Latvian Central Council

The Latvian Central Council (LCC) (Latvian: Latvijas Centrālā Padome, LCP) was the pro-independence Latvian resistance movement during World War II since 1943. The LCC was made by members of all former Latvian top politicians and had high aims to be the governing body after the war. Its military units were an alternative to the Soviet partisans also operating in Latvia.[1]

Latvia had gained its independence from Russia at the end of World War I, but in June 1940 the country was occupied by the Red Army and in August 1940 it was forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union. In June 1941, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union and by July of that year it had overrun Latvia and incorporated the country into Germany’s eastern empire. Latvians resisted both Soviet and German occupation and sought to restore their independence. The Latvian Central Council was founded on August 13, 1943 by the members of four biggest Latvian political parties- the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party, Democratic Centre, Latvian Farmers Union and the Latgalian Christian Farmers party. These men survived the Soviet terror and now strived to restore the democratic Republic of Latvia. Konstantīns Čakste was elected as the chairman with deputies Pauls Kalniņš and Ludvigs Sēja as general secretary. Seven commissions were made for most important sectors like defense, foreign affairs and finances.[2]

On March 17, 1944, 189 Latvian political leaders and public figures signed the Memorandum of the Latvian Central Council, which declared the urgent need to restore the de facto sovereignty of the Republic of Latvia and create a Latvian government. The memorandum was a call to resist the reoccupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union following the defeat of Germany, which by that time was widely expected. The memorandum was drawn up in several original copies and photographically reproduced with the aim of taking it out of Latvia and getting it into the hands of the governments of the Western allies.

References

  1. ↑ Geoffrey Swain, Latvia’s Democratic Resistance: a Forgotten Episode from the Second World War, European History Quarterly, no 2, 2009.
  2. ↑ Latvian Resistance Against the Nazi Occupation. Latvianhistory.com

Bibliography

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/6/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.