The Baltic States in the Second World War
A History
This new history reveals that the Baltic States were as fiercely contested between the Germans and Russians as any flashpoint of the Second World War.
Description
Comparing a map of Europe from 1936 with one from 1946, all the countries are there, albeit with some shifts in borders, except for three: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. These states disappeared during the Second World War, despite never declaring war or having war declared on them.
This book describes the theft of the Baltic states. Despite hoping to ride out the war in neutrality, like Sweden, the three countries suffered a triple occupation. A nasty and brutish, but short, Soviet occupation was displaced by a three-year Nazi occupation that was nasty and brutish in different ways. A barbarous genocide of Jews and Roma ensued. The Soviets returned in 1944 and did not leave for decades, calling into question exactly when the war really ended for the Baltic states.
All three occupations used local collaborators and achieved some degree of cooperation, but there was also a wide variety of resistance. Thousands of Baltic people fought for the Soviet Union; thousands more fought for the Nazi occupiers. The majority were conscripts or had joined under duress, but there were some willing Quislings. Kaszeta offers the reader a sober and nuanced exploration of the under-reported 1939–45 period in the Baltic states.
Table of contents
Foreword:
Introduction and acknowledgments: Why is this book necessary
Chapter One: The Baltic States in the 1930s
Chapter Two: Hitler and Stalin contrive an alliance
Chapter Three: Europe descends into war
Chapter Four: The Soviet Annexation
Chapter Five: Occupation and Resistance
Chapter Six: Planning and Executing Barbarossa
Chapter Seven: Ostland
Chapter Eight: German Recruitment and Conscription
Chapter Nine: Estonia
Chapter Ten: Lativa
Chapter Eleven: Lithuania
Chapter Twelve: The Holocaust
Chapter Thirteen: Anti-German Resistance
Chapter Fourteen: Baltic exile
Chapter Fifteen: Balts in the West
Chapter Sixteen: The German retreat
Chapter Seventeen: The Soviets return
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Author(s)
Dan Kaszeta is a specialist defence and security consultant, who has held positions in the US Secret Service and the White House Military Office. A Royal Historical Society fellow, he is the author of The Forest Brotherhood; The Baltic States in the Second World War and Toxic (all published by Hurst).
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