar a declaration on the same day. The coup failed but the Collapse of the Soviet Union became unavoidable.^[65] The Soviet Union recognised the Baltic independence on 6 September 1991. on 31 August 1994, the Russian troops withdrew from the Baltic states.^[66]

State continuity of the Baltic states

Most of the Western states refused to recognise de jure the 1940 annexation. Instead, they recognised that the Sovet Union had de facto control over them.^[68] However, only few were as forthright in their support as the United States during the years under the Soviet rule.^[69] The Baltic claim that they continue their pre-occupation with legal personalities has been questioned on a number of grounds and in different contexts. The lengthy time, more than 50 years, has been one of the arguments against their claim.^[70] However, the Baltic states also base their claim to state continuity on two additional rules; the prohibition of the use of force in international relations and the right to self-determination, as expressed in free and fair elections.^[71]

Soviet and Russian historiography

The Soviet historiography saw the 1940 incorporation as voluntary entry by the Balts. The Soviet historiagraphy inherited Russian concept of historical mythology from age of Kievan Rus through Russian Empire to the Soviet state. The Soviet historiography provided legitimate interest of Russia and the Soviet Union in the Baltic area. Majority of the ethnic Russians believed they have moral and historical rights to control and russianize the whole of the Soviet Union, the Baltic area included.^[72] In Soviet historiography, the 1940 annexation was not only voluntary entry but also natural thing to do. The military security of mother Russia was improved and nothing could argue against it.^[73]

Soviet sources prior to Perestroika

Up to the reassessment of Soviet history in USSR that began during Perestroika, before the USSR had condemned the 1939 secret protocol between Germany and itself that had led to the invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries.^[23]

The events in 1939, according to the pre-perestroika Soviet sources, were as follows: The Government of the Soviet Union suggested that the Governments of the Baltic countries conclude mutual assistance treaties between the countries. Pressure from working people forced the governments of the Baltic countries to accept this suggestion. The Pacts of Mutual Assistance were then signed^[74] which allowed the USSR to station a limited number of Red Army units in the Baltic countries. Economic difficulties and dissatisfaction of the populace with the Baltic governments' policies that had sabotaged fulfillment of the Pact and the Baltic countries governments' political orientation towards Germany lead to a revolutionary situation in June, 1940. To guarantee fulfillment of the Pact additional military units entered Baltic countries, welcomed by the workers who demanded the resignations of the Baltic governments. In June under the leadership of the Communist Parties political demonstrations by workers were held. The fascist governments were overthrown, and workers' governments formed. In July 1940, elections for the Baltic Parliaments were held. The "Working People’s Unions", created by an initiative of the Communist Parties, received the majority of the votes.^[75] The Parliaments adopted the declarations of the restoration of Soviet powers in Baltic countries and proclaimed the Soviet Socialist Republics. Declarations of Estonia's, Latvia's and Lithuania's wishes to join the USSR were adopted and the Supreme Soviet of the USSR petitioned accordingly. The requests were approved by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR. The Stalin-edited Falsifiers of History, published in 1948, states regarding the need for the June 1940 invasions that "[p]acts had been concluded with the Baltic States, but there were as yet no Soviet troops there capable of holding' the defenses."^[76] It also states regarding those invasions that "[o]nly enemies of democracy or people who had lost their senses could describe those actions of the Soviet Government as aggression."^[77]

Russian historiography in the post-Soviet era

The post-Soviet era historians in Russia, who treat Baltic questions, tend not to recognize the events as occupation. Vilnis Sīpols, a Russian historian with Latvian roots argues in his work Diplomatic Secrets. On the Eve of the Great Patriotic War that Stalin's ultimata of 1940 were defensive measures taken because of German threat and had no connexion with the 'socialist revolutions' in the Baltic states.^[78]

The arguments that the USSR had to annex the Baltic states in order to defend the security of those countries and to avoid German invasion into the three republics can be found in “The Modern History of Fatherland”,^[79] a textbook for colleges. Similarly, Sergey Chernichenko, a jurist and vice-president of the Russian Association of International Law, argues that from the point of view of international law, the events in 1940 cannot be characterised as occupation. He claims occupation is a Baltic governments' thesis used for justify the 'discrimination of Russian-speaking inhabitants' there.^[80]

According to the revisionist historian Oleg Platonov "from the point of view of the national interests of Russia, unification was historically just, as it returned to the composition of the state ancient Russian lands, albeit partially inhabited by other peoples." ^[81]

