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Occupation of the Baltic states

Occupation of the Baltic states
Part of World War II and the Cold War
A protest sign from the 1970s calling on the United Nations to abolish Soviet colonialism in the Baltic states
Date15 June 1940 – 6 September 1991 (1940-06-15 – 1991-09-06)
LocationEstonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
Participants Estonia
 Latvia
 Lithuania
 Soviet Union
 Nazi Germany
Outcome
Part of a series of articles on the
Occupation of the
Baltic states
Background
Soviet occupation in 1940
German occupation
Estonia
Latvia
Lithuania
Soviet re-occupation in 1944
Under Soviet rule
State continuity
Aftermath

The three independent Baltic countries – Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania – were invaded and occupied in June 1940 by the Soviet Union, under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union in August 1939, immediately before the outbreak of World War II.[1][2] The three countries were annexed by the Soviet Union as "constituent republics" in August 1940. Most Western countries did not recognise this annexation, and considered it illegal.[3][4] On 22 June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union and within weeks occupied the Baltic territories. In July 1941, the Third Reich incorporated the Baltic territories into its Reichskommissariat Ostland. As a result of the Red Army Baltic Offensive of 1944, the Soviet Union recaptured most of the Baltic states and trapped the remaining German forces in the Courland Pocket until their formal surrender in May 1945.[5]

During the 1944–1991 Soviet occupation many people from Russia and other parts of the former USSR were settled in the three Baltic countries, while the local languages, religion and customs were suppressed.[6] David Chioni Moore classified it as a "reverse cultural colonization", where the colonized perceived the colonizers as culturally inferior.[7] Colonization of the three Baltic countries included mass executions, deportations and repression of the native population. During the 1940–1941 and 1944–1991 occupations 605,000 inhabitants of the three countries in total were either killed or deported (135,000 Estonians, 170,000 Latvians and 320,000 Lithuanians). Their properties and personal belonging were confiscated and given to newly arrived colonists –economic migrants, Soviet military, NKVD personnel, as well as functionaries of the Communist Party and economic migrants.[8]

The Baltic states' governments themselves,[9][10] the United States[11][12] and its courts of law,[13] the European Parliament,[14][15][16] the European Court of Human Rights[17] and the United Nations Human Rights Council[18] have all stated that these three countries were invaded, occupied and illegally incorporated into the Soviet Union under provisions[19] of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. There followed occupation by Nazi Germany from 1941 to 1944 and then again occupation by the Soviet Union from 1944 to 1991.[20][21][22][23][24] This policy of non-recognition has given rise to the principle of legal continuity of the Baltic states, which holds that de jure, or as a matter of law, the Baltic states remained independent states under illegal occupation throughout the period from 1940 to 1991.[25][26][27]

However, the Soviet Union never formally acknowledged that its presence in the Baltics was an occupation or that it had annexed these states[28] and considered the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic and Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republics three of its constituent republics. On the other hand, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic recognized in 1991 that the events of 1940 were an "annexation".[29]

Historically revisionist[30] Russian historiography and school textbooks continue to maintain that the Baltic states voluntarily joined the Soviet Union after their each of their peoples carried out socialist revolutions independent of Soviet influence.[31] The post-Soviet government of Russia and its state officials insist that incorporation of the Baltic states was in accordance with international law[32] and gained de jure recognition by the agreements made in the February 1945 Yalta and the July–August 1945 Potsdam conferences and by the 1975 Helsinki Accords,[33][34] which declared the inviolability of existing frontiers.[35] However, Russia agreed to Europe's demand to "assist persons deported from the occupied Baltic states" upon joining the Council of Europe in 1996.[36][37][38] Also, when the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic signed a separate treaty with Lithuania in 1991, it acknowledged the 1940 annexation as a violation of Lithuanian sovereignty and recognised the de jure continuity of the Lithuanian state.[39][40]

