Estonia became the first nation in the world to grant its minorities autonomy through governmentsubsidized ethnic schools. 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 two generations. 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 popula-
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emigration deportation