Pharmacy in Latvia during the occupation regime of Nazi Germany (1941-1945).

The study covers the period of World War II after shift of occupational powers in Latvia when Soviet occupation was replaced by the occupation regime of Nazi Germany in the summer of 1941 and retained until first half of 1945. Due to this shift gradually Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia and Belarus were merged into a single administrative area and designated as "Ostland". Soviet officials left the pharmaceutical industry, which they had tried to apply to the communist ideology from June 1940 to June 1941 creating confusion and chaos. The renewed Pharmacy Board of Latvia had to deal with the restoration of supervision and a partial return from the communist to the capitalist regime. The research provides an insight to adaptation and development of the pharmaceutical industry in Latvia during Nazi Germany occupation regime, highlighting as essential indicators the administrative operation of Pharmacy Board of Latvia and its cooperation with German authorities, the availability of medicines, process of reprivatisation of pharmacies and changes in the number of pharmaceutical employees. The research issue raised is topical, since it is this period that reflects the industry's ability to adapt and perform work in fundamentally different and severe circumstances, which include both resource deficits and the transition from one regime to another. The collected evidence shows the efforts to stabilize the pharmaceutical industry in many terms. One example was the attemptions to ensure the rational dispensing of medical products to the pharmacies and hospitals, with the greatest degree of austerity, because the supply and consumption of medication was extremely complex issue throughout the war.

Pharmacy in Latvia during the first Soviet occupation (1940-1941).

The first period of the independent state of Latvia lasted from 1918 to 1940. During this period, pharmacy in Latvia had reached a high level of development. The study covers the period after the loss of independence, when the beginning of World War II marked a major crisis in the development of pharmacy in Latvia. The aim of the study was to compile and systematize information available in published and unpublished sources on the impact of the Soviet occupation (1940-1941) on pharmacy in Latvia, which has not been studied before. The main idea of the study was to find evidence that the Soviet occupation decreased the development capacity of Latvian pharmaceutical industry and narrowed its development opportunities. At the same time, the study reflects part of the general political, ideological and economic environment in Latvia over that period. The study is retrospective and descriptive. Materials from Latvian State Historical Archives and the National Archives of Latvia, and publications from the 20th century press of Latvia were used in the study. In one year, the Soviet system attempted to aggressively transform Latvian pharmaceutical industry to match the USSR standards. This meant the destruction of the capitalist system and the free market, as well as the introduction of centralised management. The radical changes were poorly organised and unsuitable candidates were appointed to positions of responsibility. There is evidence that pharmacy in Latvia experienced complete chaos during that period: private enterprises were nationalised, the number of pharmacy professionals decreased, and medical products from abroad were not supplied to the Latvian market. The Latvian population was rescued from total lack of medications by the last major medication purchase from Germany and the Netherlands shortly before the occupation. All the USSR actions in the pharmaceutical industry were coercive. With the occupation of Nazi Germany in the summer of 1941, the Soviet functionaries left the industry. However, in 1945, during the second occupation, the previous procedures were renewed and their results strengthened. It leads to the conclusion that the Soviet political system had an adverse effect on the development of pharmacy in Latvia.

Activities of Latvian pharmacists in the Latvian Red Cross organization in exile in Germany (1945-1976).

The Latvian Red Cross has performed its assistance mission outside the territory of Latvia for several decades. In the 40-s of the 20th century, the state of Latvia and its people went through one of the most tragic pages of their history. Due to the re-occupation made by the Soviet Union in 1944, many people of Latvia fled to exile and under exile conditions the Latvian societies, parishes and public organizations came into being, including the Latvian Red Cross. It started its activities in the second part of the 40-s of the 20th century in Germany and then representative offices emerged in the U.S.A., Sweden, France, Italy, Denmark, Belgium, Australia, New Zealand. Special attention should be paid to the fact that the activity under exile conditions was of a large scale, well-organized and long-lasting. Substantial work at that time has been done by a number of pharmacists. Among them, the pharmacist and doctor Hugo Skudins (1903-1976) should be emphasized, who organized the purveyance of medication and sending them to Latvians in the occupied Latvia and to the penal camps in Siberia.