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This article concerns the USSR's occupation of Latvia.
Historical background to 1939
Latvia declared its independence from the Soviet Russia on November 18, 1918. After a prolonged War of Independence, Latvia and Soviet Russia (the predecessor of the Soviet Union) signed a Peace Treaty on August 11, 1920. In its Article 2 Soviet Russia "unreservedly recognises the independence and sovereignty of the Latvian State and voluntarily and forever renounces all sovereign rights (...) to the Latvian people and territory." The independence of Latvia was recognised de jure by the Allied Supreme Council (France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan, Belgium) on January 26, 1921. Other states followed the suit. On September 22, 1921 Latvia was admitted to membership in the League of Nations and remained a member until the formal dissolution of the League in 1946. On February 5, 1932, a Non-Aggression Treaty with the Soviet Union was signed, based on the August 11, 1920 treaty whose basic agreements inalterably and for all time form the firm basis of the relationship of the two states. On September 1, 1939, the day World War II began, Latvia declared its neutrality.
Historical background 1939-1940
On August 23, 1939, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a non-aggression treaty, known as the Hitler-Stalin or, after the signatories, Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Secret protocols of this pact (its existence was only admitted towards the end of the Soviet Union) split up the areas between Germany and the Soviet Union between the two powers. According to these protocols, the Soviet Union had a right to Finland, Estonia and Latvia, Germany had a right to Poland and Lithuania.
Nazi Germany invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 and completed its invasion very quickly, on September 28, Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union signed a border agreement. Ethnic Germans were "called home" in completeness by Nazi Germany from Latvia and Estonia at this time. On June 17, 1940; Soviet troops entered Latvia, the country was annexed on August 5. Aside from Germany, no western nation recognized the annexion as legitimate de jure.
The Annexation
Mutual Assistance Treaty
Under threats of military intervention, the foreign ministers of the Baltic States were asked to sign treaties of "mutual assistance" on October 5, 1939; making them military and political dependents of the USSR. Finland was called upon to sign a similar treaty and refused, which led to the Red Army attacking Finland in the so-called Winter War which lasted until March 1940.
The treaty with Latvia provided for the establishment of Soviet Air Force, Naval and Army bases in Western Latvia and the stationing of up to 25,000 troops - which was more than the peacetime strength of the Latvian army.
Military Annexion
In the early morning hours of June 15, Soviet operatives attacked three Latvian border posts in the East of Latvia, killing three border guards and two civilians, as well as taking 10 border guards and 27 civilians as hostages to the USSR.
The Soviet Union set an ultimatum the following day, accusing Latvia of breaching the Mutual Assistance Treaty and giving Latvia six hours time to admit an unlimited number of Soviet troops into Latvia and to form a new government. With Lithuania having been invaded by the Red Army the day before and its troops being massed along the eastern border and mindful of the Soviet military bases in Western Latvia, the government acceded to the demands.
The Red Army started the military invasion in the early morning of June 17. By noon, Soviet tanks entered Riga. The military take-over took place three days after Paris fell to the Nazi Germany when the world's attention was focused on the collapse of France.
Elections
On July 14 and July 15, 1941; elections for the Latvian parliament, the Saeima were held and only one pre-approved list of candidates was allowed. The ballots held following instructions: "Only the list of the Latvian Working People's Bloc must be deposited in the ballot box. The ballot must be deposited without any changes." The voters activity index was 97.6%. The complete election results were published in Moscow 12 hours before the election closed.
The new Saeima voted unanimously to make Latvia a Soviet state and to ask for admission to the Soviet Union. Although the Latvian Constitution prescribed a plebiscite in case of restricting sovereignty, a plebiscite never took place. Soviet Latvia was incorporated as the 15th Republic of the Soviet Union on August 5, 1940. Unanimously, the Supreme Soviet of the USSR admitted the new Soviet Latvian Republic to the Soviet Union.
The take-over was directed by Andrei Y. Vishinsky, Deputy Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR and prosecutor of Stalin's show trials in 1937-1938. The list of the new Cabinet of Ministers was pre-approved in Moscow and on June 19 presented to President Kārlis Ulmanis for his signature. At the same time protestors, who had arrived with the Soviet troops, organised mass marches and meetings, thus creating the impression of popular unrest. Even before the formal incorporation, the deportation of former government officials to the Soviet Union took place: President Kārlis Ulmanis on July 21, former Minister of Defence Jānis Balodis with his family on July 31.
Western Views
Unlike Nazi Germany, whose acquiescence was guaranteed by the secret protocols of August 23, 1939, most Western governments considered the occupation and annexation as illegal and continued recognising the continued existence of the Republic of Latvia de jure. On July 23, 1940, the US Undersecretary of State Sumner Welles condemned the "devious processes" by which "the political independence and territorial integrity of the three small Baltic republics were to be deliberately annihilated by one of their more powerful neighbors". The non-recognition of the annexation continued until Latvia regained its independence and full sovereignty in 1991.
Claims and Historical Reassesment
Claim: "The Red Army protected a popular revolution in Latvia." This was a claim of Soviet historiography, still current in Russia, which has not recognized the occupation.
The secret protocols amended to the Hitler-Stalin Pact of August 23, 1939, which made the occupation and annexation possible, were not acknowledged by the USSR until 1990 and were not allowed to be introduced into evidence in the Nurnberg war crimes trials. The Soviet ultimatum of June 16, 1940 does not mention an uprising. The marches and meetings expressing "popular demands" were artificially organised by demonstrators brought by the Soviet army from abroad and took place after the occupation forces had already arrived.
Claim: "The change in regimes was legitimised by the previous government and presidential decrees." It was true that acting under the threat of violence and bloodshed foreshadowed by Soviet actions in Finland and the attack on Latvian border posts the government agreed to the demands. It was also true that President Ulmanis, while ostensibly in power, signed decrees dismantling many of the institutions the independent state had established. But it was likewise true that he was kept virtually prisoner and acted under great duress and eventually was deported to Siberia.
Claim: "The incorporation into the Soviet Union was legitimised by a parliamentary election." The elections by which the new parliament was chosen did not conform to democratic standards or to the constitution of Latvia (as described in the section on the election).
References
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