August Sabbe, born in 1909, is believed to have been the last Forest Brother, surviving and remaining in hiding until the late 1970s. The KGB finally tracked him down as he was fishing on a river shore on 28 September 1978, almost exactly 40 years ago.
@Mike Cruickshanks Well, if the Russians found them, the whole family would be sent off to a basement at the nearest KGB headquarters and then to Siberia in a cattle car.
Almost all the newly Communist countries had an Anti Communist insurgency. I know here in Bulgaria, the anti Communist insurgents even managed to take over a couple major cities before being crushed. In the Iron Curtain, any mention of these partisans was suppressed, even of anti Yugoslav partisans in Yugoslavia, so even in the modern day many don't know of them.
@@murderouskitten2577 I know the last reports of Bulgarian anti Communist were in the 60's, but overall it may also be longer for the Ukrainians as well. The Communist regimes kept silent about these insurgencies and it's not like these guys broadcasted to the world that they were still fighting.
@@murderouskitten2577 , Last known Baltic (Estonian) Forest brother, August Sabbe, was killed on 28 September 1978. His private war against the Soviet occupiers lasted for 33 years. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/August_Sabbe
Some of forest brothers in Estonia were volunteers of finnish army. They left finnish army to prevent Soviet to push in into Estonia. After collapse they became forest brothers.
My father told me that his Lithuanian relatives ceased correspondence in 1940. Forever. A neighbor who was a young woman in Estonia at the time, now deceased, would say "under the Nazis you had to fear what you said, but under the Soviets you had to fear what you thought."
This is the best documentary yet I've seen about the Forest Brothers armed resistance to the Soviet Occupation. Good job, and I'm looking forwards to more of your content.
@@ИванКоромысло-о1п батенька, Вьі дурак? Речь идет о вооруженном анти-большицком сопротивлении местного населения до 62 года. Причем здесь Холокост в Венгрии и Румьінии и на оккупированньіх ими территориях??
@Draugr What about Katyn?Movie by Andzhei Vaida(??) exists.It was one of Stalin's crimes,no more ,no less. But Poland prefer to keep silent about the other side,as we were the only evil.Because other side is the major member of the EU...
I dont know about Latvia and Lithuania, but at least in Estonia the vast majority of people who joined the German army were volunteers because the Germans were seen as liberating from the Soviets - this view of course faded over time.
I never thought that my country was betrayed by the British. My grandmother made bread for the freedom fighters thats how thay were called in Lithuania.
Can you imagine what unbelievable level of atrocities Soviets must have been done during 1940 atfer forced military base agreement, that shortly after in summer of 1941 invading Germans somehow suddenly become "liberators" or "lesser evil". Everyone remembered Independence war against them during 1918-1920 quite well with all atrocities then, and mostly everyone cheered when majority of local Baltic Germans left Baltic contries in 1939. So WHAT must happen to turn the image of Germans as centuries old and hated blood sucking oppressors, "black knights" to ... liberators? And of course, they were not better. Putting drafted guys (even teenagers) in to waffen-ss uniforms and sending to fight their own contrymen on the other side of front line was the highest level of cynicism. So, f**** all totalitarian regimes.
My great grandfather was conscripted by the Russians in Estonia. Deserted, worked as a translator for the Germans. Took my great grandmother, grandma, and great aunt on the last boat with the Germans. They settled in Freising. He helped a group of American POWs when he was co-opted into guard service. After the war he worked as a legal aid for the Americans in Germany and got a sponsor to move to Michigan. Made his own company and did well, as did everyone else in the family. They lived out the American dream. The rest leads to me being born. I’ll never forget what they all did so that I could be born. I’ll especially always value free speech as well as immigration because of what they went through.
@@v1adio779 The morality surrounding collaborationist groups in Eastern Europe is very complex and cannot be decontextualized from Stalinist oppression
That'd be needed. I've heard that there were nazi collabers, soviet collabers, anarchists, some killed reds, some poles, jews or nazis, poles killed them, reds killed them, nazis killed them... i'd really like to understand this mad turmoil better.
