The Baltic States marked the 85th anniversary on Sunday of the mass deportation of tens of thousands of people by the Soviet Union with nationwide commemorative events.
On June 14, 1941, and the days that followed, a first wave of deportations saw more than 10,000 Estonians, more than 15,000 Latvians and nearly 18,000 Lithuanians taken to Siberia from the states annexed by the Soviet Union during World War II.
A second, even larger wave followed in 1949. Many of those deported died as a result of the harsh living conditions.
"The mass deportation was more than just expulsion from their homeland. Four in 10 deportees died in exile. Those who returned to Latvian territory did not truly return home. Because their home was a free Latvia, not a Soviet prison," Latvian President Edgars Rinkēvičs said in Riga, recalling the deportations that affected nearly every family and left their mark across multiple generations.
"Their dreams were destroyed, their families torn apart, their ambitions and abilities rendered meaningless. For the Soviet rulers, all that mattered was that these people were in Siberia - and therefore unwanted. And that is what they remained until the early 1990s," Rinkēvičs said, stressing that lessons must be drawn from the historical events for the present day.
Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were occupied alternately by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany during World War II. After the war ended, they were forced to remain part of the Soviet Union and only regained their independence in 1991.
They have been members of the EU and NATO since 2004.