Estonia. along with Latvia and Lithuania. were the only ones to lose their sovereignty during World War II. While East European nations such as Poland and Hungary had Communist governments imposed on them by the Soviet Red Army. the three Baltic countries were incorporated forcibly outright into the U.S.S.R. after the Russian forces invaded them in 1940 as a result of the HitlerStalin pact. The Soviet annexation not only terminated the independence of Estonia. but also led to massive slaughter and deportations. especially in 1941 when 60.000 Estonians were either killed or sent to Soviet labor camps. and again in 1949 when 80.000 rural Estonians were deported to Siberia as a result of the transfer of privately owned farms to eovernment cooperatives. A total of 350.000 people were lost between 1939 and 1949a third of Estonias population. To escape the Russian horrors. 100.000 Estonian citizens managed to flee their country before the Red Army reentered Estonia in 1944. Of these refugees. many settled in the United States. Today. Estonian communities exist in every major metropolis area. with the largest in New York.
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deported deportations refugees