Did he eventually flee the country? Or did he live under communist rule? And if so, how the communist authorities behaved towards a former forest brother?
I present to you memoirs of one of the fighters who were mentioned to cross the Iron Curtain and back (first from the left 8:00 , in the middle of top photo 10:35 , en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juozas_Luk%C5%A1a ), Juozas Lukša, in ENGLISH - www.partizanai.org/failai/html/fighters-for-freedom.htm
There was the same in Spain from 1939 to well into the sixties. The “forest people” (called maquis as in France) fought the fascist regime while the rest of the world had forgotten and isolated it. The last maqui fighting was killed in 1965 (Jose Castro)
To think that remnants of the Wehrmacht and the SS joined up with these men and continued the fight against the Soviet Union for years after the fact is a mind blowing thought.
My friends grandmother told us when the communist came to Riga. The collaborators were exclusively Jews. They had lists of names for each person in each family for each building. They stood by the trucks and helped the Soviets soldiers load Latvians into them. They checked off each name as that particular family was accounted for. The grandmother saw this and managed to hide with her son for awhile. But eventually they were found later that week. The jew collaborators were able to rummage through the buildings and loot the belongings of the departed. When the grandmother was caught the jew looked at them surprisingly and said "you are still here? "
wow! That's crazy! But some Jews were sent to gulags too so... This should be more deeply researched! It's a shame that everyone who tries to do that is called an antisemite.
Thanks for bringing my nation history to public. However, the last “forest brother” in Estonia gave up 1979 to fight. Also, after Germans left Estonians kept Soviet Army several weeks in “blue montains” battles and they finally get thru from south occupying Tartu and moving towards island Saaremaa (still in Germans territory) and having a Tehumardi battle, where they killed themselves rather than German soldiers. But that’s very true how Brits betraid our nation then and based on my experience nowadays “never trust a Brit” and I’m glad that they finally decided to expell themselves from European Union.
Veiko Herne The British didn’t betray you, a Soviet Spy did. You can’t blame Britain and all British for the actions of a one Communist Rat 🐀. The British are very trustworthy, and them leaving the EU (4th Reich) is them gaining their Independence again. I’m sure you Estonians can understand how important it is to have your freedom, having been invaded by both the 3rd Reich and the Communist Bloc. You should be happy for the Brits to gain their freedom from the 4th Reich.
@@JesusFriedChrist The Brits didn't uphold any guarantees they gave to the various pre-war eastern european nations, that's why they have a bad reputation in those countries (google a Phoney War for example), same with modern times, and their signing of Budapest Memorandum that guaranteed Ukraine's borders for giving up nuclear weapons. How much that agreement was worth? Jack n shit, and Jack just left town.
1. The Western allies were in no position to defeat both the axis powers then the Soviet Union. If the atom bomb had not worked then the invasion of Japan would of been extremely costly and Soviet forces were needed to take care of Japanese forces in Manchuria. 2. Considering the European Union's long term plan of replacing Europeans with non-Europeans I think the Baltic nations would want to get out the EU as well. Intermarium would work better. In the long run politicians of Western Countries are not your allies. Either way I understand and sympathise with Central and Eastern European nations. They have been messed around with by outside powers: Russia, Germany, Austria-Hungary and Ottomans
@@classicalbets5184 If you were to say don't trust British politicians from the main political parties then as a Brit I would agree. A political elite does not represent the will of it's people.
