Operation Priboi
More than 90,000 Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians, labeled as "enemies of the state", were deported to forced settlements in inhospitable Siberian areas of the Soviet Union.
[1] Portrayed as a "dekulakization" campaign, the operation was intended to facilitate collectivisation and to eliminate the support base for the armed resistance of the Forest Brothers against the illegal Soviet occupation.
During the de-Stalinization and Khrushchev Thaw, deportees were gradually released and some of them managed to return,[3] though many of their descendants still live in Siberian towns and villages to this day.
[3] 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 living conditions at the destinations, whether through neglect or premeditation, some sources consider these deportations an act of genocide.
390-138 ss[nb 1] was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union, approving the deportation of kulaks, nationalists, bandits (i.e. Forest Brothers), their supporters and families from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
[17] The success of the operation depended on its suddenness to prevent mass panic, escape attempts, or retaliations by the Forest Brothers.
[19] Since there was not enough time to investigate people's attitudes or activities during the German occupation, there were many contradictory cases where Communist activists were deported but Nazi collaborators were not.
[24] Since the operatives were assembled from other parts of the Soviet Union, they were not familiar with local geography and that became a frequent reason for the failure to deport the designated family.
Since they needed to assemble a large force in a very short time, they used various excuses (such as discussion of spring sowing or cinema viewing) to call meetings of the Party or Komsomol.
Since these were locals, they were often familiar to the deportees and these activists, not the unknown soldiers, became the face and name of the deportations creating social tensions.
The families were allowed to pack some of their personal belongings (clothes, dishes, agricultural tools, domestic utensils) and food.
[35] Official instructions allotted up to 1,500 kilograms (3,300 lb) per family, but many did not pack sufficient supplies as they were given little time, were disoriented by the situation, or did not have their items with them.
[37] As the people had already experienced mass deportations, they knew the signs (such as arrival of fresh troops and vehicles) and attempted to hide.
[38] Therefore, the Soviets set up ambushes, tracked down and interrogated relatives, and carried out mass identity documents checks, among other measures.
[39] Not all fugitives were caught by such measures and later, in Lithuania, smaller actions and deportations were organized to locate those that escaped the first Operation Priboi in March.
The letters would usually inform about the deportation, send farewells to relatives and homeland, complain about conditions on the train, and express anti-Soviet feelings.
[46] According to an MVD report from 30 May, from Estonian deportees, 45 people died en route and 62 were removed from the trains due to medical conditions.
[2] Kruglov, the USSR Interior Minister, reported to Stalin on May 18 that 2,850 were "decrepit solitary old people", 1,785 children without parents to support them, and 146 disabled.
[50] In Lithuania, which had the stronger Forest Brother movement and already experienced a mass deportation in May 1948 (Operation Vesna), the impact was not as great and the collectivisation rate was 62% by the end of 1949.
[50] Therefore, the Soviets organized another large deportation from Lithuania in April 1949 specifically targeting those who had escaped the Operation Priboi (approx.
[24] By a decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, orders and medals for the successful completion of Operation Priboi were to be granted.
[24] On 26 August, Pravda published the names of 17 people awarded the Order of the Great Patriotic War, First Class for courage and heroism displayed during the operation.
[51] The deportees were exiled "for eternity" and no right of return to their home,[3] with the penalty of twenty years of hard labour for attempted escapes.
[48] Deportees were not permitted to leave their designated area and were required to report to the local MVD commandant once a month, failure of which was a punishable offense.
