Between Stalin and Hitler: Class War and Race War on the Dvina, 1940-46 [Hardcover]

'This book asks the difficult question about the link of political polarization and ethnic conflict and therefore makes an important contribution to the research about the second World War.' - Osteuropa

Covering the horrors that took place in Latvia from the beginning of the Second World War until 1947, this book focuses on the heart of the 20th century: Stalinist industrialization, collectivization and political annihilation; Nazi expansionism and genocide; with local nationalism, local nationalist rivalries, and local anti-Semitism. The author traces the developments in one particular region of Latvia, Daugavpils. There, the dilemma of Hitler or Stalin, the ideological struggle of fascism or communism was more acute than anywhere else in Europe since the population was actively involved in establishing both.

A graduate of the University of Sussex, Geoffrey Swain studied for his PhD at the London School of Economics under the guidance of Professor Leonard Schapiro.