latviski
A doomed hope for sovereignty
At face value, it appears irrational, even deluded, for the Latvian underground leadership in March 1944 to petition Rūdolfs Bangerskis, the nominal head of the Latvian Legion (Latvian combat units of the foreign Waffen-SS on the Eastern Front) and their top liaison with the Nazi military to negotiate with Nazi Germany on restoring Latvia's sovereignty. This was problematic from the start insofar as the Germans had treated Latvia as part of the USSR they had occupied, not as a Soviet-occupied sovereign state they had liberated.
In March 1944, the battle was turning for the Germans on the Eastern Front. The USSR was on the offensive and had just achieved victory in the Kingisepp–Gdov offensive↗, capturing the eastern coast of Lake Peipus and established a number of bridgeheads on the western (Estonian) bank of the Narva River. In the following months, as the battle raged on the Eastern Front, the Germans would retreat ahead of a known major Red Army assault and send in Latvian units, knowing Latvians would fight to the death to prevent Soviet re-occupation. Nazi Germany needed to keep the Latvian units engaged even as they suffered as horrific casualties — 40,000 to 50,000 by the end of the war. Thus, talks began on Nazi Germany recognizing Latvia's sovereignty in return for Latvians' continued combat against what was for Latvians Soviet re-invasion and re-occupation.
In pursuit of this possibility, Bangerskis and other Latvian representatives headed to Germany for talks and negotiations. After four days of preparatory discussions in Berlin, they headed to Dresden for formal talks. After the midnight of March 13th, they were informed Dresden, which had been picked because it had not yet been targeted in the war, had been bombed. Their train was diverted to Chemnitz, where it arrived in the morning, after which their contingent was assigned a locomotive and they proceeded on to Freital, a suburb just outside Dresden, arriving late in the late afternoon. Scouts were sent to check out the situation in Dresden. Meanwhile, air raid sirens forced them to flee the train and seek shelter in a cave. It was confirmed Dresden was all in flames↗ and the decision was made to return to Berlin. On the trip back Bangerskis noted in his diary:
February 15, Thursday, on the way to Berlin
We're en route to Berlin from Dresden, where nothing came of the anticipated assembly of the Latvian National Committee. Dresden suffered terribly during the night from the 13th to 14th of February, and the day of the 14th. My conversation with General Dankers put me in a completely pessimistic mood: everyone was certainly eager to rule, but unwilling to sacrifice any of their own advantages.… [our translation]
Peters' uncle Konrads died in the bombing of Dresden, as did hopes of talks furthering Nazi Germany recognizing Latvia's sovereignty. Yet Latvians did not give up hope of post-WWII independence, holding out with the Germans in western Latvia's Courland↗ until the end of the war — including fighting on for another week after the German surrender ending WWII.
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