German occupation of Latvia during World War II
Anyone not racially acceptable or who opposed the German occupation, as well as those who had cooperated with the Soviet Union, was killed or sent to concentration camps in accordance with the Nazi Generalplan Ost.
[1]: 56 Immediately after the establishment of German authority at the beginning of July 1941, the elimination of the Jewish and Roma population began, with major mass killings taking place at Rumbula and elsewhere.
[1]: 128 Jews from Germany, Austria and the present-day Czech Republic, then in the Riga ghetto were put to work and placed on very reduced rations.
[citation needed] When the Germans first arrived in Latvia, they found anti-Soviet guerrilla bands operating in many areas, of varying quality, some swollen by deserters from Soviet units.
Some Latvians resisted the German occupation undertaking solo acts of bravery, like Žanis Lipke who risked his life to save more than 50 Jews.
[1]: 152 Soviet-supporting partisans, many of whom were actually Soviet soldiers operating behind the lines, sent messages to Moscow making wild claims of success, for instance that 364 trains were destroyed, none of which bear any resemblance to German reports.
[1]: 153 Resistance continued at an increased level after the return of the Red Army in July 1944, with perhaps 40,000 Latvians involved and around 10,000 active at any point in time.
[1]: 324 The Soviet Union conscripted into its army sections of independent Latvia's military units, as well as those Latvians who were in Russia as a result of previous wars or who lived there.
[1]: 165 The re-conquering of the Baltic area was undertaken as a direct follow-through of the assault that started in Leningrad, entering Estonia in early February,[1]: 172 along with much of Ukraine and Belarus.
German troops, including the 19th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (2nd Latvian) under the code name Donner (Thunder), withdrew from Riga, destroying bridges as they went.
[1]: 271 By mid October, the German Army, which partly included the "Latvian Legion", was besieged in Kurzeme, in the "Courland Pocket".
Colonel-General Heinz Guderian, chief of the German General Staff, insisted that the troops in Courland be evacuated by sea and used to defend the Reich.
Until the end of the war, Army Group Courland (including divisions such as the Latvian Freiwiliger SS Legion) successfully defended the area in which they were besieged.
It held out until 8 May 1945, when Colonel-General Carl Hilpert, the army group's last commander, surrendered to Marshal Leonid Govorov.
Many Latvians fled this battlefield in fishing boats and ships to Sweden and Germany, from whence they emigrated, mostly to Australia and North America.
[citation needed] During World War II, more than 200,000 Latvian soldiers ended up in the rank and file of both occupation forces; approximately half of them (100,000) were killed on the battlefield.