Most Western governments maintained that Baltic sovereignty had not been legitimately overridden[41] and thus continued to recognise the Baltic states as sovereign political entities represented by the legations appointed by the pre-1940 Baltic states, which functioned in Washington and elsewhere.[42] The Baltic states regained de facto independence in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union. Russia started to withdraw its troops from the Baltics starting with Lithuania in August 1993. However, it was a violent process and Soviet forces killed several Latvians and Lithuanians.[43] The full withdrawal of troops deployed by Moscow ended in August 1994.[44] Russia officially ended its military presence in the Baltics in August 1998 by decommissioning the Skrunda-1 radar station in Latvia. The dismantled installations were repatriated to Russia and the site returned to Latvian control, with the last Russian soldier leaving Baltic soil in October 1999.[45][46]

  1. ^ Taagepera, Rein (1993). Estonia: return to independence. Westview Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0813311999.
  2. ^ Ziemele, Ineta (2003). "State Continuity, Succession and Responsibility: Reparations to the Baltic States and their Peoples?". Baltic Yearbook of International Law. 3. Martinus Nijhoff: 165–190. doi:10.1163/221158903x00072.
  3. ^ Kaplan, Robert B.; Baldauf, Richard B. Jr. (2008). Language Planning and Policy in Europe: The Baltic States, Ireland and Italy. Multilingual Matters. p. 79. ISBN 978-1847690289. Archived from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 2 November 2020. Most Western countries had not recognised the incorporation of the Baltic States into the Soviet Union, a stance that irritated the Soviets without ever becoming a major point of conflict.
  4. ^ Kavass, Igor I. (1972). Baltic States. W. S. Hein. ISBN 978-0930342418. Archived from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2020. The forcible military occupation and subsequent annexation of the Baltic States by the Soviet Union remains to this day (written in 1972) one of the serious unsolved issues of international law
  5. ^ Davies, Norman (2001). Dear, Ian (ed.). The Oxford companion to World War II. Michael Richard Daniell Foot. Oxford University Press. p. 85. ISBN 978-0198604464.
  6. ^ Vardys, Vytas Stanley (Summer 1964). "Soviet Colonialism in the Baltic States: A Note on the Nature of Modern Colonialism". Lituanus. 10 (2). ISSN 0024-5089. Archived from the original on 9 November 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2023.
  7. ^ David Chioni Moore (23 October 2020). "Is the Post- in Postcolonial the Post- in Post-Soviet? Toward a Global Postcolonial Critique". PMLA Vol. 116, No. 1, Special Topic: Globalizing Literary Studies. Cambridge University Press. Retrieved 26 January 2021.
  8. ^ Abene, Aija; Prikulis, Juris (2017). Damage caused by the Soviet Union in the Baltic States: International conference materials (PDF). Riga: E-forma. pp. 20–21. ISBN 978-9934-8363-1-2.
  9. ^ The Occupation of Latvia Archived 2007-11-23 at the Wayback Machine at Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Latvia
  10. ^ "22 September 1944 from one occupation to another". Estonian Embassy in Washington. 22 September 2008. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018. Retrieved 1 May 2009. For Estonia, World War II did not end, de facto, until 31 August 1994, with the final withdrawal of former Soviet troops from Estonian soil.
  11. ^ Feldbrugge, Ferdinand; Gerard Pieter van den Berg; William B. Simons (1985). Encyclopedia of Soviet law. Brill. p. 461. ISBN 9024730759. Archived from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2020. On March 26, 1949, the US Department of State issued a circular letter stating that the Baltic countries were still independent nations with their own diplomatic representatives and consuls.
  12. ^ Fried, Daniel (14 June 2007). "U.S.-Baltic Relations: Celebrating 85 Years of Friendship" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 19 August 2012. Retrieved 29 April 2009. From Sumner Wells' declaration of July 23, 1940, that we would not recognize the occupation. We housed the exiled Baltic diplomatic delegations. We accredited their diplomats. We flew their flags in the State Department's Hall of Flags. We never recognized in deed or word or symbol the illegal occupation of their lands.
