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The occupation of Baltic states is a contraversial concept to refer the possession of the Baltic states (Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania) by the Soviet Union, and again by the Soviets during World War II, and to the Soviet presence in the Baltics from 1945 until the re-establishment of their independence. It also may refer to Nazi occupation of the Baltics.

Many countries and governments including the United States did not recognize the seizure of Estonia/Latvia/Lithuania by the USSR de jure. Such countries recognized Estonian/Latvian/Lithuanian diplomats and consuls who still functioned in many countries in the name of their former governments. These aging diplomats persisted in this anomalous situation until the ultimate restoration of Baltic independence.

The Government of Russia and officials continue to maintain that the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states was legitimate and that the Soviet Union liberated the countries from the Nazis. They state that the Soviet troops had entered the Baltics in 1940 following the agreements and with the consent of the then governments of the Baltic countries.

Soviet occupation, 1940-1941

Shortly before the beginning of World War II, on August 23, 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed an ostensible non-aggression treaty known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. In the secret appendix of the pact, Germany and the Soviet Union divided up Eastern Europe into spheres of influence in Northern Europe, Finland, Estonia, Latvia (and, according to a later adjustment, Lithuania) fell in the Soviet zone. Poland was to be partitioned in the event of its "political re-arrangement."

After the Invasion of Poland, which was occupied and partitioned between the Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, the latter Union started pressuring Finland, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania to accept Soviet military bases on their soil by massing troops upon their respective borders. Eventually all states except Finland signed pacts of "defense and mutual assistance", which permitted the Soviet Union to station troops into military bases on their territory for the duration of the European war: 25,000 Soviet soldiers into Estonia, 30,000 into Latvia, and 20,000 into Lithuania in October 1939.

In support of local communist coup d'état organisers, soviet troops exited from their military bases in June 1940 and issued the Baltic governments ultimatums. The following days hundreds of thousands of additional Soviet troops entered Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania across the borders. These additional Soviet military forces far outnumbered the armies of each country . The Baltic governments decided: given the overwhelming Soviet force both on the borders and inside the countries made a decision not to resist, to avoid bloodshed and open war. The occupation of the Baltic states was rendered "official" by communist coup d'état in each country supported by the Soviet troops.

The repressions followed with the mass deportations carried out by the Soviets. 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 .

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. 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 soldiers of the Red Army. A few days later, led by Stalin’s close associates, 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. 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. 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, 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 . 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. 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. 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) . 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"

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, in accordance with the principles of the Stimson Doctrine (Sumner Welles' Declaration of July 23, 1940), as well as most other Western countries 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. Diplomatic and consular representations of the Baltic States continued to function between 1940 - 1991 in some Western countries (USA, Australia, Switzerland). 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.

Official position of the Russian government

Russian government and officials however continue to maintain that the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states was legitimate and that the Soviet Union liberated the countries from the Nazis. They state that the Soviet troops had entered the Baltics in 1940 following the agreements and with the consent of the then governments of the Baltic republics. They maintain that the USSR was not in a state of war and was not waging any combat activities on the territory of the three Baltic states, therefore, the argument goes, the word 'occupation' can not be used . "The assertions about 'occupation' by the Soviet Union and the related claims ignore all legal, historical and political realities, and are therefore utterly groundless." (Russian Foreign Ministry)

Russia maintains that Soviet forces liberated the Estonian SSR from Nazi occupation , despite the fact that the first "liberation" occured one year prior to the Nazi occupation itself.

Treaties affecting USSR-Baltic relations

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

See also Litvinov's Pact.

After the Baltics states proclaimed independence, Bolshevist Russia invaded at the end of 1918, Иэвестия (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:

Peace treaties

• Estonia, Treaty of Tartu February 2, 1920
• Lithuania, Soviet-Lithuanian Treaty on July 12, 1920
• Latvia, Treaty of Riga on August 111920

In these treaties, Bolshevist Russia renounced "for eternity" all sovereign rights over these three peoples and territories which formerly belonged to Russia.

