On this day in 1941 the Soviet Union, which was mere days away from being attacked by Germany, which was receiving warnings from its own intelligence as well as the United Kingdom, started mass deportations of its perceived internal enemies in the Baltic States.
Given the horrors of the Second World War, and coming so close in time to Germany's invasion, this event has largely been forgotten outside of the Baltic States. There the day is a national day of mourning in the three countries which were impacted.
Deportations were on a mass scale with the victims largely sent to Siberia. Most never returned and many died quickly. The Soviets were already massively unpopular in the Baltic States, which had been independent following the Russian Revolution until overrun by the USSR in 1939, but the deportations would have an impact that would find immediate anti Soviet expression within a few days, given the time at which they came.
As the second item there notes, the US also froze German and Italian assets in the U.S., as well as the assets of certain other Axis powers and countries now occupied by Germany or the Soviet Union, b y way of an executive order issued by President Roosevelt.
By virtue of and pursuant to the authority vested in me by
Section 5 (b) of the Act of October 6, 1917 (40 Stat. 415), as amended, by
virtue of all other authority vested in me, and by virtue of the existence of a
period of unlimited national emergency, and finding that this Order is in the
public interest and is necessary in the interest of national defense and
security, I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America,
do prescribe the following:
Executive Order No. 8389 of April 10, 1940, as amended, is
amended to read as follows:
SECTION 1. All of the following transactions are prohibited,
except as specifically authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury by means of
regulations, rulings, instructions, licenses, or otherwise, if (i) such
transactions are by, or on behalf of, or pursuant to the direction of any
foreign country designated in this Order, or any national thereof, or (ii) such
transactions involve property in which any foreign country designated in this
Order, or any national thereof, has at any time on or since the effective date
of this Order had any interest of any nature whatsoever, direct or indirect:
A. All transfers of credit between any banking institutions
within the United States; and all transfers of credit between any banking
institution within the United States and any banking institution outside the
United States (including any principal, agent, home office, branch, or
correspondent outside the United States, of a banking institution within the
United States);
B. All payments by or to any banking institution within the
United States;
C. All transactions in foreign exchange by any person within the
United States;
D. The export or withdrawal from the United States, or the
earmarking of gold or silver coin or bullion or currency by any person within
the United States;
E. All transfers, withdrawals or exportations of, or dealings
in, any evidences of indebtedness or evidences of ownership of property by any
person within the United States; and
F. Any transaction for the purpose or which has the effect of
evading or avoiding the foregoing prohibitions.
SECTION 2. A. All of the following transactions are prohibited,
except as specifically authorized by the Secretary of the Treasury by means of
regulations, rulings, instructions, licenses, or otherwise:
(1) The acquisition, disposition or transfer of, or other
dealing in, or with respect to, any security or evidence thereof on which there
is stamped or imprinted, or to which there is affixed or otherwise attached, a
tax stamp or other stamp of a foreign country designated in this Order or a
notarial or similar seal which by its contents indicates that it was stamped,
imprinted, affixed, or attached within such foreign country, or where the
attendant circumstances disclose or indicate that such stamp or seal may, at
any time, have been stamped, imprinted, affixed, or attached thereto; and
(2) The acquisition by, or transfer to, any person within the
United States of any interest in any security or evidence thereof ' if the
attendant circumstances disclose or indicate that the security or evidence
thereof is not physically situated within the United States.
B. The Secretary of the Treasury may investigate, regulate, or
prohibit under such regulations, rulings, or instructions as he may prescribe,
by means of licenses or otherwise, the sending, mailing, importing, or
otherwise bringing, directly or indirectly, into the United States, from any
foreign country, of any securities or evidences thereof or the receiving or
holding in the United States of any securities or evidences thereof so brought
into the United States.
