But no sooner had the czarist yoke been thrown off with the fall of the Russian Empire in 1917. than did the leaders of the Soviet state to the east. unable to bear the sight of free and prosperous nations contrasting with the misery of communism. begin to scheme to annex the Baltic States. Aided by the Nazi threat in Europe. the political and moral paralysis of the Western democracies. and a tiny fifth column of Soviet sympathizers. the Red army overran the Baltic States in June 1940. and thus embarked upon a campaign to eradicate any form of resistance by the conquered peoples. The mass deportations were but one example of this campaign. which included murder. intimidation. elimination of the free press. and the subjugation of all political. religious. and education institutions to the will of the allpowerful Soviet police state. I would also point out that the policy of deportation was reinstituted in 1944 and again in 1948. as Stalin sought to tighten his grip on his conquests. All in all. hundreds of thousands of men. women. and children were forcibly uprooted from their homelands and driven into the vast archipelago of Soviet prisons and labor camps. Those few who were fortunate enough to survive and return were. of course. greeted by that particular form of misery that communism inflicts upon any society. especially on those that have previously known freedom and prosperity.
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deportations deportation