The thumbnail is a colourization i did a couple years ago, had to do a triple take on the thumbnail when i saw it. Anyways here is the original black and white photo you see in 8:05 that i restored to make that colourization plus the colourization itself Restored B&W: i.imgur.com/sQfozrk.jpg Colourized: i.imgur.com/M8s7YPb.jpg
Check also the romanian resistance. It lasted till 1977. A very tragic history. There are movies made about.. Even romanians were parachuted in secret from abroad. The main enemies of the resistance were the traitors. And people that were forced to do treachery. By having family arrested and forced in to spying the resistance. I had the honor in my life to meet one of the prolific fighter ION GAVRILA OGORANU. The poor soul entered in to Fagaras resistance when he was 17-18 years old. A child. in 1946-47. And get caught in 1977. He published also a book in the 90'.. "The fir tree break, they do not bend." We have to always remember ALL the freedom fighters that fight against the animalic, bloodthirsty communist ideology. And fight against the new socialist way of watering down the bolsheviks atrocities. The cold shadow of that time is it still felt over the East Europe and Russia today. It got a more better forme, more humane... But is there. Socialism was ,it is and always will be a precursor of bolshevism.
There is a place located in Latvia called "Īles nacionālo partizānu piemiņas vieta" where 26 latvian-lithuanian forest brothers build underground bunker, they were hiding there untill someone betrayed them, they were fighting against kgb agents till 15 of them wass killed an 9 captured. in that time 26 forest brothers killed over 700 agents. I have picture of my grandfather standing next to his fathers grave in same exact place, so painfull to remember and visit that place. Bunker and memorial is open for visitors, memorialservices.lv/en/iles-nacionalo-partizanu-bunkurs-un-pieminas-vieta
Un pēc kara atkal citiem "baroniem" pakļauties? Ne fašistiem, ne krieviem palīdzēt. Neviens mūs nebūtu atstājis neatkarīgus, un ko vien zin ko nacistu režīms ar mūs būtu darījuši, vernichten und einsiedeln wahrscheinlich. Krievi kas plosās par leģionāru piemiņu ir ar propagandu saēsti slimnieki, bet kritušie naivi palīdzēja režīmam kas viņu vēlmes nekad nebūtu uzklausījis. Better to be a pure freedom fighter than flip the coin on who will betray you in the end.
@@Oujouj426 "Un pēc kara atkal citiem "baroniem" pakļauties?" Karš tā vienkārši nebeigtos, ass valstis nekad nebūtu spējīgas iekarot PSRS pilnībā un ASV pat daļēji ne, Britu impērija jau arī nebūtu iekarojama. Nekādu miera līgumu nebūtu karadarbība beigtos kad visi dabūtu ātombumbas. "Ne fašistiem, ne krieviem palīdzēt." Ne vāciešiem, ne komunistiem palīdzēt.* "Neviens mūs nebūtu atstājis neatkarīgus" Ja gribi neatkarību tad pirmais jādabūn spēks to iegūt, mums nav nedz cilvēku nedz dabīgo resursu. Tāpēc labāk draudzēsimies ar savējiem. "ko vien zin ko nacistu režīms ar mūs būtu darījuši" Nebūtu izsūtīšanas uz Sibīriju, nebūtu valdības izraisīti badi, nebūtu uzspiests ateisms, nebūtu tik daudz ārzemnieki Latvijā, ...... būtu visas opozīcijas apkarošana, būtu ārzemnieku ietekme. Taču vispārīgi labākais no divām iespējām. "vernichten und einsiedeln wahrscheinlich" Vainu piespiedu asimilācija, vainu kalpošana. "Krievi kas plosās par leģionāru piemiņu ir ar propagandu saēsti slimnieki" Tā tas ir. "bet kritušie naivi palīdzēja režīmam kas viņu vēlmes nekad nebūtu uzklausījis." Ne tad ja tav mērķis ir iznīcināt žīdu cionismu un boļševismu, un nodrošināt vismaz kaut kādu eiropiešu izdzīvošanu. "Better to be a pure freedom fighter than flip the coin on who will betray you in the end." Izvēlies nevis met monētu.
@@gunarsmiezis9321 "draudzēsimies ar savējiem [Nacistu Vāciju]" un "iznīcināt žīdu cionismu" opā, še nu bija man domāt ka runāju ar normālu cilvēku. We managed to fight for our freedom with our actual brothers, Estonia and Lithuania, before and won, no need to sign a pact with the devil. You prefer Petain or Quisling?
