Operation Vesna (; ) was a mass deportation of the armed opposition to the Soviet power in the occupied Lithuania carried out by the forces of the Ministry of State Security (MGB) on May 22–24, 1948. According to the February 21, 1948 decree № 417—160сс of the USSR Council of Ministers, deportations were to target the " forest brothers" (), members of their families, and "various helpers of anti-Soviet partisans, including kulaks." The official tally of the deported was 49,331 (other sources give the number 39,766 and 47,534). In addition to ethnic Lithuanians, Poles and Belarusians were deported as well. The exact numbers by ethnicity are unknown. Their official status was " special settlers" (severely restricted in movement, but otherwise officially not deprived of other citizen's rights). Grzegorz Motykabr>"Operacja "Wiosna": wysiedlenie 50 tys. Litwinów zajęło Sowietom 48 godzin"
'' Gazeta Wyborcza'', May 21, 2918 It was the largest Soviet deportation from Lithuania."Operation ‘Spring’, biggest Soviet deportation of 40,000 Lithuanians"
''LRT.lt'' ( Lithuanian National Radio and Television), May 23, 2019

Life in exile

The majority of deportations were 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 ...

(23,467), Irkutsk Oblast (11,495) and Buryat-Mongolian ASSR (4,038). About 25,000 worked in forest industry, and the rest in coal mines and

kolkhoz A kolkhoz ( rus, колхо́з, a=ru-kolkhoz.ogg, p=kɐlˈxos) was a form of collective farm in the Soviet Union. Kolkhozes existed along with state farms or sovkhoz. These were the two components of the socialized farm sector that began to eme ...

es. About 11,000 children were deported with their parents. About 6,000 to 10,000 of the deportees were brought to Igarka. Later more Lithuanians were moved from other places of Krasnoyarsk Krai to Igarka. In the first years, about 1,000 to 3,000 Lithuanians died in Igarka, mostly children and the elderly. There are three Lithuanian cemeteries in Igarka, one of them has 1,000 burials. Many "settlers" were arrested an put to

Gulag The Gulag was a system of Labor camp, forced labor camps in the Soviet Union. The word ''Gulag'' originally referred only to the division of the Chronology of Soviet secret police agencies, Soviet secret police that was in charge of runnin ...

labor camps for various violations: trying to escape, singing Lithuanian "nationalist" songs, etc. During 1956–1961 most Lithuanians returned from Igarka to Lithuania. about 270 Lithuanians stayed in Igarka. The Lithuanian Union of Igarka was established in 1992."Igarka"
'' Visuotinė lietuvių enciklopedija''

Life in exile

References

Further reading