Soviet Genocide? Communist Mass Deportations in the Baltic States and International Law

Leiden Journal of International Law

Volumn 14, Issue 4, 2001, Pages 757-787

  Mälksoo, Lauri ^a  

^a HUMBOLDT UNIVERSITY   (Germany)

Author keywords

crimes against humanity; genocide; occupation; responsibility; the Baltic states

Indexed keywords

EID: 85022394359     PISSN: 09221565     EISSN: 14789698     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0922156501000371     Document Type: Article

References (75)

1. See S. Courtois, et al., Le livre noir du communisme. Crimes, terreur et répression (1997). The English translation has been published by the Harvard University Press in 1999. See also P. Rigoulot & I. Yannakis, Un pavé dans l'Histoire. Le débat français sur Le Livre noir du communisme (1998); and H. Möller (Ed.), Der rote Holocaust und die Deutschen. Die Debatte um das “Schwarzbuch des Kommunismus” (1999). For a critical response, see, e.g., J. Mecklenburg & W. Wippermann, “Roter Holocaust”? Kritik des Schwarzbuchs des Kommunismus (1998).
2. Of the classical works, see especially H. Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism (1951); R. Conquest, The Great Terror (1968); A. Solzhenitsyn, The Gulag Archipelago 1918-1956: An Experiment in Literary Investigation (1974); R. Conquest, The Great Terror: A Reassessment (1990); F. Furez, Le passé d'une illusion (1995).
3. See Courtois, et al., Of the classical works note 1, at 14 et seq. For a recent analysis of the Ukrainian famine, see B.B. Green, Stalinist Terror and the Question of Genocide: The Great Famine, in A.S. Rosenbaum (Ed.), Is the Holocaust Unique? Perspectives on Comparative Genocide, 2nd ed., 169-193 (2001).
4. See, e.g., E. Schwelb, Crimes Against Humanity, 23 BYBIL 178-226 (1946); and United Nations War Crimes Commission, History of the United Nations War Crimes Commission and the Development of the Laws of War 192 et seq. (London: UN War Crimes Commission, 1949). See, generally, C.M. Bassiouni, Crimes Against Humanity in International Criminal Law 31 et seq. (1992).
5. According to Christian Tomuschat, the restriction was rather of a technical nature and was not meant to raise doubts about the criminality of similar acts beyond the context of war. See C. Tomuschat, Die Vertreibung der Sudetendeutschen. Zur Frage des Bestehens von Rechtsansprüchen nach Völkerrecht und deutschem Recht, 56(1-2) ZaöRV 1, at 31 et seq. (1996).
6. See further A.M. de Zayas, International Law and Mass Population Transfers, 16 Harvard Journal of International Law 207-258 (1975).
7. The importance of the connexion is, e.g., stressed by Bassiouni, International Law and Mass Population Transfers note 4, at 258.
8. See Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, adopted by UN General Assembly Res. 260(III)A on 9 December 1948, 78 UNTS 277 (1951). For a thorough over-view, see W.A. Schabas, Genocide in International Law (2000).
9. The USSR presented a document entitled Basic Principles of a Convention on Genocide, and argued that genocide was “organically bound up with fascism-nazism.” See UN Doc. A/C. 6/273.
10. See, e.g., P.N. Drost, The Crime of State, Volume 2: Genocide 122-123 (1959); L. Kuper, Genocide: Its Political Use in the Twentieth Century (1982); H.-H. Jescheck, Genocide, I EPIL 543 (1992) (written 1985); F. Chalk & K. Jonassohn, The History and Sociology of Genocide: Analyses and Case Studies (1990).
11. Schabas, The Crime of State note 8, at 139 et seq.
12. See, e.g., P.K. Rakate, Dealing with the Hachet of the Past: A Critique of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission Report, 40(3) Indian Journal of International Law 547-558 (2000). See also the debate between P. Rakate, G. Meintjes and J. Méndez in 3 International Law FORUM du droit international 42-49 (2001).
13. See the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity, General Assembly Res. 2391 (XXIII), Annex, 23 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 18) at 40, UN Doc. A/7218 (1968).