@@Oujouj426 Neliec sev izskatīties muļķīgi veicot pieņēmumus kuri ir tālu un patiesības un bija maza iespēja ka būs patiesi, un nepamanot kontekstu. Tu man teici ka Vācija neizpildītu nevienu no leģionāru mērķiem un es tev atbildēju ka es zinu leģionārus kuru vienīgais mērķis bija žīdu cionisma un boļševisma iznīcināšana, tātad viņu mērķus mēģinātu izpildīt. Es uzskatu ka ļaut naidam sevi valdīt un gribēt tikai iznīcību ir muļķīgi. Tu varēji nemēģināt sevi apkaunot, bet vienkārši man pajautāt vai es esmu nacists un es pateiktu nē, es nekad nemeloju un nekaunos uz nevienu jautājumu atbildēt. List of brotherly peoples; russians, ukrainians, belorusians, lithuanians, latvians, swedish, norvegians, danish, english, skotish, irish, gaelish, duch, germans, polish, chehs, slovaks, french, spanish, portugese, italians, slovenes, kroats, serbs, greeks, bulgarians, romanians, hungarians, estonians, finish and basque and armenians and georgians (and then there are some individuals of peoples that could be considered extinct). Just because you have 2 brothers does not mean you dont have more.
My grandparents meet in russian gulags and my mother born there she return to Lithuania 4 years old when stalin died i know so much about this times and whats happend there from my grandma there was hell on earth
Were the rusky boots enters this follows: “In the end, they will lay their freedom at our feet and say to us, Make us your slaves, but feed us.” - Fyodor Dostoevsky, The Grand Inquisitor. This is a fact and reality in the past and today in the year 2021.
@@picklejuice4638 but hating on another nationality is one of the roots of racism. Not everyone sees Russians as occupiers. Any educated person knows there's a difference between soviet russia, soviet union and Russia. People here think stalin was russian smh.
I am Latvian. Long story short - as far as I know somewhere between 1944 and 1948 two my grand grand dads were deported to Siberia with all families, where they lived in unbelievably bad conditions. Communists took from theme everything, one grand granddad lost his own farm and died in Siberia in unknown place, the other lost his farm, shop and house in the village (both houses he built with his own hands) We - latvians are small nation and everything we ever wanted, was to live in peace in our small country, but sadly our people destiny was decided by Nazis and Communists.
Germany and Russia have always loved each - other to death. That is true even today - Nord stream 2. The death part of the circle has not happened yet.
@Alek Palm-Leis As I say, the truth history comes only from our grandgrandparents. This occupation destroyed thousands of lifes, peoples, dreames, hopes, homes, families and fates and there is no excuse what soever, for those who organized this occupation! Huge respect to my grandfather, who was left alone, running from deportation while he was 16 years old and his whole family was deported ..... despite that, after many years he was able to bring back all family, except his father (died in Siberia).
Hi, that's a really interesting story, same thing happened to my great grandfather aswell, he was taken away to Siberia, for simply being more wealthy, his farm and house were stolen
As an Lithuanian I need to explain some things: 1. Soviet terror in 1940-41 (mass arrests, deportations and killings of prisoners) alienated Baltic people against the Soviet regime. Nobody expected Soviets to be this cruel. For example, in Lithuania before 1940 Soviet Russia was perceived as a friendly state; 2. as a consequence, a lot of Latvians and Estonians join German forces in WWII and died in the war. Because of this, resistance against the Soviets in Latvia and Estonia after WWII was a little bit weaker; 3. Lithuanians were not willing to join Germans in WWII (there are many historical reasons why it went that way), therefore after the end of the War they had more manpower to resist the Soviets. Therefore in Lithuania resistance movement was the strongest and log lasting; 4. most of freedom fighters were simple men and women, there were very few officers (most of high-ranked military officers fled to Western Europe). As a consequence, many Lithuanian resistance leaders were not military officers, but teachers and etc. Still, Lithuanian resistance forces had quasi-military structure, statute and uniforms - because of this is very easy to recognize Lithuanian partisan photos; 5. the resistance was broken mainly not due direct fighting, but special intelligence operations and betrayals. It's estimated, that around 20-30 thousands of Lithuanian partisans and their supporters died in this struggle; 6. in Lithuania the armed resistance against the Soviets was important because: a) "saving the face" after impotent surrender of 1940 and showing the World that Lithuanians are not "OK" with Soviet occupation (shout out-to Finns for their timely and persistent fight for their freedom); b) It deterred Soviet colonization - Lithuania hast the lowest Russian population % in comparison to other Baltic states; 7. many of the most beautiful Lithuanian songs was written by partisans and their supporters (there was plenty of poets in this movement), and none - on the opposite side. In Soviet times and even now people sing partisan songs in Lithuania. It's a very important component of Lithuanian self-awareness, historical memory and cultural heritage.
