Baltic nations mark the 74th anniversary of the Soviet mass deportations
June 17, the three embassies of the Baltic States in the Czech Republic, together with the CEELI institute in Prague, organized the public event to mark the anniversary of the mass deportations that started on June 14, 1941, displacing large numbers of Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians to Siberia.
The event was opened by Ambassador of Lithuania Edvilas Raudonikis. In his address he stressed that this year it is the 75th anniversary marking the beginning of the Soviet occupation of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and that next year it will be the 75th anniversary of the mass deportations that began June 14, 1941. “All the people deported to Siberia were and still are a huge loss to all Baltic States – it will never be reversed – they were the brightest and the most active members of society.” said the Ambassador Raudonikis.
During the event, a documentary film by the director Justinas Lingis, “Children of the Ice” was screened. It portrayed the life and destiny of the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian children born in deportation. The film was the cooperative effort of a Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian team of creators, who wanted to highlight the experience of the deported children – the formation of their humanist values, worldview and their sense of national identity.
The Czech perspective on the Galag camps and the projects that are taking place to study totalitarian regimes were introduce by Štěpán Černoušek. The gulag.cz project, led by Černoušek, aims to reveal the extortion of Czechoslovakian citizens that happened in Soviet Union. Eha Tamm, an Estonian deportee, who experienced the events of 1941 together with her mother, was there to share her story.
The guests also had an opportunity to see the Latvian exhibition “Letters from Siberia, written on birch bark.” The exhibition that is now part of the UNESCO Memory of the World register, bears witness to the experience of the deportees.