14. See, generally, L.B. Obidina, Country Report: Russia, in A. Eser & J. Arnold (Eds.), Criminal Law in Reaction to State Crime. Comparative Insights into Transitional Processes 252-257 (2000).
15. See W.H.H. Hough, III, The Annexation of the Baltic States and Its Effect on the Development of Law Prohibiting Forcible Seizure of Territory, 6 New York Law School Journal of International and Comparative Law 301-533 (1985).
16. See, e.g., L. Mälksoo, Professor Uluots, the Estonian Government in Exile and the Continuity of the Republic of Estonia in International Law, 69 Nordic Journal of International Law 289-316 (2000).
17. A recent study published by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees gives the following account of the Soviet mass deportations of ethnic groups in 1930s and 1940s: Poles (including Polish Jews), 1940-1941, 380,000; Volga Germans, September 1941, 366,000; Tchetchens, February 1944, 362,000; Meshkets, November 1944, 200,000; Crimean Tatars, May 1944, 183,000; Coreans, 1937, 172,000; Ingouchets, February 1944, 134,000; Kalmyks, December 1944, 92,000; Karachais, November 1943, 68,000; Poles, 1936, 60,000; Finns (Ingermanlandians of the St. Petersburg region), 1942, 45,000; Balkarians, April 1944, 37,000; Moldavians, 1949, 36,000; Greeks of the Black Sea region, 1949, 36,000; Other Germans of the USSR, 1941-1952, 843,000; Other Crimean groups, 1944, 45,000; Other groups of the Black Sea region, 1949, 22,000; Other groups of the northern Caucasus, 1943-1944, 8000. Total-3,089,000 deportees. See Les réfugiés dans le monde, Cinquante ans d'action humanitaires. Haut Comissariat des Nations Unies pour les Réfugiés 187 (Paris: Autrement, 2000). See further R. Conquest, The Nation Killers. The Soviet Deportation of Nationalities (1970); N. Bougai, The Deportation of Peoples in the Soviet Union (1996); Deportirovannyie v Kasahstan narody. Vremja i sudby (Nations Deported to Kazakhstan: Time and Fortunes) 107 et seq. (Almaty: Arys, 1998); J.O. Pohl, Ethnic Cleansing in the USSR, 1937-1949 (1999). See also D. Dahlmann & G. Hirschfeld (Eds.), Lager, Zwangsarbeit, Vertreibung und Deportation. Dimensionen der Massenverbrechen in der Sowjetunion und in Deutschland 1933 bis 1945 (1999).
18. See for references J.E. Mace, Genocide in the USSR, in I.W. Charny (Ed.), Genocide. A Critical Bibliographic Review 117 (1988).
19. Somewhat undiplomatically, this explanation has recently been taken up by the (then) Russian Ambassador to the Republic of Estonia, A. Glukhov, who argued in an interview, given to an Estonian daily that in 1940, Estonia “gave away its freedom”: “What is here to discuss-such is history, such is fate. […] What would have happened if you would have resisted in 1940? Nobody knows. Probably, there would not be any more Estonians.” See A. Gluhhov: Eesti peab Venemaad tänama, mitte ootama vabandamist (Glukhov: Estonia should thank Russia, not wait for apology), Eesti Päevaleht, 15 November 2000.
20. See P. Varju, Eesti poliitilise eliidi saatusest (About the Fate of the Estonian Political Elite), (Tallinn: Estonian State Commission on Examination of Policies of Repression, 1994).
21. See more about this document, which can be found in the State Archives of the Russian Federation, in Bougai, Eesti poliitilise eliidi saatusest (About the Fate of the Estonian Political Elite) note 19, at 152.
22. See V. Salo (Ed.), Deported in 1941. General Index of Deportees from Estonia (Brampton: Marjamaa Publications, 1993).
23. See A. Küng, Communism and Crimes against Humanity in the Baltic States, A report to the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation seminar on 13 April 1999. See http://www.rel.ee/akungeng. html, at 4 (visited on 31 July 2000). According to another data, 17,171 people were deported from Latvia and 15,851 from Lithuania. See further id.
24. J. Kahk (Ed.), World War II and Soviet Occupation in Estonia: A Damages Report 36 (1990).
25. See E. Gurin-Loov, Suur häving: Eesti juutide katastroof, 1941/Holocaust of the Estonian Jews, 1941 (Tallinn: Eesti Juudi Kogukond, 1994).
