The Baltic Legations were the missions of the exiled Baltic diplomatic services from 1940 to 1991. After the Soviet

occupation of the Baltic states The Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were invaded and occupied in June 1940 by the Soviet Union, under the leadership of Stalin and auspices of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that had been signed between Nazi Germany and the Soviet ...

in 1940, the Baltic states instructed their diplomats to maintain their countries'

legation A legation was a diplomatic representative office of lower rank than an embassy. Where an embassy was headed by an ambassador, a legation was headed by a minister. Ambassadors outranked ministers and had precedence at official events. Legations ...

s in several Western capitals. Members of the Estonian diplomatic service, the

Latvian diplomatic service The Latvian diplomatic service in exile was the only governmental body of the Republic of Latvia which continued its activities during the Nazi and Soviet occupation of Latvia during 1940–1991. Latvian diplomats who were stationed in embassi ...

and the

Lithuanian diplomatic service The Diplomatic Service of the Republic of Lithuania is the part of the governmental service tasked with enforcing the foreign policy set by the President, the Parliament, and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania. The head of the service is t ...

continued to be recognised as the diplomatic representatives of the independent pre-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

states of

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

and

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

, whose annexation by the Soviet Union was not recognised by the United States, the United Kingdom, or France. The legations provided consular services to exiled citizens of the Baltic states from 1940 to 1991.

History

Between May and June 1940, the Baltic governments reached a secret decision that in the event of an emergency, the powers of government to appoint and recall diplomatic and consular representatives were assigned to the heads of the respective legations in the event that connection with the governments was lost. After the Soviet occupation in 1940, Soviet authorities attempted to have missions turned over and the diplomatic representatives return home. Draconian laws were promulgated in 1940 to induce compliance; the diplomats who refused to return were declared outlaws with the penalty of death by shooting within 24 hours of their capture. Mälksoo (2003), p. 142.

Legation property

All three legations maintained at least one diplomatic property in the United States until the end of the Cold War. Latvia and Lithuania maintained their original

s in Washington, D.C., while Estonia maintained a consulate in New York City. After World War II, the legation died out as a form of diplomatic representation, as countries upgraded them to

embassies A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

. However, the Baltic states did not control their own territory and could not receive a U.S. ambassador. By 1990, the three Baltic legations were the only remaining legations on the U.S. State Department's Diplomatic List. The Estonian legation in London was maintained until 1989, when financial pressure forced its sale. The Latvian and Lithuanian legations continued their work. The Baltic legations in Paris were transferred ''de facto'' to the Soviet Embassy. The Estonian legation was demolished in 1979, and the Latvian legation was recorded as a Soviet property in 1967. However, the Lithuanian legation remained registered to the prewar government of Lithuania, and the Soviet Embassy was unable to sell the building.

Citations and references

Cited sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Baltic Legations (1940-1991) Diplomatic services Occupation of the Baltic states Baltic diplomatic missions Governments in exile