Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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. It is estimated that, as a result of the war, the population of Latvia decreased from 500,000 to 300,000 (a 25% decrease compared to 1939).
Wartime collaboration occurred in every country occupied by Nazi Germany during the Second World War, including the Baltic states.The three Baltic republics of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, were occupied by the Soviet Union in the summer of 1940, and were later occupied by Germany in the summer of 1941 and then incorporated, together with parts of the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic of ...
Soon after reinstating independence, Latvia, which had been a member of the League of Nations prior to World War II, became a member of the United Nations. In 1992, Latvia became eligible for the International Monetary Fund and in 1994 took part in the NATO Partnership for Peace program in addition to signing the free trade agreement with the ...
The initial Soviet invasion and occupation of the Baltic states began in June 1940 under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, made between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in August 1939 before the outbreak of World War II. [1] [2] The three independent Baltic countries were annexed as constituent Republics of the Soviet Union in August 1940.
In 1941 empowered by the Einsatzgruppen and Nazi war criminal Franz Walter Stahlecker the far-right-wing extremist group of 500 Arajs Kommando led by Viktors Arājs participated in the Holocaust. 80,000 to 100,000 Latvian citizens were killed during the Nazi occupation, including ca. 70,000 Latvian Jews; about 20,000 Jews brought from Central ...
It was hoped that by engaging in such a war the Baltic countries would be able to attract Western support for the cause of independence from the USSR. [7] In Latvia an underground nationalist Central Council of Latvia was formed on 13 August 1943. An analogous body, the Supreme Committee for the Liberation of Lithuania, emerged on 25 November ...
A secret protocol of the pact places Estonia, Latvia, and Finland in Soviet sphere of interest, Lithuania in Germany's sphere of influence. Poland was effectively divided between Stalin and Hitler. 1 September 1939, Nazi Germany invades Poland. This event signifies the start of World War II in Europe.
World War II Occupation of the Baltic states: Republic of Latvia (1940) Soviet Union. Latvian SSR; Nazi Germany. Reichskommissariat Ostland (1941–44) Nazi German defeat; Soviet victory. Soviet occupation (1940) [6] German occupation (1941) [6] Soviet re-occupation (1944) [6] 1945–1956 Guerrilla war in the Baltic states: Estonian partisans ...