However. economic progress and social tolerance were ended in the summer of 1939 by the pact between Hitler and Stalin. which allowed the Baltic States to come under the Soviet sphere of influence. The Soviets consequently annexed Estonia. Lithuania. and Latvia. incorporating them into the U.S.S.R. in 1940. For the last 40 years the country has been under Soviet domination. Through deportation. execution. and emigration the small nation has suffered a tragic loss of its people: In the 1940s onethird of the population was lost. Russification. the imposition of Russian language. culture. and the influx of Russian peoples. has also challenged the countrys endurance. But Estonians at home and abroad have struggled bravely and successfully to retain their culture and traditions.
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emigration deportation