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The Soviet Union conscripted into its army sections of independent Latvia's military units, as well as those Latvians who were in Russia as a result of previous wars or who lived there. Many Latvian soldiers deserted when Germany attacked Latvia. A few, continued to serve with the Soviet forces. 130th Latvian Rifle Corps of the Order of Suvorov.
During the German invasion, the Soviets conducted a forced general mobilisation that took place in violation of the international law. Under the Geneva Conventions, this act of violence is seen as a grave breach and war crime, because the mobilised men were treated as arrestants from the very beginning. In comparison with the general ...
The ensuing months would become known in Latvia as Baigais Gads, the Year of Horror. Mass arrests, disappearances, and deportations culminated on the night of June 14, 1941. Prior to the German invasion, in less than a year, at least 27,586 persons were arrested; most were deported, and about 945 persons were shot.
General Commissioner of Latvia Otto-Heinrich Drechsler, Reich Commissar for the Ostland Hinrich Lohse, Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories Alfred Rosenberg and SS Officer Eberhard Medem in 1942. After the German invasion of the Soviet Union, the Baltic states were under military occupation by Nazi Germany from 1941 to
Most of the available information about the persecution of the Gypsies in Nazi-occupied eastern Europe comes from Latvia. [25] According to Latvia's 1935 census, 3,839 Gypsies lived in the country, the largest population of any of the Baltic States. Many of them did not travel about the country, but lived settled, or "sedentary" lives. [25]
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.
In 1940, Estonia and Latvia became Soviet republics. One of the main conditions imposed by Hitler on Stalin in August 1939 was the prior transfer of all ethnic Germans living in Estonia and Latvia to areas under German military control. [9] These became known as the Nazi–Soviet population transfers. Stalin proceeded to set up Soviet military ...
Armed combat behind the German front lines was carried out by the soldiers of the Red Army units: Latvian Riflemen Soviet Divisions and people guards. Activity picked up in 1942, one year after the first winter war, but real work by the partisans in Latvia started only in 1943 after the German Army Group B stalled at Stalingrad and Kursk. [5]