Signed in August 1939 in Moscow, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the USSR and Germany included the Baltic countries in the sphere of Soviet influence. Further German military operations in Western Europe gave Stalin a free hand in preparing an invasion of the Baltic republics.
In early June 1940, parts of the Leningrad, Kalinin and Belorussian military districts were alerted and began advancing to the border. The Soviet government handed over to the Baltic countries notes of protest, according to which Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia were accused of flagrantly violating existing agreements with the Soviet Union.
These states were ordered to form new governments, which were to fulfill the necessary obligations and allow Soviet contingents to enter the territory of the republics. The conditions were met: on June 15, Soviet units entered Lithuania, and on June 17, Latvia and Estonia. After following a number of procedures that were already of a technical nature, the accession of the Baltic countries to the USSR was formalized.
To make the annexation irreversible, the leadership of the USSR began an accelerated course of Sovietization of the Baltics. It was necessary to carry out reforms in the shortest possible time, which in the rest of the Union took two decades. One of the main measures was mass deportations.
During the period of the first occupation, before the German invasion of the USSR, the victims of forced resettlement were mainly representatives of the former anti-Soviet elite: officials, officers, clergymen, teachers, policemen, wealthy peasants, industrialists and merchants.
The most massive action for forced resettlement was scheduled for June 13-14, 1941. It was planned in an atmosphere of extreme secrecy. The famous "Instruction on the procedure for the expulsion of anti-Soviet elements from the Lithuanian SSR, the Latvian SSR and the Estonian SSR" was prepared. It was about the resettlement of families, since in the variant of the class theory that then dominated the USSR, the blame for "anti-Soviet activities" fell on all family members.
Deputy People's Commissar for State Security Ivan Serov went to Latvia to monitor compliance with the instructions. On the night of June 14, 15,424 people were arrested, subject to deportation, of which about 5 thousand were men, and all the rest were children, women and the elderly. Of the total number of those arrested on the same night, the NKVD officers shot 700 people. From the assembly points, these people were sent to the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Novosibirsk Region and the Karaganda Region of the Kazakhstan SSR. The deported Latvians were distributed among local enterprises and collective farms.
Initially, the deportees were told that they had been taken away for 20 years. But after the end of World War II, an armed anti-Soviet underground formed in the Baltics. The link has become permanent. In total, 6081 people died in Siberia and Kazakhstan from those deported in June 1941, that is, almost 40% of those arrested on the night of June 14.
The arrival of the Red Army in the Baltic States in 1944 meant a return to the course interrupted with the outbreak of the war towards accelerated "Sovietization". But now the Soviet leadership had to face armed resistance, which was concentrated mainly in the countryside. The Bolsheviks, through the policy of collectivization, tried to deprive the "forest brothers" of the social base, but it was the creation of collective farms that pushed the peasants to armed resistance.
To break this vicious circle, the Soviet authorities again resorted to mass deportation. Only now its main victims were not representatives of the intelligentsia and the elite, but the peasants. As in the rest of the Baltic republics, in the winter of 1949, the Communist Party of Latvia was instructed to send "kulaks", "bandits" and "nationalists" along with their families to Siberia. On March 17, 1949, a list of deportees by district was approved in order to prevent the desolation of the territory.
On March 25, the deportation began. 33 freight trains to the eternal settlement in the Omsk, Krasnoyarsk and Amur regions sent 29 thousand kulaks, 13 thousand "forest brothers" (figures are given taking into account family members). Of this number, 11,000 were children under the age of 16. In total, as a result of the March deportation of 1949, the Latvian SSR lost 2.2% of the population.
These actions of the Soviet authorities, combined with the offensive of the NKVD on the "forest brothers", made it possible to complete collectivization soon, and the armed underground ceased to exist.
