My maternal grandfather’s family originated in Alsace-Lorraine, which was traded back and forth depending on the war between Germany and France. With that, we were not sure if his family were French settlers in German lands or German settlers in French territory. Walking through the picturesque streets of Riga, with its beautiful Art Nouveau scene, one of the things that really caused me to think was the ease with which countries, especially European ones, can be annexed, conquered, or invaded. Some did it willingly like Austria did when it was annexed to Nazi Germany, but most do not. However, the biggest truth is the greater, overwhelming force pushes sovereignty aside. And here was a perfect example.
Latvia, like the other countries of the Baltics, spent the last decades of the 19th and almost the entirety of the 20th in a tug-of-war among great world powers. As the power structure of Russia disintegrated during the Russian Revolution of 1917 while the Great War raged on, Latvia was able to throw off the yolk of the Russian Empire in 1918. The Tsarist reign saw a tiny town rapidly swell to a rich city due to its proximity to the Baltic for shipping imperial goods. It was able to maintain its independence for a mere 20 years. At that time, a treaty was signed with the Soviets that had just taken control of Russia. The treaty promised that the Soviet Union would respect the newly independent nation. And for those 20 years, the promise was kept.
That was until Stalin had his designs on the region. Through the nefarious and short-sighted Molotov-Ribbentrop pact, Stalin knew Hitler would not do anything if he moved into the Baltic area, just as Hitler knew Stalin would not do anything when they invaded their neighbors. The ruse was furthered by making the Latvians sign a mutual defense treaty with the Soviets, saying that either side would come to the aid of the other if any hostilities occurred. It was then that Stalin and his agents moved in for “protection.”
The Soviets controlled Latvia until Hitler broke his own treaty and invaded the Soviet Union. They swept through the Baltics with overwhelming force and brutality; enforcing their racial doctrines on everyone. Jews were to be deported or shot, as were those that hid or helped them.
The Nazis held on to Latvia until the tide of the war turned and the Soviets came back, this time to stay. While there were pockets of resistance, many were discovered and executed. Soon after the war, the Soviets deported hundreds of thousands of native Latvians to Siberia and allowed Russians to move in, changing the demographics from 75% native Latvians to 52%, with the largest minority comprising of ethnic Russians. This has left an indelible mark on this beautiful country.
For roughly 50 years Latvia was a Soviet state governed by their laws with their grievous enforcement. Walking into a room where countless enemies of this unvoted state were actually executed was an indescribable experience. The wall was like an infernal abacus; for every hole that was added, the life of a father, a son, a daughter, or a mother was subtracted from this world. I imagined what it would be like. Would it be frightening walking into that soundproof room knowing my family would never see me again? Would they suffer the same fate due to something I said during a violent interrogation? Still, when the hammer clicked on the pistol behind my head, would it be a relief because the torture of this life would be over?
These questions still haunt me.