COLLECTIONS

Baltic 1945-1991

Latvian Translation

Description

Generally speaking, the second period of the Soviet annexation of Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia—the nearly fifty year span from 1944 to 1991—is less well documented in the archives than other eras of Baltic history, due to Soviet controls on the dissemination of information, and the difficulties inherent in collecting samizdat materials that circulated in the USSR. Unofficial publications from Latvia, however, are in the collections of the archives. Moreover, Soviet rule was not completely monolithic: Splits at times put the local party leaderships at variance with Moscow, and émigré organizations among the large Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian diasporas continued to pursue the cause of Baltic independence. Publications and other documents from such groups and from individuals are to be found in the archives.

All through the long cold war, controversy continued over such issues as the Nazi period in Latvia, the fate of Latvian Jews, and the role played by prewar politicians in the loss of Latvia's independence. These subjects and others generated a good deal of political and historical literature, as did the constant flow of publications and commentary concerning communist rule in Latvia. Then as now, the Hoover Institution Library and Archives has attempted to collect publications and papers from across the entire spectrum of expressed opinion and thus is a leading repository of materials concerning the cold war in general and the second period of Soviet domination in Latvia in particular.

The huge Radio Free Europe collection contains copies of broadcasts in the three Baltic languages, as well as reports on conditions in the three countries. Latvia's specific development within the Soviet Union can be traced through these materials, as can the attitude of the Western powers, including the United States, toward the cause of independence for the Baltic states.

The "national awakenings" that occurred in the Baltic countries in the late 1980s, as the Soviet Union headed toward collapse, received a good deal of attention in the West at the time, especially as regards the movement in Lithuania. Latvia had its own dissidents, and a national movement for independence gathered popular support by the end of the decade. Materials in the Hoover Institution Archives concern the broad-based Latvian People's Front, including the papers of Mavriks Vulfsons, a Latvian journalist and one of the Front's founders. Additional documents pertaining to this important time of transition in Latvia can be found in the Andrejs Eizans collection; Eizans was also a participant in the Latvian awakening of the 1980s and 1990s. There are also Latvian materials in the large Narodno-trudovoi soiuz samizdat collection.

National aspirations, and national symbols, began to reappear openly in Latvia and the other Baltic states in this period, as reflected in the political iconography of the time. Such themes became even more pronounced, of course, as popular momentum developed for full independence for the Baltic countries and their separation from the Soviet Union. In 1991, while much of the world's attention was focused on the Persian Gulf war, the Baltic states were the scene of bloody clashes between Soviet security forces and unarmed demonstrators, leaving twenty protesters dead in Vilnius and Riga. The archives' materials from this time of dramatic conflict and change in Latvia includes striking posters commenting on Soviet rule; in other media can be seen the resurgence of Latvian national identity and the affirmation of a common bond with Estonia and Lithuania known as the "Baltic Way."