For the first time in over a 100 years. Lithuania was free of Russian rule. But in 1940. the Soviet Union coerced the Lithuanians into allowing the stationing of Soviet troops and aircraft in their country. and soon after that staged a mock election and incorporated Lithuania. as well as its sister republics of Latvia and Estonia. into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. the effects of Soviet rule were immediate: Thousands of Lithuanians were deported. and exiled to Siberia. thousands more fled. the Soviets resumed a Russification Program begun by the Czars which attempted to brutally crush all vestiges of Lithuanian culture and national feeling. With the exception of the handful of months in which the Soviets lost possession of Lithuania to Nazi Germany. the Soviets have maintained their campaign of deportation. oppression. and colonization. The United States has never recognized the incorporation of Lithuania by the Soviet Union. and rightly so. Every year on this date.
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deported deportation