The military occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany was completed on 10 July 1941, by Germany's armed forces. Initially, the territory of Latvia was under the military administration of Army Group North, but on 25 July 1941, Latvia was incorporated as Generalbezirk Lettland, subordinated to Reichskommissariat Ostland, an administrative subdivision of Nazi Germany. Anyone not racially acceptable or who opposed the German occupation, as well as those who had cooperated with the Soviet Union, was killed or sent to concentration camps in accordance with the Nazi Generalplan Ost.
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š German occupation of Latvia during World War II in the context of Latvia
Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to the southeast and shares a maritime border with Sweden to the west. Latvia covers an area of 64,589Ā km (24,938Ā sqĀ mi), with a population of 1.8Ā million. The country has a temperate seasonal climate. Its capital and largest city is Riga. Latvians, who are the titular nation and comprise 65.5% of the country's population, belong to the ethnolinguistic group of the Balts and speak Latvian. Russians are the most prominent minority in the country, at almost a quarter of the population; 37.7% of the population speak Russian as their native tongue.
After centuries of Teutonic, Swedish, Polish-Lithuanian, and Russian rule, the independent Republic of Latvia was established on 18 November 1918 after breaking away from the Russian Empire in the aftermath of World WarĀ I. The country became increasingly autocratic after the coup in 1934 established the dictatorship of KÄrlis Ulmanis. Latvia's de facto independence was interrupted at the outset of World WarĀ II, beginning with forcible incorporation into the Soviet Union, followed by the invasion and occupation by Nazi Germany in 1941 and the re-occupation by the Soviets in 1944, which formed the Latvian SSR for the next 45 years. As a result of extensive immigration during the Soviet occupation, ethnic Russians became the most prominent minority in the country. The peaceful Singing Revolution started in 1987 among the Baltic Soviet republics and ended with the restoration of both de facto and official independence on 21 August 1991. Latvia has since been a democratic unitary parliamentary republic.
In this Dossier
- ā Core Definition: German occupation of Latvia during World War II
- š German occupation of Latvia during World War II in the context of Latvia
- German occupation of Latvia during World War II in the context of Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944
- German occupation of Latvia during World War II in the context of Generalbezirk Lettland
German occupation of Latvia during World War II in the context of Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944
The Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944 refers to the military occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union in 1944. During World War II Latvia was first occupied by the Soviet Union in June 1940, then was occupied by Nazi Germany in 1941ā1944, and after which it was re-occupied by the Soviet Union.
German occupation of Latvia during World War II in the context of Generalbezirk Lettland
Generalbezirk Lettland (German for "General District Latvia"; Latvian: Latvijas Ä£enerÄlapgabals) was an administrative subdivision of the Reichskommissariat Ostland of Nazi Germany that covered Latvia from 1941 to 1944. It served as the Nazi civilian administration for the German occupation of Latvia during World War II, and supervised the collaborationist Latvian Self-Administration of Oskars Dankers.
Otto-Heinrich Drechsler was the only Generalkommissar of Generalbezirk Lettland during its existence.