Review of Between Giants: The Battle for the Baltics in World War II by Prit Buttar (Osprey Press, 2013)

The three Baltic states of Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia have been fought over and ruled over by other states for centuries. They gained their independence in the wake of the First World War, but were under pressure from the political manoeuvring of Russia, Germany, and Poland in the interwar years. They are rocked by the German-Soviet non-aggression pact prior to World War Two and occupied by Soviet Union in 1939, then by Germany in 1941, and again by the Soviets 1944-45, remaining behind the iron curtain as part of the Soviet Union until 1990. With the exception of Poland, no countries experienced as high a population loss through death and deportation during the war as the Baltic states (over 20 percent). To complicate matters, both belligerent armies included large numbers of combatants from the Baltic states, plus nationalist and pro-Soviet partisans were operating. Prit Buttar seeks to tell the complex story of the battle of the Baltics from all perspectives (each Baltic state, Germany, Russia; politicians, soldiers, partisans, civilians) from a somewhat distant, neutral perspective. To a large degree, he succeeds, starting with a general potted history leading up to independence post WWI, a general overview of the interwar years, then a detailed history of actions during WW2, and a summary of post-war outcomes.

Buttar covers a lot of ground and there is a lot of detail, but the narrative suffers from a couple of issues. First, the coverage is somewhat uneven, with great detail relating to particular military encounters, with less in-depth analysis concerning civilian life, the activities of partisans, the deportations and ghettos, and Baltic state politics. In part, this is probably related to access to archives and sources. Second, much of the history is laundry-list is style, noting which units were moving where and engaging which armies, etc., and while there are maps, they only relate to a few of the events. In part, this is to do with the scale of the encounters, involving hundreds of thousands of military combatants over a large area, but it makes following events almost meaningless beyond giving a sense of the scale. The result is an analysis that is broad in scope, packed with lots of detail, but is dry, a little uneven, and sometimes uninteresting to follow, and would have benefitted from more personal stories (which are included as very limited snippets). Moreover, some of the analysis jarred a little, especially relating to Jews, who are always talked about as a different group to Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians and Russians, as if one couldn’t be Latvian and Jewish, for example. They were no doubt singled out as an ethnicity, which is not nationality. Overall, an interesting read as to how the Baltic states fare in the early- and mid-twentieth century.

Review of When the Doves Disappeared by Sofi Oksanen (2015, Atlantic; 2012 Finnish)

Estonia, 1941, and the Russians are retreating.  Having trained in Finland, Roland and his cousin, Edgar, initially a collaborator with the Russians, are fighting with fellow Estonians in the forests, hoping that country might once again gain independence.  Their two wives, Rosalie and Juudit, await their return.  Instead of freedom the Germans become the new occupiers.  While Roland continues in the independence movement, Edgar takes on a new identity and cosies up to the Germans, still driven by a desire to gain and wield power, becoming active in the running of the forced labour camps.  Abandoned by her husband, Juudit falls in love with a SS officer, while still aiding the idealistic Roland.  Twenty years later, Roland has seemingly vanished and Juudit is an alcoholic and still locked in a loveless marriage to Edgar, who after serving time in Siberia has become a Soviet apparatchik.  Edgar is desperate to continue to hide his past and when he’s asked to write a book about Estonian collaborators he sees a way to rewrite history and tidy up some loose ends.

When the Doves Disappeared charts the entangled lives of three Estonians during the Second World War and twenty years later.  Roland is idealistic and desires a return to independence, resisting both Russians and Germans.  Edgar is a ruthless toady, constantly scheming to curry favour and gain recognition, first working for the Russians, then the Germans, and back to the Russians.  Juudit is naïve and craves love and freedom, falling for a German SS officer but still helping Roland and fleeing refugees.  In turn they represent the different positions of Estonians during successive waves of occupation, resistance, and collaboration.  Oskanen maps out their intersecting lives, shuttling back and forth between the years 1941-44 and 1963-66, documenting the ongoing struggles and betrayals of family and country.  While it takes a little bit of time for this narrative strategy to bed in, the result is a compelling, bleak, haunting and thought-provoking black drama that explores themes of love, loyalty, treachery, tragedy and freedom.  A story that packs a punch at multiple levels.