Didžiosios tremtys: Altajus ir Jakutija. 1941 m.

• Navakauskas, Benas, sudarymas, parengė [com]
• Mickevič, Elvyra, parengė [com]
• Jasinskienė, Violeta, parengė [com]
• Sinkevičiūtė, Jolanta, parengė [com]

LTTai – antroji Lietuvos gyventojų genocido ir rezistencijos tyrimo centro leidžiamos serijos „Didžiosios tremtys“ knyga. Ji skirta paminėti 1941 m. birželio 14-18 d. įvykdytam pirmajam lietuvių trėmimui. Trėmimo metu iš Lietuvos į Altajaus krašto stepes ir kalnus išvežta beveik 7300 žmonių. 1942 m. vasarą daugiau nei 2800 Lietuvos tremtinių iš Altajaus perkelti į Jakutiją. Daugelis jų atsidūrė Lenos ir Janos upių deltose, Laptevų jūros pakrantėse – tolimiausiose ir atšiauriausiose tremties vietose. Knygoje aprašyta daugiau kaip 200 nustatytų Lietuvos gyventojų tremties ir kalinimo vietų, tremtinių kapinių Altajaus krašte ir Jakutijoje. Gausiai naudojami pirmą kartą publikuoti tremtinių ir politinių kalinių liudijimai, autentiškos tremtinių ir ekspedicijų į buvusias tremties vietas dalyvių nuotraukos, pateikiami tremtyje, lageriuose ir kalėjimuose Altajaus krašte bei Jakutijoje žuvusių Lietuvos gyventojų sąrašai. Knygoje publikuojamą medžiagą kaupė Atminimo programų skyriaus programos „Tremties ir kalinimo vietos“ darbuotojai. [Anotacija knygoje]

ENFrom 1920s to 1950s, massive deportations were one of most widely used methods of political repressions in the Soviet Union. Their distinctive feature was that they were aimed not at a particular person, but at groups ofpeople, defined by certain ethnic or social characteristics. First deportations took place in early 1920s, during the Russian civil war, when more than 9 000 Don Cossacks were deported to settlements in Arkhangelsk Oblast and other remote regions. In 1928, Soviet Union started implementing collectivization of its agricultural sector. The destruction of “kulaks” as a social class followed soon after. By the end of 1931, nearly 2 million people, mostly peasants, were deported to remote and underpopulated regions of Siberia. By late 1930s, most of deportations were aimed at distinct ethnic groups living in the USSR (Ingria Finns, Meskhetian Turks, Koreans, Iranians, etc.). Deportations from soviet occupied Lithuania were launched in June 1941, on the eve of war between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. After the war ended, mass deportations continued until 1953. Largest deportations were carried out on May 22-23, 1948 (code name - Spring) and March 25-28, 1949 (code name - Coastal Surf). It is estimated that form 1941 until 1953 the Soviets deported over 131 600 Lithuanians for forced labor to remote areas of Siberia and Central Asia. Authorities under Stalin’s rule took advantage of deportations to break the armed anti-Soviet resistance in Lithuania, carry out forced collectivization and provide the extensive territories of Siberia with cheap labour force. Massive deportations entered the historical consciousness of the Lithuanian population as one of the most brutal crimes of the Soviet regime. Due to deportations, families were destroyed and community ties disrupted. More than 28 000 deportees died of starvation, exhausted by infectious diseases and difficult working conditions.This publication is intended to commemorate the first mass deportation form Lithuania, carried out on June 14-18, 1941. More than 16 000 people were deported during the operation. 12 331 of them, mostly women and children, were defined as deportees and sent to NKVD controlled special settlements in Altai Krai, Komi Republic, Tomsk Oblast and other regions. 3915 individuals (3758 men and 157 women) were separated from their families and imprisoned in GULAG camps. Simultaneously deportations took place in other soviet occupied territories: Latvia, Estonia, the western parts of Belarus and Ukraine, Bessarabia and northern Bukovina. The June deportation was different from the massive post-war deportations. Most of the victims of deportations carried out in 1948, 1949 and 1951 were peasants and people living in the rural regions of Lithuania. The deportation of June 1941 affected all social strata of the occupied state. Its primary goal was the destruction of the elite of Lithuanian society - families of politicians, intelligentsia, military officers and teachers. Soviet government aimed not only to physically destroy these people, who due to their status were considered dangerous to the regime, but also to erase their entire accumulated experience, social and cultural influence. In contrast to the post-war deportations, the June deportation was not ethnically homogeneous. Its victims were both Lithuanians (about 79 percent of all deportees) and the largest ethnic minorities, including Jews (13 percent), Poles (5 percent) and others. Almost half of the deportees were children. Legal status of deportees differed form that of people imprisoned in GULAG camps. Formally, deportees were subjects of administrative rather than criminal law. They were never interrogated ortried during or before the deportation. They were deemed to be ‘socially dangerous' - having committed no crime, but potentially endangering the Soviet regime.All property of the deportees, which was not stolen during the searches prior to the deportation, was nationalized. Rights of the deportees (especially the right of mobility) were severely restricted. This book focuses on Lithuanian deportee settlements in the Altai Krai and Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). It features more than 170 encyclopedic articles about places of deportation in these regions. Topics of political persecution of deportees, escapes from places of deportation, expeditions to rescue deported orphans, return of the deportees to Lithuania, their reintegration to society and the consequences of deportations are also analyzed in intruductionary articles of the book. To compose this study archive of memoirs written by former deportees and political prisoners (more than 900 people) was used as well as archival documents, reports and testimonies of various expeditions to Siberia. The book includes hundreds of authentic pictures taken by deportees while in exile. Most of the people deported form Lithuania in June 1941 (7278) were sent to Altai Krai. They lived in special settlements in Kulunda steppes, heavily forested areas of Ob river basin between Biysk and Barnaul cities, mountains and steppes in the Oyrot Autonomous Region (Altai Republic). Among the Lithuanian deportees in Altai Krai 3217 were adolescents. 2000 of them - children younger than 10 years of age. In the summer of 1942 by decree of Council of People’s Commissars of the Soviet Union 2850 of these deportees were transferred to Yakutia. Most of them were forcibly resettled to the polar regions of Lena and Jana river deltas and the coasts of Laptev Sea in order to establish permanent fishing villages. [...]. [From the publication]