Lithuania celebrates the 80th anniversary of the first mass Stalinist deportation to Siberia. The event, organized by the Brotherhood of the Laptevs Exiled to the Sea, was attended by two former heads of state.
Reconstructed teplushka car: these were used to transport the exiles.
Two former heads of the Lithuanian state on Saturday, June 12, commemorated the victims of Stalin's deportations and their descendants. The first chairman of the parliament of independent Lithuania after the restoration of independence, Vytautas Landsbergis (1990-1992) and the country's president in 2009-2019, Dalia Grybauskaite, joined the Laptev Brotherhood, the main organization of the deported, at funeral ceremonies and an informal meeting at the Museum folk life in the town of Rumšiškiai near Kaunas.
Dalia Grybauskaite, Jonas Markauskas and Vytautas Landsbergis
June 14 marks 80 years since the beginning of the first mass deportation of residents of the Baltic countries to Siberia by the Soviet authorities in 1941. Most of those who remember the life of the deported today are either those who were expelled in childhood, or those who were born in exile.
“How many survived and returned to Lithuania in the end was difficult to calculate,” explained to DW the chairman of the brotherhood, Jonas Markauskas. “Even in the last years of the Soviet regime, many of the deported were afraid to talk about their past and refused to give their phone number.” The number of people killed, imprisoned and expelled by the Soviet authorities from 1940 to 1954, accepted in Lithuania, is 300 thousand people. It includes more than 20 thousand executed and sent to the camps, members of the anti-communist partisan movement that operated from 1944 to the second half of the 1950s. They are traditionally called “forest brothers”.
Works by sculptor Rimantas Zinkevičius
The central event of the meeting was the opening of two wooden sculptures created by sculptor Rimantas Zinkevičius. They complete a series of statues dedicated to the victims of deportations installed in the museum. Sculptures – wooden steles – depict scenes of deportations and hard life of exiles, which are separated from each other by symbolic carving in the form of prison chains and barbed wire.
One of the wooden sculptures in Rumšiškiai
The main regions where the Lithuanians were exiled were the Altai Territory and Yakutia, so most of the stories contain northern motives. The steles are decorated with carved crosses, traditional for Lithuania. A separate memorial stone was installed in honor of the deported Lithuanian Jews. “The family of my great-uncle was exiled to Siberia, – Rimantas Zinkevichius told DW. – I created these sculptures with one purpose – so that the memory of not only him, but all the exiles and their sufferings would not die”.
Dalia Grybauskaite lays flowers at the monument to the victims of deportations
Former President of Lithuania Dalia Grybauskaite laid flowers at the sculpture memorial. In an interview with DW, she said: “Dates associated with deportation are important for any people. These lessons of history are important to remember in order to no longer make mistakes. Belarus borders with us, where the authorities are now persecuting their citizens. The country has turned into a prison. In the 21st century. After World War II, it is impossible to imagine such an inhuman treatment of our people. Celebrating the anniversary of the deportation, we not only remember our tragedy, but also remind today's dictators that such treatment of people is unacceptable. “
The history of the Lithuanian deportees is studied and preserved by the State Center for Research on Genocide and Resistance of Lithuanian People in Vilnius.
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Author: Konstantin Eggert