@@CarlosMartins-sp6ud I recommend Hannibal Rising if you want to meet forest brothers closely. Lots of them were ex-SS exterminated jews with kids and womans. One of Baltic states still hosts SS vets parades (sic!)
@Thanos 6.0 Lithuanian movies about partisans: "In the Dusk" (Sutemose) "Partizanas" "Vanago portretas" "Purpurinis rūkas" "Owl Mountain" (Pelėdų kalnas) if you want to hear partizan songs just search online "partizanų dainos".
@@ImPedofinderGeneral you will find, that the Lithuanians were the least collaborative with the Germans. Estonians were in the SS but somehow they largely managed not to soil themselves - Estonian SS were used by the Americans as guards in the Nuremberg trials. Latvia was different - thats also where the SS Vets parades are held.
@@aasphaltmueller5178 Yes they were guards because americans already sent most of troops home. No, they *soiled* themselves by executions of jews and pro-communist baltics . For sample - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_qcEFnGeZ6A.html .
The last Lithuanian active partisan, Kostas Liuberskis-Žvainys, was killed in 1969 (the last Estonian partisan was killed in 1979). And legendary Pinups wasn't actually a partisan (or combatant). He was forced to Soviet army but fled, as didn't want to kill. Btw, the last Lithuanian partisan to die in Soviet era was Stasys Guiga-Tarzanas, who died in 1986 in hiding (he wasn't actively resisting, sure, at that time, but still was risking Soviet prison and maybe even death penalty if he would have been caught)
I was in Lithuania for a school trip where we visited small towns In the country side. We stayed in this town in a heavily forested area of the country called Antilepte. In the town was a small museum where they kept the uniforms and arms of the forest brothers that operated nearby.
partisans fought mostly in rural areas. the reason is simple. in the villages everyone knew everyone (so it was easier to find support and informers, less opportunity to infiltrate enemies). Villages close to forests, better provision of food, many homestead partisans were installed bunkers. It was almost impossible to make it unnoticed in the city, as it was difficult to leave the city. Forests in that year covered about 70% of the total territory of Lithuania. Moving through forests is easier, as are retreat routes.
Excellent short film about a forgotten topic. Therer has been a radio program in Sweden about the Forest brothers. Nearly all Baltic countries (Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Estonia, Lettland, Polen) are very aware about Russian interventions, sadly.
The forest brothers did organize in Lithuania into the "Union of Lithuanian Freedom Fighters". It's still debated to this day whether this coherent organization was a strength or a weakness.
@@compatriot852 Lithuania also had the largest population. Forest Brothers weren’t one organisation across three countries, but rather local groups, usually max the size of a platoon or two. It was every group on their own but they did support each other where possible. Every country had their own fight and “Forest Brother” was just a name the locals gave to the partisans.