Kellogg-Briand Pact

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

Non-aggression treaties

Subsequently, at the initiative of the Soviet Union, additional non-aggression treaties were concluded with all three Baltic States:

• Lithuania, on September 28, 1926
• Latvia, on February 5, 1932
• Estonia, on May 4, 1932

The contracting parties undertook to refrain from acts of aggression against one another, and from any acts of violence directed against the territorial integrity and inviolability or the political independence of the other contracting party. Furthermore, they agreed to submit all disputes regardless of origin which could not be settled diplomatically to a formal conciliation in a joint committee.

As a follow-on to the adoption of the Kellogg-Briand Pact on August 27, 1928, the Soviet Union signed a protocol confirming adherence to the terms of the Pact with its neighbors: Estonia, Latvia, Poland, and Romania on February 9, 1929. Lithuania declared its adherence to the pact and protocol soon thereafter, on April 5, 1929. In signing, the contracting parties agreed:

• to condemn war as a recourse to solving conflict and to renounce it as an instrument of policy, and
• that all conflicts and disputes be settled only by peaceful means.

The Convention for the Definition of Aggression

On July 3, 1933 for the first time in history aggression was defined in a binding treaty signed by USSR and among others, Baltic countries at the Soviet Embassy in London. Cite error: A <ref> tag is missing the closing </ref> (see the help page).

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:

• First—a declaration of war on another State.
• Second—invasion by armed forces of the territory of another State even without a declaration of war.
• Third—attack by its land, sea or air forces, even without declaration of war upon the territory, on the vessels or flying machines of another State.
• Fourth—a naval blockade of coasts or ports of another State.
• Fifth—support accorded armed bands which are organized on its territory and which shall have invaded the territory of another State; or refusal, in spite of the demand of the invaded State, to take on its own territory all steps in its power to deprive the bandits aforesaid of all aid or protection.

The Convention for the Definition of Aggression Article II then states that "no political, military, economic or other considerations may serve as an excuse or justification for the aggression referred to in Article II." And while the annex to Article III lists conceivable reasons for intervention in a neighboring state, it also stipulates that "the High Contracting Parties further agree to recognize that the present convention can never legitimate any violations of International Law that may be implied in the circumstances comprised in the above list."

The Pacts of Mutual Assistance

The Pacts of Mutual Assistance affirmed the sovereign rights of the Baltic states. Using the Pact of Mutual Assistance with Latvia as an example, signed on October 5, 1939, Article V of the Pact declares: "The enforcement of the present Pact may in no way impair the sovereign rights of the Contracting Parties, more especially with regard to their political structure, economic and social systems, and military measures."

Treaties the USSR signed between 1940 and 1945

The Soviet Union joined the Atlantic Charter of August 14, 1941 by resolution, signed in London on September 24, 1941. Resolution maintained that:

• desire to see no territorial changes that do not accord with the freely expressed wishes of the peoples concerned, and
• its wish to see sovereign rights and self-government restored to those who have been forcibly deprived of them.

The Soviet Union signed the Declaration by United Nations of January 1, 1942, which confirmed adherence to the Atlantic charter.

The Soviet Union signed the Yalta Declaration on Liberated Europe of February 4-11, 1945, in which Stalin, Churchill, and Roosevelt jointly declare for the restablishment of order in Europe according to the principle of the Atlantic Charter "the right of all peoples to choose the form of government under which they will live, the restoration of sovereign rights and self-government to those peoples who have been forcibly deprived of them by the aggressor nations." The Yalta declaration further states that "to foster the conditions in which the liberated peoples may exercise these rights, the three governments will join ... among others to facilitate where necessary the holding of free elections."

Finally, the Soviet Union signed the Charter of the United Nations on October 24, 1945, which in Article I Part 2 states that one of the "purposes of the United Nations is to develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples."

Soviet re-occupation, 1944-1991

This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (March 2007)

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" 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 . More than 200,000 people are estimated to have been 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.

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. Both Denmark and Norway reverted to democracy after the Nazi capitulation.

