Waidewut
03-25-2012, 11:56 AM
Operation Priboi ("Coastal Surf") (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Priboi) was the code name for the Soviet mass deportation from the Baltic states on March 25–28, 1949, called March deportation by Baltic historians. Some 90,000 Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, labeled as enemies of the people, were deported to inhospitable areas of the Soviet Union. It was one of the most complex deportation operations engineered by the Soviets in the Cold war era.
While portrayed as "dekulakization", the operation was intended to facilitate the forced collectivisation of rural households and to eliminate the support base for the insurgency by the Forest Brothers against Soviet occupation. Thus the Soviets specifically targeted anti-Soviet nationalists, supporters and kin of the Forest Brothers, veterans who served in the German military and relatives of those already held in the Soviet Gulag for alleged anti-Soviet activities. The deportation fulfilled its purposes: within a few weeks the majority of the rural households accepted collectivisation and organized themselves into kolkhozes (collective farms).
Due to the high death rate of deportees during the first few years of their Siberian exile, caused by the failure of Soviet authorities to provide suitable clothing or housing at the destination, whether through neglect or premeditation, some sources consider these deportations an act of genocide. Based on the Martens Clause and the principles of the Nuremberg Charter, the European Court of Human Rights has held that the March deportation constituted a crime against humanity.
March 25, 1949. Latvia's Darkest Day. Soviet authorities deported Thousands of Latvians to Siberia
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While portrayed as "dekulakization", the operation was intended to facilitate the forced collectivisation of rural households and to eliminate the support base for the insurgency by the Forest Brothers against Soviet occupation. Thus the Soviets specifically targeted anti-Soviet nationalists, supporters and kin of the Forest Brothers, veterans who served in the German military and relatives of those already held in the Soviet Gulag for alleged anti-Soviet activities. The deportation fulfilled its purposes: within a few weeks the majority of the rural households accepted collectivisation and organized themselves into kolkhozes (collective farms).
Due to the high death rate of deportees during the first few years of their Siberian exile, caused by the failure of Soviet authorities to provide suitable clothing or housing at the destination, whether through neglect or premeditation, some sources consider these deportations an act of genocide. Based on the Martens Clause and the principles of the Nuremberg Charter, the European Court of Human Rights has held that the March deportation constituted a crime against humanity.
March 25, 1949. Latvia's Darkest Day. Soviet authorities deported Thousands of Latvians to Siberia
MS4KaSwms6o