@@nikodemdyzma9330 They couldn't possibly join the wermacht due to the Geneve Convention, at first the SS legions were set up to fight the soviets and were purely volunteer, yes later in the war people did get consricpted into the legions but they simply fought on the front the same as the Wermacht, they were only called SS to get around the geneve convention law that you cannot use the manpower of an occupied country. At the end of the war these divisons were treated on the same level as the wermacht at the nuremberg trials as they did not particapte in Nazi warcrime, they simply stood up against the soviet ocupation to protect their country. For example the 15th Latvian waffen SS divison surrenderd to the allies and were not trialed, troops from that divison guarded Nazi war criminals at nuremberg wearing Latvian insignia. Before making outrages claims you should do some reasearch on your own.
As a Latvian I did not expect this episode but anyways thanks for making episode for such unknown topic, not even here in Latvia people know much about it.
my grandma and her three brothers were forest brothers when she was alive she used to tell stories about the red army capturing the forest brothers and putting them on their knees next to civilians and when they executed them if someone started crying they would die too my granma watches three of her brothers get executed and she could not cry if she did she would get killed. (sorry for broken english)
@@ТОЛЯН-ц3ю >Invade neighboring countries >Destroy their economy and feed on their production >send people to gulags >Lower quality of life for the people >Countries resist >"W-why are killing the people we sent to wipe you out :(((((" But seriously, what girls and women are you talking about? Forest brother killed the Russian partisan "hunters" who were sent to kill them. I have not heard a single time they have killed actual school teachers, because you have obviously pulled that out of your ass. Also do you actually think that people couldn't read and write before the soviet occupation in the Baltics? Do you have a room temperature IQ?
@@ТОЛЯН-ц3ю As long as they were Russians, everything is OK. By the way, you as Russian can't even understand simple fact that this people could write and read long before Russians did and you forgetting the fact that they had their own languages and writings and schools and those teachers were nothing else but part of occupying Russia . Truly Russians back then and Nazis are the same scumbags, no difference at all and you are the same.
Couple weeks ago I talked about this with my grandma. All the men in her family were either in the forest brothers or already shot. I'm trying not to poke her too much with this, because I see how sad she looks when we're talking about it. Truly horrid stories about death, betrayal and subjugation.
Good stuff. having served in the Estonian military (as most Estonian men) I have so much respect for the people who where able to hold out for so long in the harsh Nordic forests and swamps without any modern gear. This was a very well balanced overview of a very emotional and often misunderstood topic.
Wow, wow, wow, cool it there. Estonia is not a Nordic country, I know it aspires to be one to distance themselves from their original Slavic roots due to Russophobia.
@@naponroy no it is forest people idk if you know Bulgarian but the name comes from гора (forest) and from this they were know as горяни (forest people). Next time look it up on internet before writing a comment
Wikipedia: "Day of the Restoration of Latvian Independence - Wikipedia It marks, like the other Baltic republics, the restoration of the Latvian Republic by official declaration by the Supreme Soviet of the Latvian SSR on May 4, 1990." From en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Day_of_the_Restoration_of_Latvian_Independence
Except that most Belarusians actually help the Russians in enthic cleansing Lithuania. That why the Vilnius region looks so weird, because the other half was stolen by Belarus
Soviets: Make lots of speeches about western imperialism and colonialism. Also soviets: Carry out mass deportations of native populations and replace them with settlers, lebensraum style.
1. USSR attempted, but often failed; once it splintered the postwar republics went back to their normal state of feuding. The USSR's perceived short term success only created more feuding later on as it exchanged territories to promote unity; but this had unintended consequences of causing more friction upon division. Typically, the greatest successes were in smaller territories such as Konigsberg (mass deportation/cultural genocide), but the UN could not intervene afterward as the majority was already Russian and undoing such an act would require changing the demographics again, which is also technically cultural genocide/mass deportation of the now Russian populace . 2. Germany did this - the quotation marks seem as though you are diminishing the German crimes in the war. The USSR annexing and attempting to annex and colonize peoples does not diminish the crimes of Germany during WWII.
