June deportation of 1941

The deportation was carried out in accordance with the Decree of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR of May 16, 1941 “On measures to clean the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian SSR from the anti-Soviet, criminal and socially dangerous element” ^[7] . It is noteworthy that initially the deportation was planned only from Lithuania, the Latvian and Estonian SSR were entered into the order by hand. Thus, the decision to deport from these republics was made under the influence of the impending war ^[2] .

Deportation was a way to combat the " fifth column " in the border areas. British Ambassador to the USSR Cripps , “they (the Soviet leadership) did not want their border areas to be populated by a fifth column and people suspicious of hostility to the Soviet regime” ^[6] .

Categories of persons to be expelled ^[7]

With permission to arrest with confiscation of property and send to camps for 5-8 years, and after serving the sentence to send to a settlement in remote areas:

1. active members of counter-revolutionary parties and anti-Soviet nationalist organizations;
2. former gendarmes , security guards, senior officers of the police, prisons, as well as ordinary policemen and jailers with compromising documents;
3. former large landowners, large merchants, manufacturers and former major officials of the bourgeois state apparatuses of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia;
4. former officers of the Polish, Lithuanian, Latvian, Estonian and white armies with incriminating materials;
5. criminal elements that continue to engage in criminal activity.

With permission to arrest with confiscation of property and send to exile for 20 years in remote areas:

• family members of persons accounted for in paragraphs 1-4;
• family members of participants in counter-revolutionary nationalist organizations whose heads are sentenced to the highest degree of social protection or are hiding and switched to an illegal position;
• persons who arrived from Germany on a repatriation basis, as well as Germans registered for departure and refused to leave for Germany, for whom there are materials about their anti-Soviet activities or their relationship with foreign intelligence.

A separate point was allowed to send administratively to the northern regions of Kazakhstan for a period of five years, prostitutes who had previously been registered with the police of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and who continued to engage in their trade.

The facts contradict the claims of British historians John Hayden and Patrick Salmon that the categories of “ enemies of the people ” to be expelled included almost all socially active citizens ^[8] , and Martha Laar, who in the book “Red Terror” refers to a certain NKVD directive, in which the categories of Estonian citizens subject to expulsion are listed, covering a total of 23% of the population ^[9] . In fact, the number of persons subject to deportation almost completely coincides with the number of registered anti-Soviet and criminal elements in the certificate of the People's Commissariat of State Security of the USSR dated June 5, 1941 - 14471 people, which is 1.3% of the population of Estonia, and not 23%.

According to the instructions, trains were formed for transporting people, equipped in summer for human transportation ^[10] . Each of the trains was accompanied by a doctor, a paramedic and two nurses who were traveling in a special ambulance car. In case of serious illnesses, those transported were supposed to be removed from the train and transferred to local hospitals for treatment.

For each echelon, it was originally planned to attach two freight cars for bulky items, however, with an increase in the rate of removal of things, their number was increased to 7-8 cars per echelon.

The deportees were allowed to take with them no more than 100 kilograms of belongings per family member, including clothes, shoes, kitchen and bedding, small household and household tools, valuables and money without limit of the amount ^{[11] [12] [13]} . For the sale of other property left, the deportees could appoint a trustee who had to sell things within 10 days and then transfer the proceeds to the deportees.

Cooking

Estonian historians claim that preparations for mass deportations in Estonia began in 1940 on the basis that in the autumn of 1940, Vladimir Bochkarev, representative of the Central Committee of the CPSU (b) and the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR in Estonia, demanded the eviction of “anti-Soviet elements” from the republic. In fact, these elements began to be taken into account, which corresponds to the practice of the state security organs of any country. Such records were kept in the Republic of Estonia until 1940, where the Political Police had a department to combat dissent ^[2] .

In the certificate of the People's Commissariat of State Security of the USSR of June 5, 1941 on the number of anti-Soviet and criminal elements and members of their families, 14,471 people were listed. However, in accordance with the decision of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the Council of People's Commissars of May 16, 1941, not all the people indicated on this list were subject to deportation. Every day from June 6 to 12, the lists of deportees were updated as of 24:00 the previous day ^[2] .

