Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 | Wikipedia audio article
Channel: wikipedia tts
Date: 2019-06-23

This is an audio version of the Wikipedia Article:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_occupation_of_Latvia_in_1940


00:02:26 1 Background
00:02:36 1.1 1918–1939: Historical background
00:04:20 1.2 Relevant treaties between USSR and Latvia
00:05:46 2 1939–1940: The road to loss of independence
00:06:00 2.1 German–Latvian non-aggression pact
00:07:32 2.2 German–Soviet non-aggression pact
00:08:32 2.3 Invasion of Poland
00:11:57 2.4 Baltic–Soviet relations in autumn 1939
00:16:58 2.5 Soviet invasion of Finland
00:18:26 3 1940–1941: The first Soviet occupation
00:18:40 3.1 Political background
00:21:22 3.2 Soviet invasion
00:25:05 3.3 Loss of independence
00:31:52 3.4 Soviet terror
00:36:11 4 Aftermath
00:36:21 4.1 Occupation of Latvia by Nazi Germany 1941–1944
00:40:22 4.2 Second Soviet occupation 1944–1991
00:44:18 5 Historical Soviet version of events
00:46:57 6 Conflicting versions of history
00:50:13 7 Legacy
00:50:32 8 See also



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SUMMARY
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The Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 refers, according to the European Court of Human Rights, the Government of Latvia, the United States Department of State, and the European Union, to the military occupation of the Republic of Latvia by the Soviet Union ostensibly under the provisions of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany.
When World War II started in September 1939 with the German invasion of Poland, Latvia had already come under the Soviet sphere of influence in the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact and its Secret Additional Protocol of August 1939. "Forced to choose between Germany and Russia, they have chosen Germany, because they seek co-operation with western civilization.  The rule of the Germans seems to them to be the lesser of two evils." oberführer Adolf Ax reported later  explaining the German Waffen-SS Latvian Legion motivation.
In the reassessment period of the Soviet history that began during the Perestroika, the USSR in 1989 condemned the 1939 secret protocol between Nazi Germany and herself that had led to the invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries, including Latvia. While Russia acknowledged in a treaty with Lithuania the adverse impact by the USSR on Lithuania's sovereignty prior to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, no such acknowledgement by Russia exists with regard to Estonia or Latvia, and the central authorities of the USSR did not acknowledge occupation prior to its dissolution.
In July 1989 the country stepped on the road of the restoration of its independence, and  after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Latvia's sovereignty was fully restored in 1991. On August 22, 1996, the Latvian parliament adopted a declaration which stated that the Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 was a military occupation and an illegal incorporation.