page_title: Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic
section_title: World War II, 1941–1945
hierarchical_section_title: Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic / Era of Kalnbērziņš, 1940–1959 / World War II, 1941–1945
caption_attribution_description: For documentary purposes the German Federal Archive often retained the original image captions, which may be erroneous, biased, obsolete or politically extreme. Scherl Bilderdienst Befreiungsjubel um die deutschen Soldaten in Riga. Als die deutschen Truppen die Stadt Riga einnahmen, wurde die dortige Bevölkerung von einem Jubelsturm der Freude erfasst. Die Menschen, die monatelang unter dem Blutterror gelitten und sich in den letzten Wochen in den Kellern ihrer Häuser versteckt hatten, eilten nun auf die Straßen und Plätze und drängten sich, um die deutschen Soldaten zu begrüßen. PK Lette, 7.7.41 [Herausgabedatum],
context_page_description: The Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic, also known as Soviet Latvia or Latvia, was a republic of the Soviet Union.
  It was established on 21 July 1940, during World War II, as a Soviet puppet state in the territory of the previously independent Republic of Latvia after it had been occupied on June 17, 1940 by the Red Army, in conformity with the terms of the 23 August 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact.
  Following the Welles Declaration of July 23, 1940, the annexation of the Baltic states into the Soviet Union on 5 August 1940 was not recognized as legitimate by the United States, the European Community, and recognition of it as the nominal thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth constituent republic of the USSR was withheld for five decades. Its territory was subsequently conquered by Nazi Germany in June–July 1941, before being retaken by the Soviets in 1944–1945. Nevertheless, Latvia continued to exist as a de jure independent country with a number of countries continued to recognize Latvian diplomats and consuls who still functioned in the name of their former governments.
  Soviet rule came to an end during the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
context_section_description: The Nazi invasion, launched a week later, cut short immediate plans to deport several hundred thousand more from the Baltics. Nazi troops occupied Riga on 1 July 1941.
  During the short period of interregnum Latvians created two bodies that sought to restore independent Latvia: the Central Organizing Committee for Liberated Latvia and the Provisional State Council.
  Immediately after the installment of Nazi German authority, a process of eliminating the Jewish and Gypsy population began, with many killings taking place in Rumbula.
  The killings were committed by the Einsatzgruppe A, the Wehrmacht and Marines (in Liepāja), as well as by Latvian collaborators, including the 500–1,500 members of the Arajs Commando (which alone killed around 26,000 Jews) and the 2,000 or more Latvian members of the SD. By the end of 1941 almost the entire Jewish population was killed or placed in the death camps. In addition, some 25,000 Jews were brought from Germany, Austria and the present-day Czech Republic, of whom around 20,000 were killed. The Holocaust claimed approximately 85,000 lives in Latvia, the vast majority of whom were Jews.
  A large number of Latvians resisted the German occupation. The resistance movement was divided between the pro-independence politicians of the Latvian Central Council and the armed Soviet partisan units under the Latvian Partisan Movement Headquarters (латвийский штаб партизанского движения) in Moscow. Their Latvian commander was Arturs Sproģis.
  The Nazis planned to Germanise the Baltics by settling some 520,000 German settlers there 20–25 years after the war. In 1943 and 1944 two divisions of Latvian Legion were created through a forced mobilization and made a part of Waffen SS in order to help Germany against the Red Army.
caption: German soldiers greeted in Riga on July 1, 1941
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