Personally, I only buy Estonian. But that's not the point, it's that
On March 25, in all cities and towns of Estonia, state flags will be lowered and bells will ring - the republic remembers the victims of Operation Surf
"The company of the guard of honor of the presidential separate battalion (Vakhi battalion) will fire a volley of carbines, saluting military honors to the dead victims of the ethno-genocide. In the evening, the president will address the people.
On this day in 1949, 29,000 families (87,000 people) were sent by train from the Baltic countries to Siberia and Central Asia - this is the most conservative estimate. Mostly teenagers are children and women. Many of them did not return home.
The deportation operation "Priboy" was preceded by the decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR nr 390-138cc (Chairman of the Council of Ministers I.V. Stalin).
Quote: “Party bodies (First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Estonia Korotam Nikolai Georgievich) in every possible way to assist the bodies and troops of the Ministry of State Security, the Ministry of Internal Affairs in carrying out the operation of collecting and transporting evicted population. The troops of the Leningrad Military District and the Red Banner Baltic Fleet were put on high alert. All military units and paramilitary formations of various departmental affiliations (militia of the republic, construction battalions, railway battalions, VOKhR, fighter battalions) were transferred to the barracks.
General leadership in the three republics was entrusted to Deputy Minister of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR, Lieutenant General Sergei Ogoltsov. In Estonia, the operation was led by the Minister of the Ministry of State Security of the ESSR Boris Kumm and the authorized representative of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR, Major General Ivan Yermolin. The execution of the implementation of the operation for the deportation "Priboy" and the assistance of various troops and departments was provided by the right hand of Abakumov, Deputy Minister of the Ministry of State Security of the USSR Afanasy Blinov. The Soviet authorities were preparing in advance for deportation. In 1946 and 1947, for this purpose, operational troops and special forces of the NKVD - MVD were reassigned from the Ministry of Internal Affairs to the MGB. As the "father of nations" explained, "for better interaction."
From an operational (military) point of view, this was the right decision, because due to the small number of territorial departments of the MGB and the scale of the operation, it was impossible to carry it out in such a short time, secretly and suddenly. During the implementation, the soldiers and officers of the operational regiments of the MGB were part of the combined detachments of the operational groups for "blocking and raising", provided transport for transporting special contingents to the loading point. The Commander-in-Chief of the USSR MGB troops, Lieutenant-General Pyotr Burmak, personally led a rather large grouping.
Numerous representatives and representatives were sent by border guards and the central office of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. They were sent to the counties to assist with other authorities and to enforce the implementation of the decree. Everything reminded me of the beginning of the war. Hidden regroupings of troops, a huge number of seconded employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, who arrived from different regions of the USSR. The March deportation from Estonia, according to the words of ordinary executors of the criminal order, was kept secret, and before the start of the implementation, no one guessed about the purpose. Of course, the local population was not warned either. The result of this monstrous crime is 7,500 Estonian families (22,000 people), who were torn from their homes and exiled to the unknown, somewhere to the east. In those regions that Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians have not even heard of (Latvia - 13,000 families, 39 thousand people; Lithuania - 8,500 families, 25 thousand people). The operation took place from 25 to 29 March. Approximately 3,000 people died along the way and in special settlements.
An accurate count is complicated by the fact that most of the families settled there and did not return to Estonia, and the MGB did not keep records of minor migrants. Before the occupation in Estonia, the last census was carried out in 1934 (1,126,413 inhabitants, of which 992,520 Estonians). The next census was already under the Soviets, in 1959 (1,196,000 inhabitants, of which 892,653 Estonians - this probably included those who had returned from exile and camps by that time). Such an increase in the non-Estonian population clearly indicates the “spectacular” and systematic work of the Soviet punitive system, as well as various institutions like Spetspereselenstroy, which worked tirelessly. The damage that Stalin's national policy did to little Estonia is clearly shown by the figures compiled by the Soviet Goskomstat.