26. See, e.g., a special publication on the Holocaust in Lithuania, discussing inter alia the complicity of Lithuanians: 12(1) Holocaust and Genocide Studies (Spring 1998).
27. See Bougai, a special publication on the Holocaust in Lithuania, discussing inter alia the complicity of Lithuanians note 19, at 166.
28. See further, e.g., A. Rahi, 1949. aasta märtsiküüditamine Tartu linnas ja maakonnas (The March 1949 Deportation in the Town and County of Tartu) (Tartu: “Kleio”, 1998).
29. The reason for the deportation of the Jehovah Witnesses was not so much their religious convictions per se, but that they refused to work in kolkhoses and to serve in the Red Army. See Bougai, 1949. aasta märtsiküüditamine Tartu linnas ja maakonnas note 19, at 160.
30. See http://www.tdd.lt/genocid/index.html (website of the Lithuanian Genocide and Resistance Research Center).
31. In Lithuania, calls for a “communist Nuremberg” are still made. For instance, the International Congress on the Evaluation of Crimes of Communism which was held in Vilnius on 12-14 June 2000 and attended inter alia by the former President of Poland Lech Walensa, adopted an “Appeal to the World Community concerning the Establishment of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of the Crimes of Communism and Their Perpetrators.” Moreover, a Vilnius International Public Tribunal on the Evaluation of Crimes of Communism was established at the same conference. As far as can be established, the Vilnius “Tribunal” is not a judicial body in the proper sense. The Tribunal has heard in public sessions “accusatory acts” from different countries, “examined victims and witnesses” and proclaimed decisions at the Lithuanian National Drama Theatre [sic]. See wywsig://8/http://ok.w3.lt/cgi-bin/2000.pl?En_organization.htm (last visited 15 June 2001).
32. Comparable History Commissions for the study of World War II events have been recently set up in Austria and in Liechtenstein. See, e.g., http://www.historikerkommission.gv.at.
33. See id., at 1.
34. See id., at 2 et seq.
35. See id., at 9.
36. See id., at 9f.
37. See, generally, C. Tomuschat, Human Rights and National Truth Commissions, in P. Baehr (Ed.), Innovation and Inspiration: Fifty Years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 151-160 (1999); and C. Tomuschat, Between National and International Law. Guatemala's Historical Clarification Commission, in V. Götz, P. Selmer & R. Wolfrum (Eds.), Liber amicorum Günther Jaenicke-Zum 85. Geburtstag 991-1011 (1998).
38. “Truth commissions” can be distinguished from the “history commissions” by the time factor. In both cases, “historical truth” needs to be established; however, in the case of a “history commission” the past events lay so far back that the emphasis is no longer on the testimonies of the individuals (“tell-their-stories aspect”).
39. See “Truth commissions” can be distinguished from the “history commissions” by the time factor. note 39, at 2.
40. See id., at 4f.
41. See id., at 2.
42. Cf. in the context of international criminal law: J. Barboza, International Criminal Law, 278 Recueil des cours 54 (1999).
43. See 147 LNTS 69 (with respect to Latvia and Estonia) and 148 LNTS 79 (with respect to Lithuania). note 39, at 1.
44. See the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia, adopted at the referendum on 28 June 1992, § 3. See Riigi Teataja (The State Gazette) No. 26, at 349; No. 36, at 1200 (1992).
45. See Karistusseadustik, Riigi Teataja I (The State Gazette) No. 61, 6 July 2001. See § 89 “Crimes against Humanity” and § 90 “Genocide”.
46. See also J. Saar & J. Sootak, Strafrechtliche Vergangenheitsaufarbeitung nach politischem Systemwechsel in verschiedenen Ländern. Landesbericht. Estland 30 et seq. (on file with the author). These Estonian criminal law professors argue that by expanding the 1945 definition of crimes against humanity and the 1948 definition of genocide and not applying the statute of limitations when applying the expanded definitions of crimes to 1940s cases, the Estonian legislator has violated the nullum crimen sine lege principle.
