"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 twentieth century: Stalinist industrialisation, collectivisation and political annihilation; Nazi expansionism and genocide; with in addition local nationalism, local nationalist rivalries, and local anti-Semitism. The author traces the developments in one particular region of Latvia, Daugavpils. There, the dilemma 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."--Jacket.