Shall Latvians Perish?AN URGENT APPEAL of the LATVIAN NATIONAL COUNCIL to the CIVILIZED WORLD, September 1948

V. Conclusion.

As a result of World War II France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Holland, Denmark, Norway and Greece have been liberated from their enemies and have gained their freedom and sovereignty. On the contrary Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania are still under the most horrible regime.

In Latvia the destruction of the economical, social and cultural order, of religious and moral life is going on uninterruptedly, the inhabitants continue to be robbed of their material and cultural values and even to be exterminated and replaced by a racially alien type of men coming from the East. There is no doubt that, should the Bolshevist occupation last for long, Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians will'be exterminated and soon disappear entirely, to be mentioned only by historians in their books. 27

If during 1939/40 the Bolsheviks put forth the argument that the Baltic States were weak and that the Soviet Union's duty was to protect them against the West, then with the defeat of Germany this argument has lost its essence, and even from the point of view as advanced by the Bolsheviks themselves there is no longer any reason for the occupation of the Baltic States.

Therefore, the Latvian National Council on its session of July 10/11, 1948, adopted the following resolution as to the restoration of the independence of the Baltic States:

"Having convened for its first session and having listened to the reports about the conditions in Latvia and the. international position of the Latvian State, the Latvian National Council protests most energetically against the unprovoked act of aggression by the Soviet Union against the peace loving Latvian DemocraticRepublic on June 17, 1940, breaking the Peace Treaty, the Non-Aggression and other Treaties, as well as the Briand-Kellog Pact and other international obligations, occupying, sovietizing Latvia and destroying her independence. The Latvian National Council solemnly declares that the Latvians do not recognize and will never recognize the corruption by the Soviet occupational authorities by means of ruse and violence of the constitutional status, the political and economical order of the Latvian State.

In deep confidence in the Great Democracies the Latvian National Council expects that in faithfulness to the principles of the Atlantic and UN Charter they will:

1. Insist that Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania should be LIBERATED from the inhuman Bolshevik yoke and their independence re-established;
2. Use all means at their disposal to end the dreadful terror and the extermination of the Baltic Nations and 28
3. Take measures as to enable Latvians, Estonians and Lithuanians already deported to the Soviet Union, but still alive and decaying in prisons or concentration camps to return home or to emigrate.

The Latvian National Council hopes and expects that all organizations and persons willing to struggle for Democracy and the elementary Human Rights:

1. Will listen to the SOS call sent by Latvians, Lithuanians and Estonians, from the other side of the Iron Curtain;
2. Will not remain indifferent spectators, but
3. bravely and decidedly raise their voices for the right cause of the Baltic Nations who without any fault of their own got into the power of the Soviets, are enduring intolerable sufferings and are facing complete annihilation;
4. Will achieve liberation of these Nations from Soviet tyranny and
5. regain their liberty and national independence.

September 1948.

Latvian National Council

Druck: Wilh. Langguth, Esslingen a. N.