At Riga station on the afternoon of 30 July 1940, a train carried the so-called People’s Saeima delegation to Moscow. Officially, it was going to ask for Latvia’s admission to the USSR; sources name Pēteris Plēsums as the formal head, while the delegation was also tied to the occupation-regime apparatus of Augusts Kirhenšteins. Even its membership changed at the last moment—seven of the originally chosen “petitioners” did not board. In Moscow the delegates had to read prepared speeches before Latvia’s incorporation was formalized on 5 August.
By the summer of 1940 Latvia was already under Soviet occupation, and the July elections took place without free political choice. The trip to Moscow was part of a prearranged annexation procedure, not an independent popular mandate.
Related events
- 1914On 17/30 July 1914 the Russian Empire officially proclaimed general mobilization. In Latvian territory it drew hundreds of thousands of reservists into the army and quickly affected the economy.
- 1975On 30 July 1975 the Madona District Culture Department allowed the Madona Children’s Art School to open. Under Jānis Simsons, it was the first specialized institution of its kind in Latvia.
- 1944On 30 July 1944 Nazi German occupation rule ended in Balvi. As German forces withdrew, they set the town on fire, after which the assessment of wartime damage began.