Between Giants Battle in the Baltics - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Between Giants

Battle in the BalticsSlide2

Thesis

Acting on the secret protocols of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the USSR annexed the Baltic states in early 1940. Following the doctrines of

Generalplan

Ost

, the Nazi reciprocated with an invasion in 1941.

This began a series of illegal occupations that lasted until the early 1990s, the results of which decimated the socioeconomics, religion, and culture of the region—something it is still recovering from—and led to sense of foreign policy paranoia that is still evident during the Ukraine crisis. Slide3

Soviet Annexation

Stalin covets Baltics (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania) as relics of former Russian Empire

Acting on secret protocols of Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, USSR demands Baltic states allow Soviet military bases in their territories

Figuring this demand is ridiculous, it will give USSR

causes bellum

for an invasion

Baltics acquiesce; USSR blockades Estonia (world doesn’t notice—done on same day Paris falls)

USSR demands Lithuania form a new gov’t that is communist, and give free access to Red Army

Annexation is only a matter of time from thereSlide4

Generalplan

Ost

Going back to the theory of

lebensraum

,

Nazis planned to use the East to “spread out”

conquest and subjugation of

Baltics

was a necessity

Germans had history (Teutonic Knights) ruling

Baltics

, esp. Lithuania  German was language of nobility

Alfred Rosenberg-Estonian racial theorist-put plan into place for what to do with the German East. This is the core of Nazism:

Involved division into four districts

Elimination of the Jewish question

Elimination of Bolshevism & Pan Slavism

Establishment of master race; settlement of farmland

Hans Frank began implementation in Poland; next step was USSRSlide5

Ethnic group

Percentage subject to

elimination

Poles

80-85%

Russians

50-60% to be physically eliminated and another 15% to be sent to Western Siberia.

Belarusians

75%

Ukrainians

65%

Lithuanians

85%

Latvians

50%

Estonians

50

%

Czechs

50%

Latgalians

100%Slide6

Barbarossa & the Baltic Operation

Hitler turn back on USSR and invades on June 22, 1941

Army Group North sweeps into Baltics

Most of Baltics pacified by early July

Final USSR forces not expelled until September

Meets very little resistance from local population originally

 people are happy to be free of USSR; many people, esp. in Lithuania have German roots

Once fighting begins NKVD & SD wreak havoc on local population

“Horrific scenes took place in Russia held areas just before Wehrmacht’s arrival… hundreds of prisoners had been tortured to death… the floor was strewn with the tongues, ears and eyes of dead prisoners.”Slide7

Eastern Holocaust

Einsatzgruppen

comes behind Wehrmacht to deal with undesirables

Massacre of the Jews in the East begins in Lithuania

Vilnius, Jerusalem of the North, sees of population of roughly 500,000 taken down to 1,500

Lithuania goes

from

between 100,000-1.5

million to 4,000

Most are simply taken out into the woods and shot

Wehrmacht actively cooperates with

Einsatzgruppen

One commander issues an order celebrating the “hard but just punishment for the Jewish sub-humans”

Rundstedt,

Manstein

write about awareness of massacres

Local population generally complacent, but Latvians actively round up and arrest

undesirables



still

reconciling this today

Comes to the headway at

Babi

Yar

in Ukraine 33,771 killed in two days

Nazis then use East to experiment with mass extermination via gas Slide8

Baltic Offensive & Illegal Occupation

Red army sweeps West and traps Army Group North in Courland Peninsula—ends occupation of Autumn of 1944

Never leaves—USSR annexes

Baltics

and incorporates them into Soviet Union—not free until 1991

Sovietization

occurs—similar to other USSR states; native language and culture suppressed

Anti-Soviet Resistance begins, founding of Forest Brothers

Despite being part of NATO,

Baltics

still very weary of Russian aggression todaySlide9