When the ‘red’ Bolsheviks seize power in Russia after the 1917 revolution, they not only try to quell domestic resistance by launching a ruthless war against the more democratically minded ‘white’ Mensheviks. They also try to gain a foothold in Finland and the Baltic States.
Although they are successful in Russia itself and manage to transform the country into a one-party state, their meddling in the small neighboring states comes to nothing. The three Baltic states will not be incorporated until the late 1930s as a result of an agreement with Germany.
Meanwhile, a communist dictatorship is established domestically, which becomes increasingly repressive under Joseph Stalin. Large numbers of alleged opponents of the regime are put to work under inhumane conditions in camps in Siberia (the Gulag). In Ukraine, one of the republics belonging to the Soviet Union, a controversial land reform leads to a dramatic famine.
‘Wall of grief’
Location: Russia, Moscow, 2-bis, Krymsky Val Street, Muzeon
Design: Georgiy Vartanovitsj Frangoeljan
Unveiling: 2017
Photo: idea Guide
Gulag is the name of the Russian government department responsible for the punishment and labor camps between 1930 and 1960, and subsequently the name of the camps themselves. Under Stalin’s rule, anyone can be imprisoned under the name Enemy of the People. Between 1929 and 1953, about 28.7 million Russians are sent to the camps. The number of deaths during this period is estimated at 2,750,000 due to transport losses and (mass) executions. The number of political executions is estimated at over 786,000.
Monument to the independence of Estonia
Location: Estonia, Rõngu, Viljandi Mnt hoek Valga Mnt
Design: Eller en Villu Jaanisoo (restauration)
Unveiling: 1934 and again in 1995
Photo: Wikimedia Commons
After 2 years of struggle, Estonia frees itself from 700 years of German rule in 1921. In 1940, the Soviet Union annexes Estonia. The new terror regime arrests, execute, and deports about 18,000 people to Siberia. A German occupation follows in 1941, after which the Soviet Union recaptures the country in 1944. 80,000 Estonians flee to the west, many more are deported to the Gulag camps. Years of guerrilla warfare against the Russians cost at least 50,000 Estonians their lives. It was not until 1991 that Estonia regained its independence.
Monument for the red prisoners of the civil war of 1918
Location: Finland, Lahti, Fellman Park
Design: Erkki Kannosto
Unveiling: 1978
Photo: Creative Commons
With a victory of the ‘Whites’ over the ‘Reds’ in 1918, Finland’s several-month fierce Civil War comes to an end. It takes the lives of more than 32,500 people (out of 3 million inhabitants). Some 9,400 people die in fighting, 9,700 are executed (three-quarters of them Reds) and more than 13,000 (almost all of them Reds) die of hunger and disease in prison camps. Some 80,000 prisoners remain in camps for months, sometimes years, including 4,700 women and 1,500 children.
‘In memory of the unknown fighters who fell in the 1914 – 1920 battle’
Location: Latvia, Dobele, Uzvaras Gatvė, Cemetary
Design: Inta Berga
Unveiling: 1939
Photo: Dobele
Russia ruled Latvia for centuries until the Germans occupy the country in 1915. In 1918, the Red Army invades Latvia and installs a communist government. However, with German military support, Latvian nationalists manage to oust the Russians again, giving the country independence. In 1920, Russia and Latvia made a peace treaty in which Russia promised never to lay claim to the neighboring country again. Despite this, the Russians reoccupy Latvia in 1940. Some 2,300 Latvian soldiers fell in the struggle for independence between 1914 and 1920.
‘Bitter memory of childhood’
Location: Ukraine, Kyiv, Lavrska St, 3, Holodomor Memorial
Design: Petro Drozdowsky
Unveiling: 2014
Photo: Law & Liberty
In the 1930s, Ukraine, known as ‘the granary of Europe’, came under Stalin’s rule. He ordered the general collectivization of farms, but this was strongly resisted by the independent peasants. As a result, millions of peasants were deported to Siberia, and armed police groups confiscated all available grain, including seeds. Rebellious villages were cordoned off by police to prevent the starving population from seeking food. This period, known as the Holodomor (starvation massacre), led to the deaths of an estimated 4-6 million people in Ukraine due to starvation.
Monument for those who fell for the freedom of Lithuania
Location: Lithuania, Kaunas, K. Donelaicio gatvė 64, Garden of the War
Design: Juozas Zikaras
Unveiling: 1921
Photo: Deep Baltic
Between 1915 and 1920, Lithuania fights its independence several times. After being occupied first, between 1915 and 1918, by the Germans, the country then battles the Russian Bolsheviks and then the West Russian Volunteer Army. In 1918, the independent Lithuanian state is then declared in Vilnius. However, apart from Russia, Poland also preys on the neighbouring country and this leads to the annexation of the eastern part of Lithuania with its capital Vilnius in 1920. Kaunas now becomes capital and remains so until 1939. In total, about 1,500 Lithuanian soldiers fell in the independence struggle.