47. Several other nations, including France, have included “political groups” to the genocide definitions in their Criminal Codes. Some authors have argued that this reflects a new definition of ‘genocide’ in customary international law. See, e.g., L.L. Bruun, Beyond the 1948 Convention-Emerging Principles of Genocide in Customary International Law, 17 Maryland Journal of International Law and Trade 210-218 (1993); and B. Van Schaack, The Crime of Political Genocide: Repairing the Genocide Convention's Blind Spot, 106 Yale Law Journal 2259-2291, at 2280-2282 (1997).
48. Act No. II-I 183 1999 of Lääne County Court.
49. See also Overview of the Status of Human Rights in Estonia in 1999, compiled by the Estonian Institute of Human Rights, at http://ww.eihr.ee/texts/ulevaade1999i.html, at 3.
50. Act No. II-I, 10 March 1999 of the Pärnu County Court.
51. Act No. 1-148 1998.
52. Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, 8 June 1977, 1125 UNTS 3.
53. Translated from the Estonian Supreme Court judgment rendered on 21 March 2000, see http://www.nc.ee/rkis/lahendid/tekst/3-1-1-31-00.html.
54. Cf. L. Arbour & J.-P. Brodeur, Retenir le bras de la vengeance, in Le monde des debats (“Crimes contre l'humanité: une justice des vainqueurs?”), No. 25, 24 (mai 2001).
55. See, e.g., P. Akhavan, Contributions of the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda to Development of Definitions of Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide, Proceedings of the 94th Annual Meeting of the American Society of International Law, 5-8 April 2000, 279-284 (2000).
56. See, e.g., M. Laar, War in the Woods. Estonia's Struggle for Survival 1944-1956 (Washington, DC: The Compact Press, 1992).
57. See the indictment of Klaassepp. note 58, at 4; Saar & Sootak, the indictment of Klaassepp. note 58, at 26 et seq. (arguing that BeBkov, Klaassepp, and Neverovski have been convicted of ‘genocide’).
58. Mace, the indictment of Klaassepp. note 58 note 20, at 118.
59. In Latvia, a former KGB chief, Alfons Noviks, was convicted of genocide and sentenced to life in prison in 1995. He died in prison the following year. In May 2000, Mihhail Farbtukh was convicted of genocide for deporting 31 Latvian families to Siberia in 1941. He began to serve a five-year prison sentence. See Financial Times, 18 May 2000, at 2. On the case of Noviks, see further I. Ziemele, The Application of International Law in the Baltic States, 40 German Yearbook of International Law 243, at 261 et seq. (1997).
60. See S. Lammich, Country Report: Lithuania, in Eser & Arnold, Latvia, a former KGB chief, Alfons Noviks, was convicted of genocide and sentenced to life in prison in 1995. note 15, at 198. In 1997, the District Court of Vilnius convicted Kirilas Kurakinas (75), Petras Bartasevicius (74) and Juozas Sakalys (74) of ‘genocide’ for killing in a Lithuanian village in 1945 a family who had been hiding in front of the Red Army. See also Postimees, 5 December 2001, at 3.
61. R.J. Rummel, Lethal Politics. Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder since 1917, 2 (1990).
62. J. Otto Pohl, Ethnic Cleansing in the USSR, 1937-1949, 2-3 (1999).
63. Y. Ternon, Der verbrecherische Staat. Völkermord im 20. Jahrhundert 215 (Hamburg: Hamburger Edition, 1996) (translation from the French original, 1995, Seuil).
64. A. Lieven, The Baltic Revolution. Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and the Path to Independence, 2nd ed., 151 (1994).
65. In a study on communist Ethiopia, Andre Glucksmann and Thierry Walton point out that the “kulaks” in Ethiopia were oromos (a muslim ethnic group) who had been traditionally discriminated by the Amhara christians. The “dekulakization” in Ethiopia sought thus inter alia to subjugate an inferior ethnic and religious group. See A. Glucksmann & T. Walton, Silence, on tue 17 (1986).
