March 1949 deportations in the Baltic States
The March deportations in 1949 were mass deportations of residents of the Baltic States to remote areas of the Soviet Union . The arrests took place from March 25-28, 1949. About 90,000 people were affected by the measures called "Operation Priboi" ( surf , Oперация Прибой) by the Soviets.
Due to the high death rate of the victims, the action is classified as genocide in various publications . In a 2006 judgment, the European Court of Human Rights described the incident as a crime against humanity .
backgrounds
In the Stalinist phase of the Soviet Union, deportations and terrorism against entire ethnic groups were an integral part of politics. In 1940, in the Baltic states annexed in 1940, various actions to annihilate so-called " enemies of the people " had been carried out. After the end of the Second World War , the national partisans in the Baltic States, called forest brothers , could count on support from the population. To intimidate the population and enforce forced collectivization , one of the largest deportations of the Stalin era was planned after the consolidation of Soviet rule from 1948.
In the secret resolution № 390-138ss of January 29, 1949, the Council of Ministers of the USSR confirmed the plans to deport " kulaks , nationalists, bandits" and their supporters and families from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.
The supreme command was transferred to Lieutenant General of the Ministry for State Security (MGB) Pyotr Burmak. In addition to providing 66 freight trains and around 8,400 vehicles, the armed forces were reinforced by 8,850 additional soldiers. 76,212 people were involved in the execution itself. These were members of the extermination battalions (units for fighting partisans), internal armed forces of the MGB, activists of the communist party and professional Chekists . Groups of 9 to 10 men, each of which included 3 MGB agents (Troika), were supposed to take action against the families recorded on special lists.
execution
The rural population was particularly affected. Despite the secrecy, rumors had leaked, so many managed to hide in the critical days. According to the order, minors and those unable to work should be spared. In practice, however, all of the family members found were arrested and taken to the loading stations by motor vehicle, where they were crammed into previously prepared freight wagons . As a result, around 28.6% were children under the age of 16 among the victims. In contrast to the deportations of 1940/41, the families were mostly not separated. Often there was no time to pack up the permitted movable property; everything that was left behind was confiscated.
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The unloading stations were in the Irkutsk , Omsk , Tomsk , Krasnoyarsk , Novosibirsk and Amur regions . Most of the deportees were assigned to collective farms where they had to work. The ban was for ever, changing the place of residence was forbidden and they had to register regularly at the commandant's office. The tough living conditions led to high death rates and low fertility rates, especially in the first few years.
Aftermath
After Josef Stalin's death in 1953, the first exiles were able to return to their homeland. Under Nikita Khrushchev , a general rehabilitation of the condemned took place in 1957. Nevertheless, many of those who returned had to face restrictions and discrimination. The confiscated property was not returned. Since the restoration of independence after 1990, memorials to commemorate the deportations have been erected in many towns in the Baltic countries.
See also
literature
- Mart Laar : Deportations from Estonia in 1941 and 1949. Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tallinn 2006.
- Valters Nollendorfs (Ed.): Latvia under the rule of the Soviet Union and National Socialist Germany 1940–1991 . Latvijas Okupācijas Muzeja Biedrība, Riga 2010 ( Download as PDF; 13.1 MB ), pp. 48, 84–87 and 97.
- Aigi Rahi-Tamm, Andres Kahar: The Deportation operation “priboi” in 1949. In: Toomas Hiio et al .: Estonia since 1944: reports of the Estonian International Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity . Estonian International Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity, Tallinn 2009, ISBN 978-9949-183005 , pp. 361-389 ( download as PDF; 393 kB ).
- Rudolph J. Rummel: Lethal Politics: Soviet Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1917 , Transaction Publishers, New Jersey 1990, ISBN 1-56000-887-3 .
- Heinrihs Strods, Matthew Kott: The File on Operation “Priboi”: A Re-Assessment of the Mass Deportations of 1949. In: Journal of Baltic Studies 33 (1), 2002, pp. 1-36.
Web links
- Heinrichs Strods: The USSR MGB's Top Secret Operation "Priboi" ('Surf') for the Deportation of Population from the Baltic Countries
Individual evidence
- ↑ Lauri Mälksoo: Soviet Genocide? Communist Mass Deportations in the Baltic States and International Law , Leiden Journal of International Law (2001), Issue 14, Cambridge University Press, pp. 757-787
- ↑ Application of the ECJ on the case of Kolk and Kislyiy v. Estonia: Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to Crimes against Humanity - Application no.23052/04 by August Kolk, application no.24018/04 by Petr Kislyiy, accessed on July 21, 2018
- ↑ Strods, Heinrihs. Latvijas cilvēku izvedēji 1949. gada 25. martā ( Memento of the original from April 28, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from November 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ According afterword by Iveta skinks in the Latvian State Archives ( Latvijas Valsts arhīvs ) issued a total 1800seitigen dual band (with the deportation lists Aizvestie. 1949. 25. marts. Nordik, Riga 2007, ISBN 978-9984-9548-9-9 , II . Part) were held from 25. – 28. March 42,125 people deported from Latvia; a further 211 children were born during the abduction in freight or cattle wagons and on barges; 1422 people were deported to their families after serving various prison terms; another 513 people were abducted in the days and weeks after the actual mass deportation. Thus the total number is 44,271 victims (see Vol. 2, p. 782) from 13,248 families (see Vol. 2, p. 781)
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from November 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Riekstiņš, Jānis. 33 ešelonos izsūtītie ( Memento of the original from June 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