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were again occupied and annexed by the Soviet Union and only regained their independence nearly fifty years later in the aftermath of the Soviet coup of 1991. Finland, which geographically was in a 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 a democratic political system after World War II.

Timeline

• 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.
• August 23, 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact signed. Pact places Estonia, Latvia and Finland in Soviet sphere of interest.
• September 24, 1939 Soviet Union demands mutual assistance pact and the 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 accepts Soviet military bases.
• October 2, 1939 Soviet Union demands mutual assistance pact and establishment of military bases in Latvia.
• October 5, 1939 Latvia accepts Soviet bases.
• October 5, 1939 Soviet Union starts negotiations with Finland for bases and territory exchanges.
• October 10, 1939 Lithuania accepts Soviet bases.

• 

  October 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.
• November 13, 1939 Finland rejects Soviet demands.
• November 30, 1939 start of Winter War against Finland.
• December 1, 1939 Terijoki Government, Soviet puppet government of Finland created in occupied Terijoki border county near Leningrad.
• January 29, 1940 Soviet Union "forgets" Terijoki government.
• March 13, 1940 Winter War ends with Moscow Peace Treaty.
• April 9, 1940 Germany invades Denmark and Norway.
• June 10, 1940 Germany occupies Norway.
• June 14, 1940 Paris falls to Germans.
• June 14, 1940 Soviet air and naval blockade of Estonia starts.
• June 14, 1940 Soviet air force shoots down Finnish passenger plane "Kaleva" flying from Tallinn to Helsinki.
• 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.
• June 22, 1940 France surrenders.
• July 8, 1940 Sweden and Germany sign treaty allowing transfer of German war material between Norway and ports in Southern Sweden.
• July 11, 1940, Baltic Military District is created by Soviet Union at Riga, on the territories of theoretically still independent states
• July 14-July 15, 1940 Elections in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, where non-communist candidates were disqualified, harassed and beaten.
• July 17, 1940 The acting president of Lithuania, Antanas Merkys, is imprisoned and deported to Saratov, Soviet Union. He dies March 5, 1955.
• July 21-July 23, 1940 New Estonian assembly transforms Estonia according to Soviet style.
• July 21, 1940 New Latvian Saeima accepts wide nationalisation and Sovietization decrees.
• July 22, 1940 The president of Latvia, Kārlis Ulmanis, is arrested and deported to Russia, never returning. He died in a prison in Krasnovodsk on September 20, 1942.
• 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.
• August 3, 1940 Soviet Union annexes Lithuania.
• August 5, 1940 Soviet Union annexes Latvia.
• August 6, 1940 Soviet Union annexes Estonia.
• September 6, 1940 Soviet Union gets troop and material transfer rights from Finland between Hanko and Soviet border.
• September 22, 1940 Germany gets troop and material transfer rights from Finland between northern Norway and ports of Gulf of Bothnia.
• November 12, 1940 Germany refuses Soviet Union demands for right to handle Finland as they will in negotiations in Berlin.
• December 16, The Russian SFSR penal code is applied to retroactively in Estonia, applying to acts committed before 21 June 1940.
• January 10, 1941 Soviet Union and Germany make an agreement for the late resettlement of Baltic Germans from Latvia and Estonia.
• 14, 1941 First mass deportations from Estonia (10 000), Latvia (15 000) and Lithuania (18 000) to Siberia.
• June 15, 1941 The Governor of New York, Herbert Lehman, declares 15 June to be Baltic States Day.
• June 22, 1941 Operation Barbarossa, Germany invades Soviet Union.
• 24/25 June, 1941 Rainiai Massacre of Soviet political prisoners in Lithuania
• June 25, 1941 Continuation War starts between Finland and Soviet Union.
• June 2, 1941 General mobilisation is announced in the Soviet Union.
• July 4, 1941 Mass deportations from Estonian islands.
• July 7, 1941 German forces reach Southern Estonia.
• July 9, 1941 Soviet authorities leave Tartu after executing 199 political prisoners.
• July 10, 1941 German forces reach Tartu.
• July 17, 1941 State Commissariat Ostland formed in Riga, Hinrich 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