  13. ^ Lauterpacht, E.; C. J. Greenwood (1967). International Law Reports. Cambridge University Press. pp. 62–63. ISBN 0521463807. Archived from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2020. The Court said: (256 N.Y.S.2d 196) "The Government of the United States has never recognized the forceful occupation of Estonia and Latvia by the Soviet Union of Socialist Republics nor does it recognize the absorption and incorporation of Latvia and Estonia into the Union of Soviet Socialist republics. The legality of the acts, laws and decrees of the puppet regimes set up in those countries by the USSR is not recognized by the United States, diplomatic or consular officers are not maintained in either Estonia or Latvia and full recognition is given to the Legations of Estonia and Latvia established and maintained here by the Governments in exile of those countries
  14. ^ Motion for a resolution on the Situation in Estonia Archived 29 September 2018 at the Wayback Machine by the European Parliament, B6-0215/2007, 21.5.2007; passed 24.5.2007 Archived 19 May 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 1 January 2010.
  15. ^ Dehousse, Renaud (1993). "The International Practice of the European Communities: Current Survey". European Journal of International Law. 4 (1): 141. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.ejil.a035821. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 9 December 2006.
  16. ^ European Parliament (13 January 1983). "Resolution on the situation in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania". Official Journal of the European Communities. C. 42/78. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
  17. ^ European Court of Human Rights cases on Occupation of Baltic States
  18. ^ "Distr. General A/HRC/7/19/Add.2 17 March 2008 Original: English, Human Rights Council Seventh session Agenda item 9: Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Forms of Intolerance, Follow-up to and Implementation of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action – Report of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance, Doudou Diène, Addendum, Mission to Estonia" (PDF). Documents on Estonia. United Nations Human Rights Council. 20 February 2008. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 March 2014. Retrieved 7 June 2009.
  19. ^ 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.
  20. ^ "Russia and Estonia agree borders". BBC. 18 May 2005. Archived from the original on 12 April 2020. Retrieved 29 April 2009. Five decades of almost unbroken Soviet occupation of the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania ended in 1991
  21. ^ Country Profiles: Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania Archived 31 July 2003 at the Wayback Machine at UK Foreign Office
  22. ^ Saburova, Irina (1955). "The Soviet Occupation of the Baltic States". Russian Review. 14 (1). Blackwell Publishing: 36–49. doi:10.2307/126075. JSTOR 126075.
  23. ^ See, for instance, the position expressed by the 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 (13 January 1983). "Resolution on the situation in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania". Official Journal of the European Communities. C. 42/78. Archived from the original on 28 June 2011. Retrieved 2 March 2007.
  24. ^ "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.
  25. ^ David James Smith, Estonia: independence and European integration, Routledge, 2001, ISBN 0415267285, p. xix
  26. ^ Parrott, Bruce (1995). "Reversing Soviet Military Occupation". State building and military power in Russia and the new states of Eurasia. M.E. Sharpe. pp. 112–115. ISBN 1563243601.
  27. ^ Van Elsuwege, Peter (April 2004). Russian-speaking minorities in Estonian and Latvia: Problems of integration at the threshold of the European Union (PDF). Flensburg Germany: European Centre for Minority Issues. p. 2. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 September 2015. Retrieved 10 March 2013. The forcible incorporation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union in 1940, on the basis of secret protocols to the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, is considered to be null and void. Even though the Soviet Union occupied these countries for a period of fifty years, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania continued to exist as subjects of international law.
  28. ^ Marek (1968). p. 396. "Insofar as the Soviet Union claims that they are not directly annexed territories but autonomous bodies with a legal will of their own, they (The Baltic SSRs) must be considered puppet creations, exactly in the same way in which the Protectorate or Italian-dominated Albania have been classified as such. These puppet creations have been established on the territory of the independent Baltic states; they cover the same territory and include the same population."
