Fascist soft power propaganda in the Baltic states during the interwar period: the case of Latvia

This article, the result of intense archive work, retraces the influence of Italian cultural propaganda in Latvia starting from the de jure recognition in 1921 until the first Soviet occupation in 1940. The cultural relations between Italy and Latvia, could be depicted in two different waves: the first one, from 1921 until 1932, where Italy tries to establish the foundations of its cultural influence, not without a few difficulties, and the second one, from 1933 until 1940, when Fascist propaganda increased in Latvia; undoubtedly, this growth of cultural relations corresponded to Ulmanis’s takeover. Moreover, a more detailed propaganda strategy abroad was outlined, starting from 1932, with the Volta Conference and with the establishment of CAUR (Comitati d’Azione per l’Universalità di Roma/Action Committees for the Universality of Rome) and of the Ministry of Popular Culture in 1937.