SECTION 3. The term "foreign country designated in this
Order" means a foreign country included in the following schedule, and the
term "effective date of this Order" means with respect to any such
foreign country, or any national thereof, the date specified in the following
schedule:
(a) April 8, 1940 —Norway and Denmark;
(b) May 10, 1940 —The Netherlands, Belgium, and Luxembourg;
(c) June 17, 1940 —France (including Monaco);
(d) July 10, 1940 —Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania;
(e) October 9, 1940 -Rumania;
(f) March 4, 1941 —Bulgaria;
(g) March 13, 1941 —Hungary;
(h) March 24, 1941 —Yugoslavia;
(i) April 28, 1941 —Greece; and
(j) June 14, 1941 —Albania,
Andorra, Austria, Czechoslovakia, Danzig, Finland, Germany,
Italy, Liechtenstein, Poland, Portugal, San Marino, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland,
and Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
The "effective date of this Order" with respect to any
foreign country not designated in this Order shall be deemed to be June 14, 1941.
SECTION 4. A. The Secretary of the Treasury and/or the Attorney
General may require, by means of regulations, rulings, instructions, or
otherwise, any person to keep a full record of, and to furnish under oath, in
the form of reports or otherwise, from time to time and at any time or times,
complete information relative to, any transaction referred to in Section 5 (b)
of the Act of October 6, 1917 (40 Stat. 415), as amended, or relative to any
property in which any foreign country or any national thereof has any interest
of any nature whatsoever, direct or indirect, including the production of any
books of account, contracts, letters, or other papers, in connection therewith,
in the custody or control of such person, either before or after such transaction
is completed; and the Secretary of the Treasury and/or the Attorney General
may, through any agency, investigate any such transaction or act, or any
violation of the provisions of this Order.
B. Every person engaging in any of the transactions referred to
in Sections 1 and 2 of this Order shall keep a full record of each such
transaction engaged in by him, regardless of whether such transaction is
effected pursuant to license or otherwise, and such record shall be available
for examination for at least one year after the date of such transaction.
SECTION 5. A. As used in the first paragraph of Section 1 of
this Order "transactions [which] involve property in which any foreign
country designated in this Order, or any national thereof, has... any interest of
any nature whatsoever, direct or indirect," shall include, but not by way
of limitation (i) any payment or transfer to any such foreign country or
national thereof, (ii) any export or withdrawal from the United States to such
foreign country, and (iii) any transfer of credit, or payment of an obligation,
expressed in terms of the currency of such foreign country.
B. The term "United States" means the United States
and any place subject to the jurisdiction thereof; the term "continental
United States" means the States of the United States, the District of
Columbia, and the Territory of Alaska.
C. The term "person" means an individual, partnership,
association, corporation, or other organization.
D. The term "foreign country" shall include, but not
by way of limitation,
(i) The state and the government thereof on the effective date
of this Order as well as any political subdivision, agency, or instrumentality
thereof or any territory, dependency, colony, protectorate, mandate, dominion,
possession, or place subject to the jurisdiction thereof,
(ii) Any other government (including any political subdivision,
agency, or instrumentality thereof) to the extent and only to the extent that
such government exercises or claims to exercise de jure or de facto sovereignty
over the area which on such effective date constituted such foreign country,
and
(iii) Any person to the extent that such person is, or has been,
or to the extent that there is reasonable cause to believe that such person is,
or has been, since such effective date, acting or purporting to act directly or
indirectly for the benefit or on behalf of any of the foregoing.
E. The term "national" shall include,
(i) Any person who has been domiciled in, or a subject, citizen,
or resident of a foreign country at any time on or since the effective date of
this Order,
(ii) Any partnership, association, corporation, or other
organization, organized under the laws of, or which on or since the effective
date of this Order had or has had its principal place of business in such
foreign country, or which on or since such effective date was or has been
controlled by, or a substantial part of the stock, shares, bonds, debentures,
notes, drafts, or other securities or obligations of which, was or has been
owned or controlled by, directly or indirectly, such foreign country and/or one
Or more nationals thereof as herein defined,
(iii) Any person to the extent that such person is, or has been,
since such effective date, acting or purporting to act directly or indirectly
for the benefit or on behalf of any national of such foreign country, and
(iv) Any other person who there is reasonable cause to believe
is a "national" as herein defined. In any case in which by virtue of
the foregoing definition a person is a national of more than one foreign
country, such person shall be deemed to be a national of each such foreign
country.
