Latvia. and Estonia are not the Balts. but the Soviet colonists. The genocidal operations and practices being carried out by the Soviets continue with no end in sight. Bearing in mind that all of the murdered and deported people have been the most educated. courageous. industrious. comprising the strongest elements of the countries. the losses in populations become more terrible and almost fatal to the survival of the Lithuanian. Latvian. and Estonian nations. But let us now return to the details of the Soviet occupation of Lithuania. At the same time that the forces of occupation were entrenching themselves and the mock elections were being carried out in 1940. leaders and active members of all nonCommunist political parties and thousands of public officials were arrested. This was but a prelude to one of the most despicable acts of modern times. namely. the mass deportations that ensued. Interrupted only by a temporary Nazi occupation of Lithuania from 1941 to 1944. when the Soviets reoccupied Lithuania. these deportations went on for about a decade. People from every walk of life. even old and dying people. were put on cattle freight cars for the 3week journey to Siberia or remote areas near the Arctic Ocean. The number of all the deportees amounted to about 20 percent of the population. or 600.000 Lithuanians. In 2 nights alone of June 1941. 34.260 Lithuanians were deported to the horribly miserable conditions of the slavelabor camps. The consequent death toll of these deportees was very high. With the increase of physical terrorization by the Soviets. a strong Lithuanian underground resistance organization was formed and fought the Soviets. It was a heroic and widespread resistance movement. but it was a costly one: after the war about 30.000 died in battles with Russian Communists.
Keywords matched
deported deportations deportees