According to the categories to be arrested and deported on June 6, 1941 ^[14], the largest were landowners, manufacturers and former high-ranking officials (1437), as well as members of counter-revolutionary and anti-Soviet organizations (1174). ^[15] There were 468 former gendarmes and police officers on whom there was incriminating evidence, 289 former officers and White Guards, 6 prostitutes were registered, criminals 10. There were 5391 registered family members of arrested and deported anti-Soviet elements.

Until June 12, the lists were amended and slightly supplemented. On the morning of June 12, the final list was compiled for 11,033 people, but by the time the action began, it had decreased by 1,500 people.

The NKVD operational headquarters headed by Boris Kumm coordinated the deportation to Estonia ^[16] . The headquarters also included:

• Andrei Murro, People's Commissar for Internal Affairs of the ESSR;
• Deputy People's Commissar of Security of the ESSR Alexey Shkurin and Veniamin Gulst;
• Head of the 2nd Division of the People’s Commissariat of Security of the ESSR, Rudolf Yames.

The deportation or the so-called “forced evacuation” was carried out on the night of June 13-14 (Friday-Saturday). On June 13, in the afternoon, an order was given to all institutions to provide all their vehicles for police use. In the evening, people dedicated to the cause began to gather at pre-determined places. Of those present, there were “brigades” of 4 people, the main of which were, as a rule, people from the security agencies.

Start of deportation

The deportation groups began their work on the night of June 14, simultaneously throughout Estonia. They awakened the sleeping, they immediately read out the decision, on the basis of which they were declared arrested or subject to exile. There were no court decisions. Apartments and houses were searched.

A couple of hours after the start of the deportation, the first cars arrived at the cars waiting on the sidings of the railway stations. In total, 490 cars were prepared for the operation. The carriages with the designation “A” housed the heads of families and individual family members at the direction of the NKVD-NKGB with a note in the personal file. The rest of the families were placed in the cars with the designation “B” ^[10] . Sick family members were left at home until recovery.

People on the lists of those arrested or deported continued to be searched until the morning of June 16 ^[13] . In rare cases, the deportees resisted, as a result of which 7 were killed and 4 wounded. Losses on the part of state security workers amounted to 4 people killed and 4 people wounded ^[17] .

Transportation Terms

The description of the conditions of deportation varies in different sources. Baltic historians claim that people rode crowded, 40-50 people in a carriage. If this were so, then in 490 wagons not Estonia would be exported, not 9156, but 25 thousand people. Russian historian Alexander Dyukov claims that according to the documents of the People’s Commissariat of State Security on the number of allocated passenger and freight cars and route sheets for following them, the instructions were followed, requiring 30 people to be placed in each car.

In reality, trains number 290 and 292 left for Starobelsky camp , with a total number of passengers 994 and 1028, the number of wagons 80, of which 15 were freight. Thus, for each passenger car there are approximately 30 people.

Train No. 291 of 57 wagons (including 7 freight) that delivered 1,666 people, that is, 33 people in the wagon, left for the Yukhnovsky camp ( Babynino station).

For the transportation of exiles to the Novosibirsk region , 233 wagons (including 30 freight) were allocated in 4 echelons (No. 286–289), which delivered 3,593 people. There are 18 passengers per wagon.

Trains No. 293 and 294 out of 120 wagons, including 15 freight ones, were sent to the Kirov region. They transported 2303 people, that is, 22 in each carriage.

On their way by rail, deported B groups received free hot meals once a day from station buffets and canteens and 800 grams of bread per person. ^{[10] [15] The} arrested groups were fed according to prison standards. Therefore, publications that the deportees suffered from hunger and thirst ^{[11] [13] on the} way do not correspond to reality. Moreover: in diaries and letters they mention that they “threw sour Russian bread out of the windows” because they did not like it ^[2] .