In any case in which the combined interests of two or more
foreign countries designated in this Order and/or nationals thereof are
sufficient in the aggregate to constitute, within the meaning of the foregoing,
control or 25 per centum or more of the stock, shares, bonds, debentures,
notes, drafts, or other securities or obligations of a partnership,
association, corporation, or other organization, but such control or a
substantial part of such stock, shares, bonds, debentures, notes, drafts, or
other securities or obligations is not held by any one such foreign country
and/or national thereof, such partnership, association, corporation, or other
organization shall be deemed to be a national of each of such foreign
countries. The Secretary of the Treasury shall have full power to determine
that any person is or shall be deemed to be a "national" within the
meaning of this definition, and the foreign country of which such person is or
shall be deemed to be a national. Without limitation of the foregoing, the term
"national" shall also include any other person who is determined by
the Secretary of the Treasury to be, or to have been, since such effective
date, acting or purporting to act directly or indirectly for the benefit or
under the direction of a foreign country designated in this Order, or national
thereof, as herein defined.
F. The term "banking institution" as used in this
Order shall include any person engaged primarily or incidentally in the
business of banking, of granting or transferring credits, or of purchasing or
selling foreign exchange or procuring purchasers and sellers thereof, as
principal or agent, or any person holding credits for others as a direct or
incidental part of his business, or brokers; and, each principal, agent, home
office, branch, or correspondent of any person so engaged shall be regarded as
a separate "banking institution."
G. The term "this Order," as used herein, shall mean
Executive Order No. 8389 of April 10, 1940, as amended.
SECTION 6. Executive Order No. 8389 of April 10, 1940, as
amended, shall no longer be deemed to be an amendment to or a part of Executive
Order No. 6560 of January 15, 1934. Executive Order No. 6560 of January 15,
1934, and the Regulations of November 12, 1934, are hereby modified in so far
as they are inconsistent with the provisions of this Order, and except as so
modified, continue in full force and effect. Nothing herein shall be deemed to
revoke any license, ruling, or instruction now in effect and issued pursuant to
Executive Order No. 6560 of January 15, 1934, as amended, or pursuant to this Order;
provided, however, that all such licenses, rulings, or instructions shall be
subject to the provisions hereof. Any amendment, modification, or revocation by
or pursuant to the provisions of this Order of any orders, regulations,
rulings, instructions, or licenses shall not affect any act done, or any suit
or proceeding had or commenced in any civil or criminal case prior to such
amendment, modification, or revocation, and all penalties, forfeitures, and
liabilities under any such orders, regulations, rulings, instructions, or
licenses shall continue and may be enforced as if such amendment, modification,
or revocation had not been made.
SECTION 7. Without limitation as to any other powers or
authority of the Secretary of the Treasury or the Attorney General under any
other provision of this Order, the Secretary of the Treasury is authorized and
empowered to prescribe from time to time regulations, rulings, and instructions
to carry out the purposes of this Order and to provide therein or otherwise the
conditions under which licenses may be granted by or through such officers or
agencies as the Secretary of the Treasury may designate, and the decision of
the Secretary with respect to the granting, denial, or other disposition of an
application or license shall be final.
SECTION 8. Section 5 (b) of the Act of October 6, 1917, as
amended, provides in part:
". . . Whoever willfully violates any of the provisions of
this subdivision or of any license, order, rule or regulation issued
thereunder, shall, upon conviction, be fined not more than $10,000, or, if a
natural person, may be imprisoned for not more than ten years, or both; and any
officer, director, or agent of any corporation who knowingly participates in
such violation may be punished by a like fine, imprisonment, or both."
SECTION
9. This Order and any regulations, rulings, licenses, or instructions issued
hereunder may be amended, modified, or revoked at any time.
Occupied Croatia joined the Axis powers.