The Problem of Soviet Colonialism in the Baltics

Decolonization of Trauma and Memory Politics: Insights from Eastern Europe

“…During this time, after a long period of resistance, the local populations started to cooperate with the Soviet authorities. She suggested using the term "occupation" to describe the turbulent years of 1941 and 1944-1953 when the Baltic states were occupied by the Soviet Union and experienced mass deportations and other forms of repression ( [33], p. 36). There were many criteria to select people to be deported, and "the enemy of the Soviet state" was one of them.…”

“…Many innocent people were subject to this form of repression. Annus described the Soviet colonialism of this period as including "a diverse spectrum of models of repression and subordination, dependent on the prehistories of separate regions" ( [33], p. 26).…”

Russia's Postcolonial Identity

“…Moore's (2001) article calling for such a dialogue was a relatively lonely voice, but it took just a few years for this point to be accepted as commonsensical (see Hagen 2004, Buchowski 2006, Spivak et al 2006, Chari and Verdery 2009). Today, one can list studies applying the postcolonial perspective to the former Soviet periphery, from the Baltic states (Kelertas 2006, Annus 2012, Platt 2012b and Ukraine (Pavlyshyn 1992, Shkandrij 2001, Velychenko 2002, Chernetsky 2003, Ryabchuk 2011 to Central Asia (Gorshenina 2007, Tlostanova 2010, Abashin 2011, Mignolo and Tlostanova 2012, as well as to the countries of the former socialist bloc (Kovačevič 2008, Kołodziejczyk andŞandru 2012. This literature builds on the long-term tradition of the critique of Orientalism in the Western imagery of 'Eastern Europe', dating back to Larry Wolf's (1994) groundbreaking book.…”

Comparative Politics and Government of the Baltic States

“…18 Indeed, some scholars describe this period as one of 'colonization' rather than mere occupation (Taagepera, 1993). Epp Annus (2012) pondered this issue in quite some depth in a Journal of Baltic Studies article, concluding that while the Soviet era began as an occupation it eventually adopted some of the characteristics of a colonisation, in that land and other resources were exploited by the Soviet Union. However, to the Soviet authorities and the many hundreds of thousands of Russophones who migrated to the region after 1944, it was a voluntary incorporation.…”