The trains reached the destination point almost without loss: train number 286 left Tallinn on June 17 and arrived in Novosibirsk on June 23, three people were removed (which could have happened due to illness or crime). Train number 287 left on June 20 and, due to the outbreak of war, was on the road for 2.5 weeks, but three people were also removed from it. The trains with the arrested arrived at the scene without loss, only one officer was killed while trying to escape.

Number of deportees

On June 17, 1941, the People's Commissar of State Security of the USSR Vsevolod Merkulov submitted to Stalin, Beria and Molotov a final report under number 2288 / M , in which it was said that 9156 people were deported from Estonia, of which 3173 were arrested and 5978 were sent to settlement. It was also said that among the deportees were 224 former officers of the Estonian army, on which there was incriminating material. These statistics refute the claims of modern researchers from Estonia that 10 016 - 10 250 people were deported ^[18] .

On September 4, 1942, during the German occupation, the Center for the Search and Return of the Abducted was established ( Estonian Äraviidute Otsimise ja Tagasitoomise Keskus , on it Zentralstelle zur Erfassung der Verschleppten - “ ZEV ”). By 1943, ZEV had collected information on 9632 people through questionnaires. Among the deportees were about 400 Estonian Jews. Their data were not on the ZEV lists.

The fate of the deportees

To assess the death rate of prisoners in the camps, it must be borne in mind that by the end of 1941 there were more than 7,000 Estonians in the Gulag system, 3200 of whom were sent to the camps as a result of the June deportation. By the end of the following year, 1942, this number had decreased by 1,600 people - to about 5,000 people. ^[15] The average mortality rate in the Gulag system in 1942 was 24.9%, so out of 7,000 Estonians 1750 people died, of which approximately 900 were deported. In general, from 1941 to 1953, out of 3,200 prisoners, approximately 1,900 people died after deportation.

The exiled settlers from the peasants quickly adapted to new places, began to acquire cows and became interested in the opportunity to get a loan for building a house. By the beginning of 1942, there were about 30% of such people in the Novosibirsk Region; they provided themselves with everything necessary ^[2] . A part of the townspeople could live well at the expense of exported valuables, but about 20% of families found themselves in distress and used the help of the authorities in getting clothes and work. Settlers were provided with medical care on an equal basis with local residents.

According to the Estonian historian P. Varu, quoted by A. Dyukov , the fate of the deportees was as follows: 3873 people died, 611 went missing, 110 with an unclear fate, 75 fled, 4631 released. ^[19] Thus , the mortality rate for 1941-1956 among prisoners was less than 60%, among exiles - about 30% ^[15] . As Dyukov points out, “it is also necessary to take into account that those who died for completely natural reasons, for example, from old age, are also among the dead: fifteen years is a considerable period” ^[15] .

Memory

In modern Estonia , Latvia and Lithuania , June 14 is a day of national mourning ^{[20] [21] [22]} .

On June 14, 1941, the USSR internal affairs bodies, with the support of the Red Army and communist activists, deported 15,424 people or 0.79% of the population from Latvia. 10 161 people were resettled, and 5263 were arrested. Since people were deported by families ^[23] , 46.5% of the deportees were women, 15% were children under 10 years old . The total number of deceased victims of deportation amounted to 4884 people (34% of the total), of which 341 people were already shot at places of exile. ^[24]

According to estimates made by Russian historian A. Dyukov, 81.27% of the deportees were Latvians, 11.70% Jews, 5.29% Russians ^[23] . In 1935, Latvians made up 76.97% of the population (1 467 035), Russians 8.83% (168 300), therefore it is not right to talk about the genocide of any one people here.

According to Soviet sources during the perestroika period, 9926 people (5520 families) were deported, 4550 were arrested ^[25]

The release of the deportees began even before 1953: during this period, about 2,000 people returned to normal life ^[23] .