1. The World Book Encyclopedia ISBN-10: 0716601036
2. The History of the Baltic States by Kevin O'Connor ISBN-10: 0313323550
3. Saburova, Irina (1955). "The Soviet Occupation of the Baltic States". Russian Review. 14 (1): 36–49. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
4. 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)
5. "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.
6. Diplomats Without a Country: Baltic Diplomacy, International Law, and the Cold War by James T. McHugh , James S. Pacy, Page 2. ISBN-10: 0313318786
7. BBC News. "Russia denies Baltic 'occupation'". Retrieved 09-03-2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Text "Europe" ignored (help)
8. BBC News. "Bush denounces Soviet domination". Retrieved 09-03-2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Text "Europe" ignored (help)
9. http://www.newsfromrussia.com/main/2005/05/05/59605.html
10. The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania by David J. Smith, Page 24, ISBN-10: 0415285801
11. ^ Stephane Courtois; Werth, Nicolas; Panne, Jean-Louis; Paczkowski, Andrzej; Bartosek, Karel; Margolin, Jean-Louis & Kramer, Mark (1999). The Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, Repression. Harvard University Press. ISBN 0-674-07608-7.
12. The Baltic States: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania p.19 ISBN-10: 0415285801
13. Estonia: Identity and Independence by Jean-Jacques Subrenat, David Cousins, Alexander Harding, Richard C. Waterhouse ISBN-10: 9042008903
14. For Lithuania see, for instance, Thomas Remeikis (1975). "The decision of the Lithuanian government to accept the Soviet ultimatum of June 14, 1940". LITUANUS, Lithuanian Quarterly journal of Arts and Sciences. 21 (No.4 - Winter 1975). Retrieved 03-03-2007. {{cite journal}}: |issue= has extra text (help); Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |quotes= ignored (help)
15. see report of Latvian Chargé d'affaires, Fricis Kociņš, regarding the talks with Soviet Foreign Commissar Molotov in I.Grava-Kreituse, I.Feldmanis, J.Goldmanis, A.Stranga. (1995). Latvijas okupācija un aneksija 1939-1940: Dokumenti un materiāli. (The Occupation and Annexation of Latvia: 1939-1940. Documents and Materials.) (in Latvian). pp. 348–350.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
16. for Estonia see, for instance, Tanel Kerikmäe, Hannes Vallikivi (2000). "State Continuity in the Light of Estonian Treaties Concluded before World War II". Juridica International (I 2000): 30–39. Retrieved 03-03-2007. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Unknown parameter |quotes= ignored (help)
17. The World Book Encyclopedia ISBN-10: 0716601036
18. nearly 650,000 according to Kenneth Christie, Robert Cribb (2002). Historical Injustice and Democratic Transition in Eastern Asia and Northern Europe: Ghosts at the Table of Democracy. RoutledgeCurzon. p. 83. ISBN 0700715991.
19. in addition to the envoys accredited in Baltic countries, Soviet government sent the following special emissaries: to Lithuania: Deputy Commissar of Foreign Affairs Dekanozov; to Latvia: Vishinski, the representative of the Council of Ministers; to Estonia: Regional Party Leader of Leningrad Zhdanov. "Analytical list of documents, V. Friction in the Baltic States and Balkans, [[June 4]]-[[September 21]], [[1940]]" (html). Telegram of German Ambassador in the Soviet Union (Schulenburg) to the German Foreign Office. Retrieved 2007-03-03. {{cite web}}: URL–wikilink conflict (help)
20. ^ Attitudes of the Major Soviet Nationalities, Center for International Studies, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1973
21. Mangulis, Visvaldis (1983). "VIII. September 1939 to June 1941". Latvia in the Wars of the 20th Century. Princeton Junction: Cognition Books. ISBN 0912881003. {{cite book}}: External link in |chapterurl= (help); Unknown parameter |chapterurl= ignored (|chapter-url= suggested) (help)
22. ^ Švābe, Arveds. The Story of Latvia. Latvian National Foundation. Stockholm. 1949.
23. Dunsdorfs, Edgars. The Baltic Dilemma. Speller & Sons, New York. 1975
