Political terror in Finland and Baltic States after World War I


Political terror in Finland and Baltic States during 1918–1920 occurred during violent political struggles within the Baltic territory of the Russian Empire disintegrated as a result of World War I and the Russian Revolution. While there were various militant actors in the scene, including German Army and the Russian White Movement from the remnants of the Russian Imperial Army, the major polarization was between "the Reds", or Bolshevik-influenced Communist revolutionaries, who wanted to establish the Soviet powers, and "the Whites", who wanted to establish independent states based on traditional democracy. Accordingly, the political terror during this period is roughly classified into the "Red Terror" and "White Terror".

Overview

The four countries, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia had similar developments, all of them being the parts of the collapsed Russian Empire territorially close to each other and influenced by similar forces, with the exception of Lithuania, who had an additional conflict with Poland. Of these four, the bloodiest terror was in Finland, where about 1,600 were killed in Red Terror and 8,100 killed in White Terror. The least organized political Red/White terror was in Lithuania, where about 100 persons were killed within this framework, mostly by anti-Bolshevik forces. The Latvian civil war was the second bloodiest conflict in the region: with about 4500–6000 terror victims. In Estonia the numbers were smaller. Tomas Balkelis writes that an apparent imbalance in death tolls, similar in all cases, may be explained by the fact that the victors had more time to carry out the killings, but it may be a more complicated issue.

Finland

According to the database, the losses of "the Reds", "the Whites", and others in the period may be summarized as follows:
Death causeRedsWhitesOtherTotal
Casualties in military actions 5,1993,4147909,403
Executed, murdered 7,3701,4249269,720
Died in prison camps 11,652 4 1,790 13,446
Died after being released from prison camps 607-6 613
Disappeared1,767463802,193
Other ways of death4432915311,265
Totals27,0385,1794,42336,640

Estonia

Soviet Estonian scholar gave an estimate of 2,000 victims among the "revolutionaries", while the modern Estonian researcher Taavi Minnik suggests the number of 800 victims of the White Terror.

Latvia

Latvia is estimated to have had a total of 4,500 to 6,000 victims of political terror, however, data from several regions, including Latgale, is incomplete.

Red Terror

The main organizer of Red Terror in Latvia was Jūlijs Daniševskis, Deputy Chairman of the Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic and de facto leader of the Soviet Latvian Army. The campaign primarily targeted Baltic Germans, who made up roughly 90% of Bolshevik prisoners, reflecting ideological, social, and ethnic motives rather than actual acts of resistance. Red Terror unfolded in two stages: an initial "chaotic" phase with sporadic violence, and a "centralized" phase, during which revolutionary tribunals, concentration camps, and investigative commissions systematically eliminated perceived enemies. Over 2,000 victims were reported, averaging about 400 per month, even though the Cheka did not operate in Bolshevik-occupied Latvia as it did in the Russian SFSR.
In 1918, the majority of Latvia's population, exhausted by World War I and German occupation, initially welcomed Pēteris Stučka-led Bolsheviks, hoping they would address longstanding issues such as land reform. However, Stučka's radical Communist economic policies, particularly the nationalization of land and the creation of Soviet farms instead of distributing it to peasants, aimed to demonstrate to the Russian SFSR a "pure" form of Communism, "more correct" than in the Russian SFSR itself, quickly sparked widespread discontent within the population. This period also saw the establishment of the first Revolutionary Tribunal in Vecgulbene on 18 December 1918, which quickly became one of Latvian Socialist Soviet Republic's most ruthless, holding three sessions in its first two weeks, in which it arrested 144, imprisoned 98, and executed 14 people.
The terror was accompanied by xenophobic rhetoric and vilification, with individuals widely labeled as "enemies". Anti-Semitic incidents were relatively rare and generally ideologically motivated rather than organized pogroms. Jews were targeted mainly for violating Communist economic policies as "profiteers". The Red Terror had an antireligious aspect, with churches desecrated and clergy attacked, though in Catholic Latgale local populations sometimes sheltered and protected religious figures from Bolshevik violence.
On February 13, 1919, the Revolutionary Military Council of Soviet Latvia decided to create a network of concentration camps, nicknamed "menageries" for their brutal conditions, making it the first country to officially plan camps for mass political repression. The first camps were planned in Kurzeme and Vidzeme, with Stukmaņi in Vidzeme becoming the main facility. Housed in an abandoned glass factory, it quickly filled to over 1,600 prisoners, with outbreaks of disease and harsh conditions. The camp was closed on May 30, 1919, after Bolsheviks were driven out of Riga.
During their four-and-a-half-month occupation of Riga, the Bolsheviks carried out extensive political repression, including arrests and executions. As anti-Bolshevik forces approached the city in May 1919, the Bolsheviks intensified executions of prisoners. At the Citadel Prison, anti-Bolshevik troops were able to free hostages, but at, the Bolsheviks managed to kill 32 prisoners, including members of Baltic German clergy, using bayonets and grenades.
The Bolshevik rule lasted the longest in Latgale, persisting at least a year in most areas and nearly two years in its easternmost parts. In Daugavpils, the Red Terror reached its peak in March 1919 with the execution of 76 prominent public and economic figures in. In 1920, during the, the retreating Bolsheviks took approximately 200 people, primarily Baltic Germans, as hostages to the Russian SFSR.

White Terror

Anti-Bolshevik violence was primarily motivated by revenge rather than ideology. After joint forces of the Baltische Landeswehr, Iron Division, Latvian troops, and the White Army liberated Riga on May 22, 1919, a wave of reprisals was carried out against suspected Bolshevik supporters. Estimates of the victims vary widely: early official records cited 174, while the Latvian Social Democratic Workers' Party and communists claimed 4,000–5,000. Executions continued until June 1919 when Allied intervention halted them. Approximately 3,000 prisoners of war had fallen into the hands of the Landeswehr and Iron Division, some of whom were executed, while many others were released if vouched for and later joined Colonel Jānis Balodis'. Overall, about 700 people are believed to have been killed in Riga with the largest documented execution occurring on June 5 at Riga Central Prison. The Iron Division and Landeswehr were particularly noted for their brutality, while Balodis' batallion oversaw fewer casualties.
The execution of 18 Bolsheviks by the German troops near Riga on 26 May 1919, was captured on film by an American motion picture crew. Shown at the Paris Peace Conference, the footage reportedly influenced the Allied decision to withdraw German forces from the Baltic states. Later included in the 1920 documentary Starvation, the sequence drew criticism for its graphic content and contributed to the film's failure, though the execution footage itself survived in Hoover Institution Library and Archives and has since reappeared in historical documentaries, often misidentified as an episode of Russian Civil War.
In December 1919, 29 local communists were arrested in Valmiera, 11 of which, including four young women, were executed after a brief court martial, shocking the public and sparking a parliamentary debate. The executed were initially buried without coffins, but later reburied amid protests and commemorations. The event became controversial and was later mythologized in Soviet propaganda.