Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Glossary
- Introduction
- 1 Origins of Soviet Counterinsurgency
- 2 The Borderland Societies in the Interwar Period: The First Soviet Occupation and the Emergence of Nationalist Resistance
- 3 The Borderlands under German Occupation (1941–1944): Social Context of the Soviet Reconquest
- 4 Nationalist Resistance after the Soviet Reconquest
- 5 Soviet Agrarian Policy as a Pacification Tool
- 6 Deportations, “Repatriations,” and Other Types of Forced Migration as Aspects of Security Policy
- 7 Amnesties
- 8 Red Rurales: The Destruction Battalions
- 9 Police Tactics: Actions of NKVD Security Units, Intelligence Gathering, Covert Operations, and Intimidation
- 10 The Church in Soviet Security Policy
- 11 Violations of Official Policy and Their Impact on Pacification
- 12 Conclusion: Nationalist Resistance and Soviet Counterinsurgency in the Global Context
- Appendix A Note on Used Terms and Geographic and Personal Names
- Appendix B Note on Primary Sources
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - The Borderlands under German Occupation (1941–1944): Social Context of the Soviet Reconquest
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Figures
- List of Tables
- Acknowledgments
- Glossary
- Introduction
- 1 Origins of Soviet Counterinsurgency
- 2 The Borderland Societies in the Interwar Period: The First Soviet Occupation and the Emergence of Nationalist Resistance
- 3 The Borderlands under German Occupation (1941–1944): Social Context of the Soviet Reconquest
- 4 Nationalist Resistance after the Soviet Reconquest
- 5 Soviet Agrarian Policy as a Pacification Tool
- 6 Deportations, “Repatriations,” and Other Types of Forced Migration as Aspects of Security Policy
- 7 Amnesties
- 8 Red Rurales: The Destruction Battalions
- 9 Police Tactics: Actions of NKVD Security Units, Intelligence Gathering, Covert Operations, and Intimidation
- 10 The Church in Soviet Security Policy
- 11 Violations of Official Policy and Their Impact on Pacification
- 12 Conclusion: Nationalist Resistance and Soviet Counterinsurgency in the Global Context
- Appendix A Note on Used Terms and Geographic and Personal Names
- Appendix B Note on Primary Sources
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
You think that you can demand something from the Germans. The only ones who can demand anything here are we, the Germans. … You cannot demand anything. German soldiers liberated your land and as long as a single German soldier remains here, only we, the Germans, will command. … As long as I am in charge here, don't talk about independence. Forget this, gentlemen.
– Lauers, the representative of the Generalkommissar in Latvia, about the prospect of Latvian independenceThe German invasion triggered anti-Soviet uprisings in all the western provinces. Pursued by the Wehrmacht and harassed by nationalist guerrillas, the Red Army and civilian administrators evacuated the borderlands. This chapter examines the impact that the German occupation and the actions of nationalist groups, German collaborators, and Red partisans had on borderland societies. It also offers an overview of the strategies nationalists chose during the German occupation and explains how those strategies affected relations between them, the Germans, and the borderland population. All nationalists, except the Poles, collaborated with the Germans, hoping the latter would allow them to establish independent states. The Germans, however, sought to turn the conquered eastern lands into a vast agrarian colony of the Reich. The brief honeymoon between the Germans and the nationalists ended with arrests and executions of nationalist leaders by the Nazis. The clashes between nationalists and Red partisans and the ethnic cleansing conducted by nationalists polarized the borderland societies.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Soviet Counterinsurgency in the Western Borderlands , pp. 53 - 96Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2010