It is in sorrow that I commemorate the sacrifice of the citizens of Estonia. Latvia. and Lithuania. How many lives were lost in the wave of mass arrests. executions. and deportations which took place just before Nazi Germany attacked Russia in 1941 is still Unknown. Enough information has been gathered to put the number of victims in the thousands. What those figures represent in terms of individual human suffering is terrible to contemplate. The brutal treatment of those who survived deportation was apparent following deStalinizatior Some deportees were returned to their homelands. they were people broken in body and in spirit. Although the Soviet Union has made its Usual pious attempts to justify its past record. the program of repression continues. A special Soviet Repatriation Commission was established in East Berlin for a time in an attempt to lure back the Baltic refugees who sought asylum in the West. However. in fact. the deportation continues under the guise of selecting volunteers for the cultivation of lands and for mining in central Asia. It is a privilege to pay tribute to the people of the Baltic Republics and to hope that the future will be kinder to those brave people than the past has been. Volunteer Firemen Prevented From Selling Wheat
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deportations deportation deportees refugees