COMMENTS ON AN OLD AND FORGOTTEN BOOK IN YEAR 2021: ALBERT KALME AND HIS REPORTS ON THE OCCUPATION OF THE LATVIA AFTER THE SECOND WORLD WAR.

THE GOAL AND MAIN SOURCES FOR MY REPORT

The Norwegian newspaper Aftenposten published two alarming information about the arrest of Aleksej Navainyi on March 13 and 14 2021. The information published made me think about an old and forgotten book which a friend of mine gave me some days ago. Old and forgotten was the book written by Albert Kalme.The title of the book is: Soviet Blood Works in the Baltics. But the issue presented by the writers of the book woke me up again. The book was published in Sweden in Stockholm in 1948. About 73 years ago only. Two main sources are contenting alarming political information dealing with issues that we hoped belonged to the academic world for close evaluation only. No. The world has not been left for academic studies only. Even if the Second World War ended in 1945, we still have to face the conflict between democratic ideas and the old system of traditional dictatorship. We are not moving forward worldwide in the field of the fight for democracy-sorry.

ALBERT KALME: SOVIET BLOOD WORKS IN THE BALTIC

It is not easy to find correct information about the Latvian writer whose name was Albert Kalme. My first impression was negative approaching the book: Fake News once more? Cold War propagation published as an attack on the Soviet Union who lost about 20 million people during the Second World War? Only Cold War information telling all that the war was won by American soldiers only? But the book is not written by Albert Kalme only. Peteris Leitans has contributed with a report dealing with the communism as a political tool for running any country.

Peteris Leitans was a Latvian lawyer and politician who was born in 1879 and died in 1949 as a political refugee in Sweden.He has written the introduction to the book. During the German occupation of Latvia he worked for the Civil Department of the Jurdicial Chamber.At the end of the war in 1944 he escaped to Sweden where he worked as a journalist.

 

LATVIA, ESTONIA AND LITHUANIA

After 1945 we got less and less official information about the fate and future of the people living in the Baltic countries. Few knew that the winners of the war had unofficially accepted the occupation of the Baltic countries demanded by Stalin himself.

Few information was published about the fight against the occupations that went on in all three countries after 1945. But USA knew about the situation. CIA made attempts to support the forest fighters but invain. The CIA launched active operations in Latvia in 1952 chaired by the future CIA director William Colby. The operations were set up in Stockholm by Office of Policy Cordination(OPC).The missions failed.

SOVIET BLOOD WORKS IN THE BALTIC

The content:

The book which I read, was written in Swedish. Let me set up a list of the main issues dealt with in the book:

-The introduction of communism as a political tool for the development of the society

-The official historical report of the political situation of Latvia

-The Second World War and the occupations of Latvia

-A critical report for the officail policy of communism introduced by Soviet Union in 1948

-A detailed evaluation of the administration of communism as a system in Latvia and worldwide

-The set up of concentration camps in Soviet Union and the deportation of people from Latvia

- The policy of execution of unwanted  people of Latvia

- The imperialistic policy of Soviet Union in 1948

- Statistical information about Latvia

The book was published in Sweden in 1948- about 73 years ago.

CONCLUSION

The facts presented by the writers of the book are suppost to have a historical value only  in year 2021-I hope. But the treatment and the arrest of Aleksej Navainyj in 2021 are not information of a positive development of the freedom of speech and the policy of the freedom of political actions.

Aleksej Navainyi has been moved from the prison camp: IK-21 located in the district of Vladimir outside the city of Moscow to an unknown prison.

Vincent Hunt published the book: « Up against the wall. The KGB and Latvia» in 2019. I bought the book at the Occupation Museum in Riga during a study visit to Riga.On the list of persons who have studied the occupation of Latvia by Soviet Union , Inese Dreimane is quoted eight times. During a conference in Riga set up by Baltic Audiovisual Archival Council(BAAC), I had a meeting with the Latvian researcher Ines Dreimane. The reports written by her are reports of a national tragedy. She has talked to people who participated in the resistance movement after the war. Many of the forest fighters believed in the news that support will be given them by Western countries. The military actions made by CIA from Stocholm are reported in the book written by Vincent Hunt. It is important to mention that the writer has included sources from audiovisual archives: Radio reports, movies and archival footage. Splendid policy made Vincent Hunt who has understood the work and importance of audiovisual archives worldwide!

 

Albert Kalme: Sovjets blodsdåd i Baltikum.I dokumentarisk belysning. Med inledning och avslutning samt en kort øversikt øver bolsjevismens uppkomst och utveckling av senator P. Leitans. Øversettningen er utført från førfatterens lettiska manuskript av William Freij..

Stocholm. Bokførlaget Natur och Kultur. 1948. 284 sider.Illustrasjoner.