Background 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.
A declared neutral country during the early phases of World War II, Latvia fell prey to the realpolitik of both Nazi Germany and Communist Soviet Union. They concluded a mutual Non-Aggression Treaty on 23 August 1939, known as the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. The Pact allowed Germany to invade Poland on 1 September 1939. Among its secret provisions was the establishment of a Soviet Sphere of Influence in Eastern Europe, including Latvia. It allowed the Soviet Union under various pretexts to invade Latvia on 17 June 1940 and annex the country on 5 August 1940. The takeover was never recognized de jure by major Western powers. Nazi Germany, in turn, never recognized Latvian sovereignty but treated Latvia as occupied Soviet territory. The fate of Latvia and the reactions of its population must be viewed in the context of three successive foreign occupations and their cumulative destructive effect on the people: Soviet (1940–41), German (1941–44/45), Soviet (1944/45–91).
Early Volunteers, Auxiliary Police and Other Military ServiceWhen the German Blitzkrieg against the Soviet Union started on 22 June 1941, the Nazis were hoping to win the war within a very short time on their own. However, as the fighting became more and more difficult, German troops were illegally, under the guise of "volunteering", reinforced with inhabitants of the occupied countries, including Latvia.
Having experienced Soviet atrocities, which included mass arrests, deportations and executions, many Latvians at first viewed the new occupiers as liberators, and in the early days of the German occupation, some Latvians actually volunteered to fight the Communists. As early as 1942, however, "volunteering" became a cover for illegal conscription to avoid coming into direct conflict with the 1907 Hague Convention. Conscription usually was carried out by using the cover of the Labour Service (Arbeitsdienst), which was established by German decree on 17 December 1941.
The first battalions, consisting of real volunteers, were formed for military duty in late 1941. The Germans did not consider them equal to their armed forces and called them "auxiliary police" (Schutzmannschaft). Most of them, served as combat units, but some were used to carry out raids against Red guerrillas and to perform ghetto guard duties. By 1944, the occupation power, with the collaboration of the Self-Administration, had formed a total of 33 auxiliary police battalions.
Many Latvians served in other capacities as well: in the paramilitary State Labour Service (Reichsarbeitsdienst), construction and other auxiliary services. Toward the end of the war, minors were recruited to serve as German Air Force auxiliaries (Luftwaffenhelfer).
The Latvian LegionAfter the debacle at Stalingrad at the end of January 1943, Hitler announced "total war" and formed a number of foreign combat units under the aegis of Waffen SS. On 10 February 1943 he ordered the formation of the "Latvian SS Volunteer Legion," "the size and kind of the unit to be determined by the number of Latvian men available."
Members of the Self-Administration saw in the Latvian Legion a chance for the formation of potentially autonomous military units that might become the core of a future independent Latvian army. They submitted to the German authorities a set of preconditions, including a promise to restore the independence of Latvia. Despite a rejection, the Self-Administration proceeded with the mobilisation.
A propaganda campaign was unleashed shaming and condemning draft evaders and proclaiming that enlistment to fight Bolshevism was a Latvian patriotic duty. Threats were made against draft evaders and their families. Actually, most men who were drafted were convinced that they were fighting to protect their homeland against the worst of their two historic enemies. Unlike those enlisting in German forces in countries where only Germany was the enemy, for Latvians the only alternatives to serving the Germans were potential enlistment into the army of the other enemy upon its return or joining the national partisans. Some 60,000 were actually enlisted by the Red Army upon the return of Soviet occupation.
Despite its title, the Latvian Legion was neither real "SS" nor "volunteer". It had no connection with Hitler's purely Germanic elite guard unit, which the post-war International War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg declared, along with the SD (Sicherheitsdienst) and the Gestapo, to be a criminal organisation. The Nuremberg Tribunal recognised the Waffen SS to be military combat units. By 1943, threats and coercion had to be applied when it became clear that the numbers of draftees did not reach the "number of men available." It is estimated that only some 15% of the soldiers were true volunteers. Especially toward the end of the war, draft evasion and desertion became commonplace.
The Legion at first incorporated several auxiliary police battalions, eventually augmented by conscripts. Its core consisted of two divisions, the 15th and the 19th, but they did not fight as a unit, and their top commanders were Germans. Only unit commanders were Latvians. The highest Legion military post was that of the Inspector General, but it was not part of the German command structure and thus had only limited functions. General Rūdolfs Bangerskis was appointed to fill this post, and he was the only Latvian officer who was given an official SS rank, though it is clear that the Germans only intended this as a temporary measure for the duration of the war.