66. The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has explained that the term “national group” refers to a “collection of people who are perceived to share a legal bond based on common citizenship, coupled with reciprocity of rights and duties.” See Prosecutor v. Akayesu, Case No. ICTR-96-4-T, Judgment, 2 September 1998, at para. 511.
67. The analysis of the deportees of June 1941 demonstrates that the deportations were not directed against Lithuanians, Latvians, and Estonians as ethnic groups. The number of deported Baltic Jews and Baltic Russians even exceeded their relative size in the population. See further V. Salo, Population Losses in Estonia June 1940-August 1941, 212 et seq. (Scarborough, 1989). Nor was the 14 June 1941 deportation directed against particular social groups-e.g., according to social status, only 26% of the Estonian deportees of 1941 were owners of land or other substantive property. 43% were workers, 17% were employees or technical personnel, and the remainder were independent or without definite social status. Among the arrested and executed persons, only 34% owned substantive property. See J. Kahk (Ed.), World War II and Soviet Occupation in Estonia: A Damages Report 35 (1990). Cf. for all Baltic states: Bougai, The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda has explained that the term “national group” refers to a “collection of people who are perceived to share a legal bond based on common citizenship, coupled with reciprocity of rights and duties. note 19, at 169 (quoting the sources in the State Archive of the Russian Federation). In the GULAG registry, the people deported from the Baltic states were not classified according to their social status or “criminal record,” but designated laconically as “the Balts.” See H. Strods, The USSR MGB's Top Secret Operation “Priboi” (‘Surf’) for the Deportation of Population from the Baltic Countries, 25 February-23 August 1949, http://vip.latnet.lv/LPRA/priboi.htm, at 1 (last visited 15 June 2001).
68. In the case of Estonia, see ENSV Teataja (Official Gazette of the Estonian SSR), 1940, No. 65 (16 December 1940).
69. Akayesu, the case of Estonia note 79, at para. 477.
70. Schabas, the case of Estonia note 79 note 8, at 222.
71. Id., at 222.
72. Prosecutor v. Jelisić, Case No. IT-95-10, at para. 82. See also G. Verdirame, The Genocide Definition in the Jurisprudence of the Ad Hoc Tribunals, 49 ICLQ 578, at 587 (2000).
73. Latvian and Russian leaders have already expressed conflicting views when on 21 January 2000 the Riga District Court convicted Vasily Kononov, a 77-year old former Soviet partisan, of war crimes. Kononov had been accused of having killed nine civilians in the village of Malyie Baty in the summer of 1944. President Putin wrote to the Latvian President Vike-Freiberga and asked her to intervene and free Kononov. The Latvian President defended her country's right to jail Kononov, by arguing that “[s]uch crimes have to be punished irrespective of the ideology on whose behalf they have been committed and irrespective of the age of those who have committed them.” See Latvian Leader Defends Right to Jail Soviet Partisan, Financial Times, 25 February 2000, at 2. See also M. Wines, Latvians and Russians Remain Divided by the Legacy of World War II, International Herald Tribune, 21 May 2000 at 2.
74. But see The Republic of Lithuania Law on Compensation of Damage Resulting from the Occupation by the USSR, adopted on 13 June 2000 which mandates the Lithuanian Government to start negotiations with its Russian counterpart in that matter. For a discussion on the applicability of the principles of state responsibility in the Baltic case, see L. Mälksoo, The June 14, 1941 Deportation and International Law: Thoughts on Responsibility, in Pro Patria Union and Jarl Hjalmarson Stiftelsen (Eds.), Speeches at the International Conference “On Crimes of Communism” 26-33 (Tallinn, 2000).
75. Only in Lithuania, the then Supreme Council prohibited the future activities of the Communist Party on 22 August 1991, following the unsuccessful coup d'état in the USSR.