Editing History of Latvia (section)

==Soviet era, 1944–1990==
{{Main|Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic|Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944}}
[[File:Flag of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic.svg|250px|thumb|[[Flag of the Latvian Soviet Socialist Republic|Flag of the Latvian SSR]].]]
In 1944, when the Soviet military advances reached the area heavy fighting took place in Latvia between German and Soviet troops, which ended with another German defeat. Riga was re-captured by the Soviet Red Army on October 13, 1944, while the [[Courland Pocket]] held out until May 9, 1945. During the course of the war, both occupying forces conscripted Latvians into their armies, in this way increasing the loss of the nation's "live resources". In 1944, part of the Latvian territory once more came under Soviet control and [[Latvian national partisans]] began their fight against another occupier – the [[Soviet Union]]. 160,000 Latvian inhabitants took refuge from the Soviet army by fleeing to Germany and Sweden.On the other side, many Latvians who had previously supported Bolshevism had chosen to remain in Soviet Russia, where they wielded disproportionate influence in the party.<ref name="oDe"/> <!--===Stalinist terror=== Latvian theatres, Latvian publishing houses, Latvian clubs, were all present in Soviet Russia, a whole culture all wiped out from 1937 onwards when, accused of fascist, nationalist or counter-revolutionary sympathies, Latvians were purged in their thousands.<ref name="oDe"/> The first post-war years were marked by particularly dismal and sombre events in the fate of the Latvian nation. On March 25, 1949, 43,000 rural residents ("[[kulak]]s") and Latvian patriots ("nationalists") were deported to Siberia in a sweeping repressive [[Operation Priboi]] in all three Baltic States, which was carefully planned and approved in Moscow already on January 29, 1949. Altogether 120,000 Latvian inhabitants were imprisoned or deported to Soviet concentration camps (the [[Gulag]]). Some managed to escape arrest and joined the partisans.

In the post-war period, Latvia was forced to adopt Soviet farming methods and the economic infrastructure developed in the 1920s and 1930s was eradicated. Rural areas were forced into [[collectivisation]]. The massive influx of labourers, administrators, military personnel and their dependents from Russia and other Soviet republics started. By 1959 about 400,000 persons arrived from other Soviet republics and the ethnic Latvian population had fallen to 62%.<ref>{{cite book| last = Bleiere| first = Daina |author2=Ilgvars Butulis |author3=Antonijs Zunda |author4=Aivars Stranga |author5=Inesis Feldmanis| title = History of Latvia : the 20th century.| publisher = [[Jumava (publisher)|Jumava]]| location = [[Riga]]| page = 418| year = 2006| isbn = 9984-38-038-6| oclc = 70240317}}</ref> An extensive programme to impose [[bilingualism]] was initiated in Latvia, limiting the use of Latvian language in favor of Russian. All of the minority schools ([[Jews|Jewish]], [[Polish people|Polish]], [[Belarusians|Belarusian]], [[Estonians|Estonian]], [[Lithuanian people|Lithuanian]]) were closed down leaving only two languages of instructions in the schools- Latvian and Russian.<ref>{{cite book| last = Bleiere| first = Daina |author2=Ilgvars Butulis |author3=Antonijs Zunda |author4=Aivars Stranga |author5=Inesis Feldmanis| title = History of Latvia : the 20th century.| publisher = [[Jumava (publisher)|Jumava]]| location = [[Riga]]| page = 411| year = 2006| isbn = 9984-38-038-6| oclc = 70240317}}</ref> The Russian language were taught notably, as well as Russian literature, music and history of Soviet Union (actually- history of Russia).-->

===Purge of national communists===
On March 5, 1953 [[Joseph Stalin]] died and was succeeded by [[Nikita Khrushchev]]. The period known as the [[Khrushchev Thaw]] began, but attempts by the national communists led by [[Eduards Berklavs]] to gain a degree of autonomy for the republic and protect the rapidly deteriorating position of the [[Latvian language]] were not successful. In 1959, after Krushchev's visit to Latvia, national communists were stripped of their posts and Berklavs was deported to Russia.

===Influx of Soviet immigrants===
Because Latvia had still maintained a well-developed infrastructure and educated specialists it was decided in Moscow that some of the Soviet Union's most advanced manufacturing factories were to be based in Latvia. New industry was created in Latvia, including a major [[Riga Autobus Factory|machinery factory RAF]] in [[Jelgava]], electrotechnical factories in [[Riga]], chemical factories in [[Daugavpils]], [[Valmiera]] and [[Olaine]], as well as food and oil processing plants.<ref>{{cite book| last = Bleiere| first = Daina |author2=Ilgvars Butulis |author3=Antonijs Zunda |author4=Aivars Stranga |author5=Inesis Feldmanis| title = History of Latvia : the 20th century.| publisher = [[Jumava (publisher)|Jumava]]| location = [[Riga]]| page = 379| year = 2006| isbn = 9984-38-038-6| oclc = 70240317}}</ref> However, there were not enough people to operate the newly built factories. In order to expand industrial production, more immigrants from other Soviet republics were transferred into the country, noticeably decreasing the proportion of ethnic Latvians.

By 1989, the ethnic Latvians comprised about 52% of the population (1,387,757), compared to a pre-war proportion of 77% (1,467,035). In 2005 there were 1,357,099 ethnic [[Latvian people|Latvians]], showing a real decrease in the titular population. Proportionately, however, the titular nation already comprises approximately 60% of the total population of Latvia (2,375,000).{{citation needed|date=October 2021}}

<gallery widths=180>
File:Gauja portable radio 1961.JPG|Portable radio built in RRR
File:Riga 1980 4kop USSR.jpg|Soviet stamp celebrating 40 years of Latvian SSR
File:DR1A Riga.JPG|Train built in [[Rīgas Vagonbūves Rūpnīca|RVR]]
File:РАФ-22031.jpg|The iconic [[Riga Autobus Factory|RAF]] minibus

File:Old soviet building (8229119199).jpg|The abandoned House of Press
File:Jurmala-Riviera meets Totalitarism.jpg|Soviet [[nomenklatura]] sanatorium in [[Jūrmala]]
</gallery>