ABSTRACT
Throughout their half-century existence as Soviet republics, the three Baltic states formed a distinct region in the USSR. In spite of—or perhaps even because of—official propaganda, indigenous self-perceptions focused on their differences from rather than on their similarities to the rest of the Soviet Union. Historically, they had always been a part of the West European cultural realm. They constituted the only region of the erstwhile empire to have experienced a period of genuine independence in modern times, existing throughout the interwar period as internationally recognized states. The circumstances of their occupation and absorption into the USSR in 1940 continued throughout the postwar period to bedevil Soviet efforts at securing genuine allegiance by the Baltic peoples and international recognition of their status as component entities of the USSR.