@@shinybreloom4027 Local people could not take better job - for example my dad was dreaming to work as an engineer in a nuclear plant - just a regular physics nerd. He had relatives working at the admition exam commission that selected students for the university. Everything's golden!!! Yeah no, they straight up said to not even try taking those exams as fail rate for local people 100% (russian decent like 25% at most) and that meant that he'd be drafted to the army or was sent to the farms for the rest of his life. He did become physician though, not nuclear one, but he did it. He still works as a programmer. Fun fact he was highly laughing at the HBO show Chernobyl for the first 3 episodes as he could not let go the belorussian nuclear physics lady - that couldn't happen.
@@UtamagUta well... When my mom and dad came here from Latvia, in 1979, father had no problemmo with work, but Mother she had technical university diplomma, and when she came to the factory 4 work, all papers and documentstion was in estonian language, that she dont understand... And one more though about your father: nuclear plant was top secret area, whole nuclear science was top secret area, of cause you cant put estonian anywhere near, it was not enough to be a russian to get there, in those times... Estonians have forest brothers, you guys support germans way more than russians, you got independent after 1st world war, of cause there is a lack of trust... That exactly the same reason why Estonian, Latvia, Lithuanian young guys never were near of missile objects or radars... Lack of trust... That why russian language Will never becomes second country language in the baltic states...history is such bitch if you are the russian😆😆😆🤟...
My dads 2 brothers age 19, 21 went to sign up for the police, army after ww2, never heard from them again. 75 years later iam the only one here in Canada because my father age 16, went to the west.
Some times a choice is no choice at all. I remember seeing an interview with a Red Army veteran who was at Stalingrad. He said " We had a choice between two maniacs, a Russian one and a German one. Being Russian we chose the Russian one".
I never knew such groups existed. In China there was a similar group of soldiers - Nationalists on the losing side who continued to fight a guerilla war against the Communists for decades from bases in the remote mountain areas bordering Laos, Burma, and Cambodia. They initially had a big cache of weapons from the USA but over time turned to drug smuggling and became narco lords who sold drugs to American GIs in Vietnam.
That was really touching. I pay my deepest respects to those Balt Forest brothers who fought, exiled or perished for their culture, their land and their sovereignty. (As far as I know, In the ancient times they called themselves "The Balts" which means "The Heros" or "The Champions".) It's a very valuable act from The Cold War channel to inform the world about the deeds of those unsung heroes. I wish the channel make the same video about the poor Ukrainians who did the same.
One detail - the Soviets started deporting people to Siberia as soon as they annexed the three nations (first deportations by 1941 in Latvia, for example), which was a major factor in seeing the Germans as the lesser evil and perhaps even saviors. Lots of the soldiers fighting on the German side believed their countries would be granted freedom if the Germans won. In reality, the Third Reich wanted to do what the Northern crusades had tried to achieve centuries before - to create the so-called "Lebensraum," literally meaning "living room" or "living space" for German settlers, but they were also smart enough not to suppress such beliefs among the ranks, as it helped keep up the dwindling morale and loyalty.
Germany wouldn't have displaced the Baltic populations. Even if they had won the war there would have been few Germans to settle the vast lands of the east & plenty of sparcely populated land.
Youre comment started out great. As Germany advanced into Russia, they were literally liberating it from communist scum. Russia is huge. There was more than enough room for Everyone. Germany believed in the sovereignty of states and respected that. It would have indeed been a liberation had Germany won. But backed the commies and you all know how that turned out. Half of europe fell behind the Iron Curtain. Good job.
@@TheCol111 aside from Poland, Germany didnt invade any of those countries until AFTER Britain and France declared war on them. Is Germany supposed to just lie down and wait to be invaded? Their actions were in defense of their country from Britain and France. They had no business. Declaring war. And Germany only invaded Poland do take back Danzig. A German city.
it's actually very dark and complicated subject. apart from some heroic episodes, most stories from those times are about torture, persecutions, betrayal and sheer malevolence... like holocaust, it's definitely not for all ages.
Many don’t know where the baltic states are located and think they are sorta Russia, it’s probably too much for the average Western European or American to know about their history.
