Approximately 200.000 Latvians escaped at that time and about 100.000 of them settled in the United States. It is their efforts that have brought public awareness to the Latvian situation. The citizens of Latvia lost not only their independence but also many of their rights. The Soviets embarked upon a campaign of cultural genocide. This began with a series of mass deportations in an attempt to destroy national unity. Preference for jobs and housing is given to nonethnics as Latvians have become secondclass citizens in their own country. By 1979. only 55 percent of the Latvian population was ethnically Latvian.
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deportations