The newly independent Baltic states introduced far-reaching land reforms based on their historical circumstances and experiences of the First World War and its aftermath. At that time, the region was characterised by competing military and political forces, as well as different land redistribution policies. These included German colonisation plans, the Bolsheviks' rejection of private property ownership, and the Baltic states' attempts to redistribute land to the landless by taking it from large estate owners — primarily German-Baltic nobles in Latvia and Estonia, and Poles in Lithuania. 

  

The impact of land reform was intensified by the fact that some members of society gained land while others lost it. Various documentary sources, such as autobiographies, diaries and letters, provide insights into the subjective experience of land redistribution. While substantial research exists on the impact on the former landowning elite who lost their land, little scholarship exists on the subjectivities and everyday lives of those who received land.