By the way, the exact number of dead and repressed Russians is still unclear, which before the invasion of the Red Army in 1939 amounted to 8 to 10% of the local population. Historian Pyotr Varyu explains this by the fact that the Bolsheviks kept a separate list for Russians. The Russians passed as "class alien elements" - monarchists, former White Guards and accomplices of the Nazis. From the very first days of the occupation, they were arrested by their families and after the military tribunal of the garrison, and later, by decision of a special meeting of the NKVD, they were shot. At best, they were sent by special escort to their former homeland. The fate of the surviving Russians from Estonia is tragic. They were not allowed to live in their small homeland even during the Khrushchev thaw.
After the condemnation of the cult of personality, the repressed and deported were rehabilitated, many were returned confiscated, but still the authorities tried to hush up the scale of this crime. It was only with independence that these peoples were able to speak up and try to heal their wounds. However, in modern Russia, people have appeared who justify the deportation of peoples and dream of "exiled and indivisible." The story of the deportation, with the help of individual Kremlin ideologists, is overgrown with myths, sometimes fantastic.
Myth first and foremost.
"On the effective manager Stalin"
Neither the iron discipline in the MGB, nor the availability of experienced personnel in the NKVD contributed to the registration of the deportees. The final report on the deportees showed interdepartmental leapfrog and confusion.
For example, in the report of the Ministry of State Security of the Estonian SSR (dated 03/30/1949, total for "Surf"), 7901 families (20,531 people) are indicated. Report of Major General Rogatin (authorized by the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs for Operation Surf in Estonia) dated 03/31/1949 - 7488 families (20,535 people). The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of State Security of the ESSR, Colonel Mikhailuk, reported to the First Secretary Korotam about 7,552 families (20,702 people). And in 1952, the new Minister of the MGB of the ESSR Moskalenko reported to the Deputy Minister of the MGB of the USSR Savchenko about 7553 families (20,600 people). Four reports - four different numbers, human lives were not counted and were not considered. Catering was not organized properly, wagons for transporting people were not equipped. On the way, people died of hunger and cold.
Myth two.
"On the fight against Estonian fascism, or the liberation of Estonia from the fascists"
In 1939, the Red Army, which entered Estonia, immediately violated the treaty of friendship and cooperation. Its punitive system began to arrest, shoot and deport the local, indigenous population, who had previously served their state. The newly-minted "friends" included in the list of fascists even those organizations that were banned during the German occupation. For example, "Kaytselit" - the reserve of the army; if necessary, acts with weapons, obeys the Estonian defense forces (similar to the Swiss reservists). Nord Kotkat and Koduduter are youth organizations. However, the NKVD tribunal, and later a special meeting of the MGB, classified these organizations as fascist, and the youth who were members of them received appropriate sentences.
Myth three.
“On the need to deport Estonians, because deportation saved Estonia from civil war"
Mostly women, children, adolescents and the elderly were deported. In Estonia in 1949 there was no longer an underground. This is evidenced by S.A. Vaupshasov (Vaupshas) and P.A. Sudoplatov, the former head of illegal intelligence of the 1st Main Directorate of the KGB, as well as General Yu.I. Drozdov.
There are other myths that not a historian, but a forensic psychiatrist can comment on. For example, when they justify and praise the participants in the deportation, as happened with Arnold Mary. The investigation, and later the court, established that during the deportation of the civilian population, crimes against humanity were committed and there were massive cases of abuse of office. The former detective of the MGB, now convicted Kask, shot an unarmed woman Havi Liza Ioganovna, born in 1910, who was trying to hide from a task force of 5 people. In one hand she held a one-year-old child and by the hand a nine-year-old girl. There are many such facts. The same Arnold Meri was more zealous than the Chekists, trying to include several additional families, although as a party worker he did not have the authority to do so.
