Latvians in the Armed Forces of Germany in the Second World War

Latvia was an occupied country during Nazi German rule 1941–1945.  There was no sovereign Latvian state authority at that time.  The Directors of the so-called Self-Administration of the Land were subject to German civilian authorities in all matters of policy.  Under the Hague Convention of 1907, Germans were not allowed to conscript the inhabitants of Latvia to serve in its military forces, but they circumvented the rule.  Discover more >

Soviet Occupation and Annexation of Latvia 1939-1940

After a prolonged War of Independence, Latvia and Soviet Russia (the predecessor of the Soviet Union) signed a Peace Treaty on 11 August 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." Discover more >

The Holocaust in German-Occupied Latvia

The Holocaust of the Jews and the Roma instigated and carried out by German Nazis upon occupying Latvia in 1941 was a premeditated, deliberate and merciless act of annihilation for purely racial reasons.  The murder of Latvian Jews began immediately after the occupation army had entered the territory of Latvia and was completed by the end of 1941.  Individual Latvians were co-opted to participate in the killings, which were oftentimes manipulated to look like they were carried out without German participation. Discover more >

Soviet Mass Deportations from Latvia

Among its secret provisions was the establishment of a Soviet Sphere of Influence in Eastern Europe, which included Latvia and allowed the Soviet Union under various pretexts to invade Latvia on 17 June 1940 and annex the country on 5 August 1940.  The illegal takeover was never recognized de jure by major Western powers.  Immediately after establishing its rule through its collaborators and proxies, the Soviets began deporting the elites to the Soviet Union, culminating in the mass deportation on 14 June 1941 of more than 15,000 people. Discover more >

© Text: Valters Nollendorfs and Uldis Neiburgs, The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia,  www.occupationmuseum.lv, 2006

This fact sheet can be freely printed from homepage of the Latvian Institute, distributed and cited, on condition that the Latvian Institute and the Museum of Occupation of Latvia is acknowledged as the source. The Latvian Institute promotes knowledge about Latvia abroad. It produces publications, in several languages, on many aspects of Latvia.