  29. ^ Zalimas, Dainius "Commentary to the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Compensation of Damage Resulting from the Occupation of the USSR" – Baltic Yearbook of International Law. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, ISBN 978-9004137462
  30. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sokolov was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  31. ^ Cole, Elizabeth A. (2007). Teaching the violent past: history education and reconciliation. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 233–234. ISBN 978-0742551435.
  32. ^ Combs, Dick (2008). Inside The Soviet Alternate Universe. Penn State Press. pp. 258, 259. ISBN 978-0271033556. Archived from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2020. The Putin administration has stubbornly refused to admit the fact of Soviet occupation of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia following World War II, although Putin has acknowledged that in 1989, during Gorbachev's reign, the Soviet parliament officially denounced the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939, which led to the forcible incorporation of the three Baltic states into the Soviet Union.
    • Bugajski, Janusz (2004). Cold peace. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 109. ISBN 0275983625. Archived from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 9 September 2020. Russian officials persistently claim that the Baltic states entered the USSR voluntarily and legally at the close of World War II and failed to acknowledge that Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania were under Soviet occupation for fifty years.
  33. ^ МИД РФ: Запад признавал Прибалтику частью СССР Archived 29 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, grani.ru, May 2005
  34. ^ Комментарий Департамента информации и печати МИД России в отношении "непризнания" вступления прибалтийских республик в состав СССР Archived 2006-05-09 at the Wayback Machine, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Russia), 7 May 2005
  35. ^ Khudoley (2008), Soviet foreign policy during the Cold War, The Baltic factor, p. 90.
  36. ^ Zalimas, Dainius (1 January 2004). "Commentary to the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Compensation of Damage Resulting from the Occupation of the USSR". Baltic Yearbook of International Law. 3. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers: 97–164. doi:10.1163/221158903x00063. ISBN 978-9004137462.
  37. ^ Parliamentary Assembly (1996). "Opinion No. 193 (1996) on Russia's request for membership of the Council of Europe". Council of Europe. Archived from the original on 7 May 2011. Retrieved 22 May 2011.
  38. ^ Cite error: The named reference CoEoccupied was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  39. ^ Zalimas, Dainius (1 January 2004). "Commentary to the Law of the Republic of Lithuania on Compensation of Damage Resulting from the Occupation of the USSR". Baltic Yearbook of International Law. 3. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers: 97–164. doi:10.1163/221158903x00063. ISBN 978-9004137462. Archived from the original on 10 February 2023. Retrieved 25 October 2015.
  40. ^ Cite error: The named reference RussLithTreaty was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  41. ^ Quiley, John (2001). "Baltic Russians: Entitled Inhabitants or Unlawful Settlers?". In Ginsburgs, George (ed.). International and national law in Russia and Eastern Europe [Volume 49 of Law in Eastern Europe]. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers. p. 327. ISBN 9041116540.
  42. ^ "Baltic article". The World & I. 2 (3). Washington Times Corp: 692. 1987.
    • Shtromas, Alexander; Faulkner, Robert K.; Mahoney, Daniel J. (2003). "Soviet Conquest of the Baltic states". Totalitarianism and the prospects for world order: closing the door on the twentieth century. Applications of political theory. Lexington Books. p. 263. ISBN 978-0739105337.
  43. ^ "Suing Gorbachev 31 years after the USSR's collapse, a group of Lithuanians sought to hold its last leader to account".
  44. ^ Baltic Military District Archived 8 November 2017 at the Wayback Machine globalsecurity.org
  45. ^ The Weekly Crier (1999/10) Archived 2013-06-01 at the Wayback Machine Baltics Worldwide. Accessed 11 June 2013.
  46. ^ "Russia Pulls Last Troops Out of Baltics" The Moscow Times. 22 October 1999.

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