Almost all the executors of Stalin's criminal order ended badly. The above generals of the MGB and the Ministry of Internal Affairs were later removed from their posts and convicted at various trials that took place in the early 50s (the case of Abakumov, Beria, Merkulov, etc.). Only P. Burmak managed to serve in the internal troops until 1973. In independent Estonia, many ordinary performers were given suspended sentences, given their age. Most of them died during the trial. One with the help of Novaya Gazeta repented, and several people ended up in psychiatric hospitals - they were so shocked by the realization of what they had done. To verify this personally, with the permission of a relative of one such convict, I went to a mental hospital. It didn't take long to find the old man. Hearing my Georgian accent, he turned pale, jumped up, straightened up and reported: “Comrade Generalissimo, the task force of 5 people to implement the task decided by the Council of Ministers on the task of“ blocking and raising ”the special contingent in the accounting case number 309 is ready! Authorized MGB lieutenant of state security K.*”.
*At the request of a relative and a doctor, I do not give my last name.
At the end of March 1949, Operation Surf began - the deportation of residents of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to Siberia. Today, this is the main stumbling block in relations between Russia and the Baltic countries, which consider the March events a crime of the Soviet leadership.
THE WAR OF THE FOREST BROTHERS
The main purpose of the deportation, according to the decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, “was the families of bandits and nationalists who were in an illegal situation, killed in armed clashes and convicted, legalized bandits who continue to conduct enemy work, and their families, as well as families of repressed accomplices of bandits.” Officially, this category meant "forest brothers", nationalists who fought for the independence of the Baltic countries. “For many young people, the deprivation of independence was unacceptable, and the resistance of the communist government was a matter of course,” said the staff of the Tartu Museum.
In a national conflict, one cannot tell who is right and who is wrong, but the Soviet government could not allow "enemy partisans" on its territory. The organization “Relvastatud Võitluse Liit” (Union of Armed Struggle) stood out in particular, which became more active just during the second occupation. Its participants were waiting for a new "liberation" war, relying on the Germans or, at worst, Europe. They saw their task in preparing for this new conflict. The Soviet operation "Surf" was supposed to destroy this organization in the bud. The goal was achieved - in 1949, after the deportation, the "forest brothers" first experienced a surge of new forces due to those hiding from deportation, but after the jump, their numbers fell. The subsequent collectivization completed the job, leaving the rebels without the support of farms.
TWO HARES IN STROKE
The deportation also affected civilians, or rather, it affected civilians to a greater extent - many simply repeated the fate of Russian kulaks at the beginning of the 20th century. The Baltic States became part of the USSR, and "Her Majesty" collectivization dominated its territory. And she, as you know, demanded the complete destruction of the private right to land. As a result, 29 thousand kulaks were sent to the Omsk, Krasnoyarsk and Amur regions, along with 13 thousand forest brothers, of which half were children under 11 years old. According to official statistics, as a result of the March 1949 deportation, Latvia alone lost 2.2% of its population. These actions, together with the offensive of the NKVD on the "Forest Brothers", made it possible to destroy the underground resistance and quickly complete the collectivization of the Baltic states.
THE NUMBERS ARE LIE
Despite the availability of statistics on Operation Surf, it can hardly provide objective data. When it comes to "crimes against humanity", the deliberate overestimation of numbers is common. According to the original plan of the Ministry of State Security of the ESSR, 7540 families were subject to eviction, with a total of 22,326 people, and 7488 families were evacuated, in the amount of 20,535 people. The White Paper of Estonia speaks of 32,536 deportees, including those 10,331 who are “not deported, but left without a home, living on bird rights and living under constant persecution by the KGB. In forced exile in Siberia in the period 1949-1958, 2896 people died.
Former Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar also paints a gloomy picture: “In the course of Operation Surf, about 3% of the then population of Estonia was taken out of Estonia and settled in the deep regions of Siberia within two days. If the people included in the list could not be delivered, the first people they met were taken with them. According to available data, the number of deportees reached 20,702, and about 3,000 of them died on the way to Siberia and other settlements.” Thus, Laar exceeds the number of people by 4 thousand people, and the White Paper by ten!