Position of the Russian Federation

With the advent of Perestroika and its reassessment of Soviet history, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1989 condemned the 1939 secret protocol between Germany and itself that had led to the division of Eastern Europe and the invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries.^[23]

While this action did not state the Soviet presence in the Baltics was an occupation, the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic and Republic of Lithuania affirmed so in a subsequent agreement in the midst of the collapse of the Soviet Union. Russia, in the preamble of its July 29, 1991 Treaty between the Russian Soviet Federated Socialist Republic and the Republic of Lithuania on the Basis for Relations between States, declared that the once the USSR had eliminate the consequences of the 1940 annexation which violated Lithuania’s sovereignty Russia-Lithuania relations would further improve.^[82]

Meanwhile, Russia's current official position directly contradicts its earlier rapproachement with Lithuania.^[83] as well as its signing of membership to the Council of Europe, where it agreed to obligations and commitments including "iv. as regards the compensation for those persons deported from the occupied Baltic states and the descendants of deportees, as stated in Opinion No. 193 (1996), paragraph 7.xii, to settle these issues as quickly as possible...."^[84][85] The Russian government and state officials maintain that the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states was legitimate^[86] and that the Soviet Union liberated the countries from the Nazis.^[87] They assert that Soviet troops initially entered the Baltic countries in 1940 following agreements and with the consent of the governments of the Baltic republics. Their position is that the USSR was not in a state of war and was not engaged in combat activities on the territories of the three Baltic states, therefore, the word "occupation" cannot be used.^[88] "The assertions about [the] 'occupation' by the Soviet Union and the related claims ignore all legal, historical and political realities, and are therefore utterly groundless."—Russian Foreign Ministry.

Treaties affecting USSR–Baltic relations

Treaties in effect between the USSR and the Baltic countries prior to 1940

After the Baltic states proclaimed independence following the signing of the Armistice, Bolshevist Russia invaded at the end of 1918.^[89] Известия (Izvestia) publishing in its December 25, 1918 issue: "Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania are directly on the road from Russia to Western Europe and therefore a hindrance to our revolutions... This separating wall has to be destroyed." Bolshevist Russia, however, did not gain control of the Baltics and in 1920 concluded peace treaties with all three states. Subsequently, at the initiative of the Soviet Union,^[90] additional non-aggression treaties were concluded with all three Baltic States:

• Peace treaties
• Non-aggression treaties
• Kellogg-Briand Pact and Litvinov's Pact
• The Convention for the Definition of Aggression
• The Pacts of Mutual Assistance
• Treaties the USSR signed between 1940 and 1945

Timeline

See also

• United States resolution on the 90th anniversary of the Latvian Republic
• Baltic States Investigation by the US House of Representatives
• State continuity of the Baltic states
• Forest Brothers
• January Events
• Litene
• Occupations of Latvia
• Population transfer in the Soviet Union
• Rainiai massacre
• Territorial changes of the Baltic States
• Villa Lituania
• Museum of Occupations, Tallinn, a project by the Kistler-Ritso Estonian Foundation

References

Citations

Bibliography

Further reading

• Regarding the Procedure for carrying out the Deportation of Anti-Soviet Elements from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. – Full text, English
• The Global Museum on Communism about the occupation of Estonia by the Soviet Union.
• The Occupation museum of Latvia
• GULAG 113 – Canadian film about Estonians mobilized into the Red Army 1941 and forced into labour in the GULAG
• Soviet Aggression Against the Baltic States by (Latvian Supreme Court justice) Augusts Rumpeters — Short and thoroughly annotated dissertation on Soviet-Baltic treaties and relations. 1974. Full text

Academic and media articles

• Mälksoo, Lauri (2000). Professor Uluots, the Estonian Government in Exile and the Continuity of the Republic of Estonia in International Law. Nordic Journal of International Law 69.3, 289–316.
• Mälksoo, Lauri (2003). Illegal Annexation and State Continuity: The Case of the Incorporation of the Baltic States by the USSR. Leiden – Boston: Brill. ISBN 9041121773
• Non-Recognition in the Courts: The Ships of the Baltic Republics by Herbert W. Briggs. In The American Journal of International Law Vol. 37, No. 4 (Oct., 1943), pp. 585–596.
• Alfred Erich Senn What Happened in Lithuania in 1940?(PDF)
• The Soviet Occupation of the Baltic States, by Irina Saburova. In Russian Review, 1955
• The Steel Curtain, TIME Magazine, April 14, 1947
• The Iron Heel, TIME Magazine, December 14, 1953

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