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Cover -- Latvian Soldiers of World War II : Fighting for the Homeland in Nazi and Soviet Service -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- List of Illustrations -- List of Abbreviations -- Brief Notes on Style, Naming, and Transliteration -- Maps -- Introduction -- Historical Context: Latvia from Imperial Borderland to Nation-State to Occupation -- Historiography and Conceptual Framework -- Sources and Methodology -- Chapter Outline -- 1: For the Greater Soviet and the Smaller Latvian Homelands: Creating the Latvian Rifle Corps -- Introduction -- Latvians in the 24th Territorial Corps and Soviet Paramilitary Formations -- Organizing Latvian National Formations in the Red Army -- Coercive State, Mustering Party, Voluntary Spirit -- Soviet Propaganda: Germany as Enemy of the Working Class and the Latvian Nation -- Conclusion -- 2: Race, Revenge, and Restoration: Creating the Latvian Legion -- Introduction -- The German Occupation: Shifting Principles and Competing Authorities -- Latvians as Paramilitaries and Policemen under German Command -- Lobbying for a Latvian Legion -- Filling the Ranks of the Legion -- Ambiguities between Forcible Conscription and Free Enlistment -- German Propaganda: Revenge, Restoration, and National Defense against Bolshevism -- Conclusion -- 3: Home Away from Home: Latvian Units as National Communities and Families -- Introduction -- Hybridity in the Latvian Legion: Karmīnsarkans on Feldgrau -- Learning to Speak Soviet Latvian -- Elite Status -- Celebrating Being Latvian: Holidays, Song, and Dance -- The Friendship of Nations in a Latvian Context -- Gender, Age, and Military Masculinities: Latvian National Formations as Families -- Conclusion -- 4: Things to Kill for, Things to Die for: Brutalization and Images of the Enemy in Latvian National Formations -- Introduction.

Shortages and Hardships: The Latvian Rifle Corps -- Shortages and Hardships: The Latvian Legion -- Losing Individuals, Strengthening the Collective -- Brutalization through Combat: The Latvian Rifle Corps -- Brutalization through Combat: The Latvian Legion -- Conclusion -- 5: Brothers Against Brothers: National Liberation and National Defense -- Introduction -- Liberators in an Army of Occupation -- The Shape of the Nation -- The Courland Cauldron: Brothers Against Brothers -- Endgames -- Conclusion -- 6: Victorious Losers and Thwarted Winners: Postwar Narratives and Legacies -- Introduction -- War by Other Means -- The Latvian Lost Cause -- Communists, National Communists, and Nationalists -- Latvian Jews: Three Postwar Pathways -- Conclusion -- Conclusion -- A Political Landscape: Beehives and Obelisks -- Lost Causes and Causes Lost -- Reckoning and Reconciliation -- Bibliography -- Archives -- Oral History Interviews -- Periodicals -- Unpublished Primary Sources -- Published Primary Sources -- Secondary Sources -- Index.

Latvian Soldiers of World War II: Fighting for the Homeland in Nazi and Soviet Service traces the origins, wartime experience, and legacies of soldiers from Latvia who fought in national formations on both sides of the Eastern Front.