Reflection in Culture

Soviet deportations left a strong imprint on the culture of Latvia. The most famous novels related to the topic of deportations:

• The Exhumation by Anita Liepa
• “Slap” by Vera Volkēviča
• “ Untimely Born” by Osvalds Mauriņš
• “... And then the destroyer came”, author Skaidrīte Gailīte
• "Fraud Strippers" by Vladimirs Kaijaks
• Five Fingers by Māra Zālīte

The cinema also played an important role - several films were shot about Soviet deportations, including:

• The Way of the Cross
• Excursionist
• The Chronicles of Melania

In the Latvian theaters, several plays have been performed on the topic of Soviet deportations. The most famous plays: “Touch the Polar Bear!” Staged at “TT Theater” (2005, directed by Lauris Gundars) and production of the Latvian National Theater “On the Velupe Bank” (2010, directed by Valters Silis).

Deportations from Belarus were carried out in 4 stages:

• On February 23, 1940, 33,749 besiegers and 17561 forest guards were sent to remote areas of the USSR.
• On April 13, 1940, 26,777 people were expelled from the western regions of the BSSR, mainly policemen, teachers, priests, members of non-communist parties.
• On June 29, 1940, the next wave of deportations took place in the amount of 22879 people who were sent to Siberia. This purge included refugees from the central regions of Poland, mainly Jews.
• Finally, in June 1941, 22,353 people were forcibly removed from the republics.

Evictions were carried out regardless of national origin. However, arrests and deportations were carried out on the basis of collective responsibility; personal views and actions of a person were not taken into account ^[26] .

In the spring - at the beginning of the summer of 1941 , the deportation of "undesirable elements" began from the territories that became part of the USSR in 1939 - 1941 . In Moldova (with the Chernivtsi and Izmail regions of the Ukrainian SSR), deportations began on the night of June 12–13 . The organizer and leader of the deportation was Sergo Goglidze , authorized by the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks and the USSR Council of People's Commissars for Moldavia. “Heads of families” (who were taken to prisoner of war camps) and family members ( exiled settlers ) were deported . Exiled settlers from this region were deported to the Kazakh SSR , Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic , Krasnoyarsk Territory , Omsk and Novosibirsk Regions . The total estimate of the number of exiled settlers from Moldova in all resettlement regions is 25,711 people in 29 echelons. The total number of “seized” of both categories is given in the memorandum of the Deputy People's Commissar of the USSR State Security Kobulov to Stalin, Molotov and Beria dated June 14, 1941 and amounts to 29,839 people. ^[27] On June 18-20, about 5 thousand inhabitants of Moldova were deported. Men were transported in four echelons, three of which were sent to the Kozelshchina (Poltava region) and one to the Sumy region ^[28] .

Soviet sources claim that the reason for the deportation in the Baltic republics was the concern of the Soviet leadership of espionage and subversive activities in these republics, in anticipation of a possible war.

Soviet historian Jan Dzintars and other sources confirm that the validity of these suspicions is supported by a report sent to Berlin in May 1941 by the East Prussian branch of Abwehr II, which stated that “Uprising in the Baltic countries has been prepared and can be reliably rely on ” ^[29] .

One of the possible reasons could be, according to the Russian historian Mikhail Meltiukhov ^[30] possible preparation of the USSR for an attack on Germany.

• Large March deportation - deportation of part of the civilian population of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to Siberia in March 1949
• Operation North - Deportation of Jehovah's Witnesses from the Western Regions of the RSFSR to Siberia April 1-2, 1951

