THE GLASS WALL

The rich and tragic history of an obscure part of the world: the eastern Baltic states of Latvia and Estonia.

Egremont dives deep into the story of the Baltic frontier, an area largely controlled by foreign powers since the 12th century. Colonized by Russia, Sweden, and Germany, invaded by the Nazis and then the Red Army, the people of the Baltic have suffered domination imposed by outsiders since the days of the Crusades. The author paints an astute portrait of the Baltic Germans, the aristocracy that moved in by papal invitation during the Crusades and accumulated land, money, and power until World War I. He capably re-creates their vanished cultural world: poetry readings, croquet, halls lined with works by the old masters. But in this geographically vulnerable part of Europe, wealth was no protection against invasion. In World War II, Hitler ordered the Baltic Germans to move to a conquered area of Poland, and the Jews they relied on were executed, many shipped to concentration camps. Latvians and Estonians were drafted into the German army, and the Nazis laid plans for mass deportations of Estonians, Latvians, and their neighboring Lithuanians. After World War II, anyone perceived as an opponent of the Soviet-led regime was sent to labor camps in the Soviet Union. Today, both countries are independent republics, and one Estonian observes, “there’s no class system. It’s money that counts now.” The Russian threat is never far away, and the locals stockpile petrol and strategize the quickest way out of the country in the event of an invasion. Egremont seems to have read every Baltic German novelist, visited every notable town, and tracked down every living witness to its history. The narrative sometimes meanders, but the book contains a helpful gazetteer and chronology. The text requires serious concentration, but diligent readers are rewarded with a near-total immersion into a land, its people, and the harrowing arc of its history.

An intricately layered account of the eastern Baltic, a land shaped by colonization, revolution, deportation, and murder.