Operation Osen
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Operation Osen (, ) was a mass deportation carried out by the Ministry of State Security (MGB) in the territory of the
Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania, was '' de facto'' one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its terr ...
in the autumn of 1951. During the operation, more than 5,000 families (over 20,000 people) were transported to remote regions of the
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
. It was the last large deportation in the series of Soviet deportations from Lithuania. The operation was a
dekulakization Dekulakization (; ) was the Soviet campaign of Political repression in the Soviet Union#Collectivization, political repressions, including arrests, deportations, or executions of millions of supposed kulaks (prosperous peasants) and their familie ...
campaign specifically targeting peasants who resisted collectivisation and refused to join the kolkhozes (collective farms).


Preparations

After two large deportations in May 1948 ( code name ''Vesna'') and in March 1949 ( code name ''Priboi''), the progress of collectivisation in the
Lithuanian SSR The Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic (Lithuanian SSR; ; ), also known as Soviet Lithuania or simply Lithuania, was '' de facto'' one of the constituent republics of the Soviet Union between 1940–1941 and 1944–1990. After 1946, its terr ...
jumped from 3.9% in January 1949 to 60.5% in January 1950. However, the pace of collectivization in Lithuania was still not as rapid as in Latvia or Estonia, where 93% and 80% of the farms were collectivized by the end of 1949. Soviet authorities, striving to complete the forced collectivisation in Lithuania, initiated preparations for a mass deportation of peasants who refused to join newly established kolkhozes. On September 5, 1951, the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union issued a decree number 3309-1568cc "On the deportation of kulaks and their families from the Lithuanian territory". The decree was signed by
Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Dzhugashvili; 5 March 1953) was a Soviet politician and revolutionary who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until Death and state funeral of Joseph Stalin, his death in 1953. He held power as General Secret ...
,
Premier of the Soviet Union The Premier of the Soviet Union () was the head of government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). From 1923 to 1946, the name of the office was Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars, and from 1946 to 1991 its name was ...
, and , Administrator of Affairs of the Council of Ministers, and ordered "to eternally transfer 4000 anti-kolkhoz kulaks and their families to
Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krai) of Russia located in Siberia. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Krasnoyarsk, the second-largest city in Siberia after ...
and
Tomsk Oblast Tomsk Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It lies in the southeastern West Siberian Plain, in the southwest of the Siberian Federal District. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited loca ...
". The briefing of the Ministry of State Security (MGB) of the Lithuanian SSR was held on September 6. Lists of the deportees were to be prepared by local administration and committees of the Communist Party of Lithuania. An aggregate list was prepared by MGB listed 4,215 families (14,950 people). A number of those had already joined kolkhozes and were labelled "kulak sympathizers". MGB further compiled primary and auxiliary lists of 4,007 and 998 families. The lists were approved by the Council of Ministers of the Lithuanian SSR. The lists included not only Lithuanians, but also members of the
Polish minority in Lithuania The Poles in Lithuania (, ), also called Lithuanian Poles, estimated at 183,000 people in the 2021 Lithuanian census or 6.5% of Lithuania's total population, are the country's largest minority group, ethnic minority. During the Polish–Lithuani ...
. Though data is not complete, it is estimated that some 1,100 to 1,200 Poles were deported during the operation.


Deportations

The deportation in the autumn of 1951 was carried in several separate events: The operation was led by Piotr Kapralov, Minister of State Security of the Lithuanian SSR, and , head of the Third Chief Directorate of MGB. Every few hours they sent updates on the progress of the operation to Semyon Ignatyev, head of MGB. The operation required great manpower and employed 3,818 MGB officers, 11,270 MGB internal troops, soldiers of destruction battalions, and militias as well as some 8,000 activists of the Communist Party. These men were organised into more than 3,000 operational units, consisting of one MGB operative, two men from destruction battalions, two MGB soldiers and activists. A single unit was responsible for the deportation of one to three families: waking up the family (the deportations were carried at night), ensuring that no one escaped, listing the deportees and checking their data, supervising packing of family's personal belongings, and bringing them to the designated railway station. Party activists stayed in the households to register left property, which was to come under the possession of the kolkhoz. The deportees were loaded onto cattle cars with no amenities and spent about a month on their journey to
Tomsk Oblast Tomsk Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). It lies in the southeastern West Siberian Plain, in the southwest of the Siberian Federal District. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited loca ...
and
Krasnoyarsk Krai Krasnoyarsk Krai (, ) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject (a krai) of Russia located in Siberia. Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Krasnoyarsk, the second-largest city in Siberia after ...
.


References

{{Occupation of the Baltic states 1951 in Lithuania 1951 in the Soviet Union October 1951 in Europe Deportation Forced migration in the Soviet Union Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic Anti-Lithuanian sentiment