24. Küng, Andres. Communism and Crimes against Humanity in the Baltic States. 1999
25. The Harvest of Sorrow: Soviet Collectivization and the Terror-Famine (1986)
26. see, for instance, "Concurrent Resolution of the House and Senate: H. CON. RES. 128" (PDF). July 25, 2005. Retrieved 2006-12-09. 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)
27. 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."
28. Dehousse, Renaud (1993). "The International Practice of the European Communities: Current Survey". European Journal of International Law. 4 (1): 141. Retrieved 2006-12-09. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
29. 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".
30. 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)
31. 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)
32. 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)
33. BBC News. "Russia denies Baltic 'occupation'". Retrieved 09-03-2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Text "Europe" ignored (help)
34. BBC News. "Bush denounces Soviet domination". Retrieved 09-03-2007. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help); Text "Europe" ignored (help)
35. http://www.lfpr.lt/uploads/File/Current/Jurgeleviciute.pdf.
36. http://www.newsfromrussia.com/main/2005/05/05/59601.html
37. http://www.newsfromrussia.com/main/2005/05/05/59605.html
38. http://en.rian.ru/russia/20070118/59322624.html
39. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4521663.stm
40. League of Nations Treaty Series, Vol. XI, pp. 29-71.
41. Receuil de traités conclus par la Lithuanie avec les pays étrangérs, Vol. I, Kaunas, 1930, pp. 30-45.
42. League of Nations Treaty Series, 1920-21, No. 67, pp. 213-231.
43. the Peace Treaty with Estonia and Latvia, para. 2., Peace Treaty with Lithuania, para. 1.
44. Prof. Dr. G. von Rauch "Die Baltischen Staaten und Sowjetrussland 1919-1939", Europa Archiv No. 17 (1954), p. 6865.
45. Receuil des traités conclus par la Lithuanie avec les pays étrangés, Vol. I, Kaunas, 1930, pp. 429-435.
46. League of Nations Treaty Series, 1934, No. 3408, pp. 123-125 and 127
47. League of Nations Treaty Series, Vol. CXXXI, pp. 297-307.
48. Arts. I and IV of the Non-Aggression Treaties with Latvia and Estonia, and Arts. III and V of the Non-Aggression Treaty with Lithuania.
49. League of Nations Treaty Series, 1929, No. 2028.
50. League of Nations Treaty Series, 1928, No. 2137.
51. League of Nations Treaties Series No. 4656/39, pp. 385-387.
52. B. Meissner, Die Sowjetunion, die Baltischen Staaten und das Volkerrecht, 1956, pp. 119-120.
53. Louis L. Snyder, Fifty Major Documents of the Twentieth Century, 1955, p. 92.
54. Foreign Relations of the United States, The Conference at Malta and Yalta, Washington, 1955, p. 977.
55. 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

See also

• Forest Brothers
• Military rule
• Occupation of Latvia
• Rainiai massacre
• Territorial changes of the Baltic States
• Population transfer in the Soviet Union
• Villa Lituania
• Litene
• January Events

Further reading

• 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
• Kistler-Ritso Estonian Foundation Museum of occupations of Estonia
• The Occupation museum of Latvia
• Alfred Erich Senn What Happened in Lithuania in 1940?(PDF)
• Leonas Cerskus Crimes of Soviet Communists — Wide collection of sources and links
• Order No 001223: regarding the Procedure for carrying out the Deportation of Anti-Soviet Elements from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. — Full text, English
• GULAG 113 — Canadian film about Estonians mobilized into the Red Army 1941 and forced into labour in the GULAG
• 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.
• The Soviet Occupation of the Baltic States, by Irina Saburova. In Russian Review, 1955
• Crimes of Communism: Communist occupation and its end in Estonia by Mart Laar

• Articles to be expanded from March 2007
• World War II politics
• World War II occupied territories
• History of the Soviet Union and Soviet Russia
• History of Latvia
• History of Lithuania
• History of Estonia
• Soviet occupation