Aizsargi (literally: "Defenders", "Guards") was a volunteer

paramilitary organization A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carr ...

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

( lv, Aizsargu organizācija, "Guards Organization", AO) in

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

during the

interbellum In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days), the end of the First World War to the beginning of the Second World War. The interwar period was relativel ...

period (1918–1939). The Aizsargi was created on March 30, 1919, by the

Latvian Provisional Government The Latvian Provisional Government ( lv, Latvijas Pagaidu valdība) was formed on November 18, 1918 by the People's Council of Latvia as the interim government of the newly-proclaimed Republic of Latvia during the Latvian War of Independence. The ...

as a self-defense force, a kind of National Guard, during the

Latvian War of Independence The Latvian War of Independence ( lv, Latvijas Neatkarības karš), sometimes called Latvia's freedom battles () or the Latvian War of Liberation (), was a series of military conflicts in Latvia between 5 December 1918, after the newly proclaim ...

. In 1921 it was reorganized to follow the example of the Finnish ''

Suojeluskunta The White Guard or Civil Guard (, ; ; ) was a voluntary militia, part of the Whites (Finland), Finnish Whites movement, that emerged victorious over the socialist Red Guard (Finland) , Red Guards in the Finnish Civil War of 1918. They were g ...

'' (known as the "White Guard"). The Aizsargi published a newspaper, entitled ("Defender"/"Guard"), and the movement had subsidiary sections for women ("") and youth (""). The organization was among those which militarily supported the 1934 coup d'état of

Kārlis Ulmanis Kārlis Augusts Vilhelms Ulmanis (; 4 September 1877 – 20 September 1942) was a Latvian politician. He was one of the most prominent Latvian politicians of pre-World War II Latvia during the Interwar period of independence from November 1918 to ...

. By 1 January 1940 the organization had a membership of 60,684: 31,874 guards (aizsargi), 14,810 women members (aizsardzes), and 14,000 youth members (jaunsargu).Latvian Armed Forces in 1940
/ref> The organization consisted of 19 infantry regiments and the separate Railroad and Aviation Regiments. On 16 June 1940 the organization was disbanded as a result of the

Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 The Soviet occupation of Latvia in 1940 refers to the military occupation of the Republic of Latvia by the Soviet Union under the provisions of the 1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with Nazi Germany and its Secret Additional Protocol signed in A ...

. During the Soviet occupation, the former members of the AO were heavily persecuted. After the restoration of the independence of Latvia, the Aizsargi organization was not re-established by the government, as the

Latvian National Guard The Latvian National Guard or NG ( lv, Latvijas Republikas Zemessardze, ZS) is a part of the Latvian National Armed Forces. The National Guard is a basic land component, consisting of volunteers who perform traditional national guard duties such ...

was formed in 1991 as the main volunteer defence force of the country. Since then, separate small-scale NGOs have claimed to be the successors of the original AO, which sometimes espoused fringe political views (e.g. the group led by Jānis Rība and others).

References

Anti-communist organisations in Latvia Military history of Latvia Paramilitary organisations based in Latvia {{Latvia-hist-stub