According to most recent calculations, approximately 115,000 inhabitants of Latvia served in various units and capacities in German military service in World War II. Casualties were high, especially in latter stages of the war when ill-equipped and purely trained young conscripts were sent to the front. Most legionnaires and other Latvian military units ended up fighting the Red Army on the eastern front in Poland and Germany in 1945.
At the time of Germany's capitulation, approximately 30,000 Latvian soldiers became prisoners of war of the Western Allies. Documentation provided by Latvian organisations convinced the Allies that Latvian legionnaires had to be considered citizens of independent Latvia and illegally conscripted military personnel. Therefore, despite Soviet protests, they were released and eventually allowed to emigrate to Great Britain, the USA and other Western countries. Many served as labour and guard auxiliaries for the U.S. and British forces in Germany. Legionnaires captured by the Soviets were sent to hard labour camps before their release and were discriminated against after their return to Latvia throughout Soviet rule.
Recent Accusations"Latvians were willing collaborators of the Nazis". This is an old Soviet accusation in the wake of World War II when the Soviet Union reoccupied Latvia. Though there were Latvians who collaborated with the Nazi German rulers, most of the people were placing their hopes on the Western Allies and a fair post-war settlement that would restore Latvia's sovereignty. Historically, Latvians considered the Germans as their enemies, and only the brutal first Soviet occupation changed that view for a while. For good reasons the Nazis distrusted the Latvians and eventually planned to colonise the country.
"Latvians are honouring the SS". Latvians are honouring soldiers who fought against the Soviet Union in World War II. Most of them were illegal recruits under German occupation. Under occupation, they had no choice to serve in the armed forces of their own sovereign state. Members of the Latvian Legion, though carrying the German-imposed designation "SS", served as combat soldiers and did not engage in crimes against the humanity. There never was and could not be a Latvian branch of Hitler's criminal, Germans-only SS. Crimes against the humanity on the German side, including crimes of the Holocaust, were carried out by Latvian auxiliaries of the Nazi SD (Sicherheitsdienst) and some auxiliary police units. Some of them later became legionnaires, but that does not make all legionnaires guilty by association. Many of these individuals have been prosecuted and brought to justice. Many have died. The Latvian government condemns such crimes and will bring charges against surviving perpetrators.
Sources in English and German: Baltais Mirdza Kate, ed. The Latvian Legion: Selected Documents. Toronto: Amber Printers and Publishers, 1999.
Ezergailis, Andrew, ed. The Latvian Legion: Heroes, Nazis or Victims? A collection of documents From OSS War-Crimes investigation files 1945-1950. Rīga: Institute of the History of Latvia, 1997.
Nazi/Soviet Disinformation about the Holocaust in Nazi-Occupied Latvia. Daugavas Vanagi:Who are They? Revisited. Rīga: OMF, 2005.
Kolmane, Ināra, dir.; Uldis Neiburgs, screenwriter. The Latvian Legion. Rīga: Film studio "DEVIŅI", 2000. [Latvian documentary film with English subtitles.]
Nollendorfs, Valters, ed. Latvijas Okupācijas muzejs: Latvija zem Padomju Savienības un nacionālsociālistiskās Vācijas varas 1940–1991 Latvia under the Rule of the Soviet Union and National Socialist Germany. 2nd ed. Rīga: OMF, 2005. [A bilingual history of the occupation.]
Nollendorfs, Valters and Erwin Oberlдnder, eds. The Hidden and Forbidden History of Latvia under the Soviet and Nazi Occupations 1940–1991. Symposium of the Commission of the Historians of Latvia 14. Rīga: Institute of the History of Latvia, 2005.
Nollendorfs, Valters and Erwin Oberlдnder, eds. The Hidden and Forbidden History of Latvia under the Soviet and Nazi Occupations 1940–1991. Symposium of the Commission of the Historians of Latvia 14. Rīga: Institute of the History of Latvia, 2005.
Silgailis Arthur. Latvian Legion. San Jose, Calif.: R.James Bender Publishing, 1986.
Stцber Hans. Die lettischen Divisionen im VI. SS-Armeekorps. Osnabrьck: Munin-Verlag, 1981.
© Text: Valters Nollendorfs and Uldis Neiburgs, The Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, www.occupationmuseum.lv, 2006
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