"This volume is a first attempt to describe the occupation years of the three Baltic republics in a joint effort and a variety of different perspectives. The ways and means of occupation, including deportations and ethnic cleansing are discussed, together with problems of collaboration. Cultural values were lost through war and occupation. Minorities, long living in the area, were attacked and differences between new and old minorities arose. The impact of occupations on culture forms an important part of the contributions. The values and modes of thinking are analyzed in a number of ways. The final section addresses the modalities of silent, persistent resistance, in particular youth culture, but also the adherence to national traditions. The new movements arising in the 1980s are represented the by the environmentalists."

In the history of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania the period of Stalinist rule marked the time of loss of independence, Sovietization and enormous political, social and cultural change. Large segments of the population fell victim to repression or forced deportation. Some Balts fought in a partisan war against the Soviets, others fled in 1944. Until today, those events are present in Baltic societies. The volume assembles thirteen historians from eight countries discussing in their contributions different aspects of Stalinist rule in the annexed Baltic states. The authors make extensive use of recently opened archives.

This volume focuses on the Baltic Sea region during the Cold War. Recent research conducted in several countries has sought to revise a number of long-established assumptions about the Cold-War conflict, as they do not seem to fit into the context of the Baltic world. The bipolar perspective on the Cold War is more and more being replaced by the idea of multiple players being active on different levels. Thus it is now recognised that the so called Iron Curtain was not insurmountable and a variety of contacts in such fields as economics, culture, media or tourism could take place. In addition, neutral countries also participated vividly in Cold War interaction. Thus, not only high politics, security or military issues were at stake.

This edited volume presents a comprehensive analysis of the 'Baltic question', which arose within the context of the Cold War, and which has previously received little attention. This volume brings together a group of international specialists on the international history of northern Europe. It combines country-based chapters with more thematic approaches, highlighting above all the political dimension of the Baltic question, locating it firmly in the context of international politics. It explores the policy decision-making mechanisms which sustained the Western non-recognition of Soviet sovereignty over the Baltic States after 1940 and which eventually led to the legal restoration of the three countries' statehood in 1991. The wider international ramifications of this doctrine of legal continuity are also examined, within the context both of the Cold War and of relations between post-soviet Russia and the enlarging 'Euro-Atlantic area'. The book ends with an examination of how this Cold War legacy continues to shape relations between Russia and the West. nbsp;