• Küüditamine Eestist Venemaale. Deportation from Estonia to Russia (6. osa). Juuniküüditamine 1941 ja küüditamised 1940-1953. Koostanud Leo Õispuu. Toimetanud Ülo Ojatalu. 896 lk, eesti ja inglise keeles. Tallinn: Memento 2001. ISBN 9985-9096-5-8 .
• Küüditatud 1941: üldnimestik Tartu Instituudi arhiivis ja arhiivraamatukogus (Torontos) ning Eesti Represseeritute Registri Büroos (Tallinn) leiduva andmestiku põhjal seisuga 24. veebruar 1993. Koostanud Vello Salo . Toronto: Maarjamaa, 1993.
• Rudolf Sirge. "Maa ja rahvas." Romaan. (Suurtalu peremehe küüditamise episood.) Tallinn, Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus 1956. Järgnevad trükid vt .: [1] (link not available)
• Valge raamat eesti rahva kaotustest okupatsioonide läbi 1940-1991. (Teos on valminud Okupatsioonide Repressiivpoliitika Uurimise Riikliku Komisjoni töö tulemusena ning Riigikogu, Eesti Vabariigi valitsuse ja Justiitsministeeriumi toetusel. Komisjoni esimees , Veliko Jaik , Ia Kai Kaik , Klaikov , Jaik , Kaiku Ratas , Anto Raukas , Enn Sarv , Peep Varju . Peatoimetaja Vello Salo. Toimetajad Ülo Ennuste, Erast Parmasto, Peep Varju (Okupatsioonide Repressiivpoliitika Uurimise Riikliku Komisjoni tegevesimees).
• Alexander Dyukov : “The myth of genocide: Repressions of the Soviet authorities in Estonia (1940-1953)”, Moscow 2007, ISBN 978-5-903588-05-3 ( Aleksandr Djukovi monograafia “Müüt genotsiidist: nõukogude võimude repressioonid Eestis 1940-1953”) [3]
• Aleksandr Djukov: Deporteerimised Eestis. Kuidas see toimus tegelikult. Nõukogude võimude repressioonidest Eestis 1940-1953, Tallinn: Tarbeinfo 2009, ISBN 978-9985-9721-9-9
• Toivo Miljan. Historical Dictionary of Estonia. - Scarecrow Press, 2004 .-- 624 p. - ISBN 9780810865716 .
• Olev Ott , "Deportationerna i Estland 1941" , Stockholm [4]
• Elena Zamura. Are we able to keep memory? 70th anniversary of the first wave of deportations in Moldova.

• Estonian National Museum: Deportation. "JUNE 14, the 41st. There is no person - no problem ” (inaccessible link from 05/25/2013 [2274 days] - history , copy )
• 14. juuni 1941 massioperatsiooni ohvrite koondnimekiri (in Estonian)
• "Direktiiv sotsiaalselt võõra elemendi väljasaatmise kohta Balti liiduvabariikidest" [5]
• Statistiline ülevaade (Estonian)
• Alexander Dyukov: June 1941 deportation. Version of Estonian historians
• Aleksandr Djukov: Koopiad Eesti NKVD ettekanded NSVL NKVD-e (küüditatute arvudega) scepsis.ru
• Juuniküüditamine määras saatuse - Järva Teataja, 12. juuni 2008 (Estonian)
• Lauri Mälksoo , 14. juuni 1941.a küüditamine ja rahvusvaheline õigus: mõtteid vastutusest (in Estonian)

Memories of the Deported

• Metsa vari ei unune - Maaleht, 14. juuni 2001 (Estonian)
• Tapivagunist välja heidetud jumalagajätt jõudis pojani 12 aastat hiljem (unavailable link) - Õhtuleht, 14. juuni 2001 (Estonian)
• Harry Kõlar küüditati Kirovisse koos saksofoni ja fotoaparaadiga (link not available) - Õhtuleht, 15. juuni 2001 (Estonian)
• Küüditatu: “Stalini surm oli tõeline pidupäev!” (Link unavailable) - Õhtuleht, 14. juuni 2002 (Estonian)
• Kirovi oblasti Nagorski rajooni neljas spetsposjolok - Oma Saar, 24. august 2007 (Estonian)
• Kiri Siberist - Eesti Päevaleht, 22. veebruar 2008 (Estonian)

Read more about the deportation of the President of the first Republic of Estonia

• Vabariigi President eesti rahva leinapäeval Sakala kultuurikeskuses 14. juunil 1993 (Estonian)
• Vabariigi Presidendi, Riigikogu esimehe ja peaministri pöördumine Leinapäeval 14. juunil 1998 (Estonian) (link not available)
• Vabariigi Presidendi, Riigikogu esimehe ja peaministri ühisavaldus Leinapäeval 14. juunil 1999 (Estonian) (link not available)
• Vabariigi Presidendi ajaloomälestuste võistlus (Estonian) (link not available)
• Vabariigi President Valgu Kroogi talus 10. juunil 2001 (Estonian)