The exact number of deported and dead is still being debated, but Mart Laavre's data on "random deportees" do not pass the test of facts. From the report of one of the executors - Rogatin, we learn that the documents subject to eviction were strictly checked, "there were cases of refusal to accept due to incorrect compilation of family cards that were not subject to eviction, due to a serious illness, pregnancy in the last month." This information is fully confirmed in the memorandum of Major General Rezev dated April 18, 1949: “Family cards were clarified and recompiled in the MGB commandant's offices, individual families returned to their place of residence.”
DEGREE OF GUILT
The higher the number of deportees, the heavier the responsibility. On March 25, 2008, on the anniversary of the fateful events, Estonian President Thomas Hendrik publicly declared the deportations of the Balts to Siberia "genocide", calling it "violence against civilians." Is it possible to call the resettlement of the “unfavorable element” against the background of the growing tension of the Cold War a genocide? Especially considering that most of the deportees returned home safely. In addition, the documents of the Department of Labor and Special Settlements of the GULAG testify that among the Estonians deported in 1949, the birth rate began to exceed the death rate already in the early 50s.
Historian Alexander Dyukov argues that all accusations of the USSR "in inhumanity" are just a way to support the "myth of the Soviet genocide" - which is so rooted in the minds of the modern Baltic states that criminal cases are initiated on its basis. Recognition of the "genocide" at the international level is a serious problem that can affect not only the country's global reputation, but also its economy. Recognition may be followed by a question of compensation.
HERO AND TRAITOR
Most EU countries, as well as Russia, recognize the illegality of deportations, but do not see genocide in the actions of the Soviet authorities. Insisting on their position, the Baltic countries went as far as initiating criminal cases against the Heroes of the Soviet Union who took part in Operation Surf. The case of the Estonian Arnold Meri, who organized the deportation in 1949 and also led the deportation on the island of Hiiumaa, is known: “We have information that he was personally responsible for the deportation to Siberia of 251 people who had previously been detained by the Soviet authorities,” said the prosecutor of the South Estonian District Prosecutor's Office Sirje Hunt.
But the expulsion of people does not mean the intention to destroy them. The accusation looks ironic to tears, given the events of 1951, when Mary was expelled from the Communist Party and stripped of all awards "for passivity during the deportation." The Hero of the Soviet Union suffered for an attempt to mitigate the fate of the deportees, and after 56 years they were ready to testify against him.
Mary did not live to see the trial, and life imprisonment, which the Motherland threatened him with. On April 28, 2009, the criminal case against Arnold Meri was terminated "due to the death of the latter."
SIBERIAN LIFE
Most of the problems of the March deportation could be solved by a detailed study of the life of the deportees in Siberia. Oddly enough, information about this period is relatively less than about the process of resettlement itself. But eyewitnesses of the events are still alive. According to the studies of historians W. Bruhl and Göttingen, the most difficult time for the deportees was in 1941-1945, when the resettlement affected the Poles, Germans and Kalmyks. The fourth stage of deportation from the summer of 1945 to 1952, which affected the Baltic states, was distinguished by stability - life in special settlements had already been established, infrastructure had been built, and acceptable living conditions had been provided.
In 1947, the birth rate caught up with the death rate, and in 1950 it exceeded it. Moreover, it was not so much the conditions that were to blame for the mortality rate, but the mood of the settlers - religious sects, which were among the "unreliable element", preached ideas about the imminent end of the world, urging people to leave work and not run a household. Some of the deportees listened to their advice and doomed themselves to starvation.
"LONG ROAD IN THE DUNES"
An artistic monument to the events of March 1949, as well as to the entire life of Latvia as part of the Union, was the famous Soviet film “Long Road in the Dunes”, a story about human life in wartime and post-war conditions. Against the backdrop of a love story, the main characters are experiencing what the residents once experienced during the period of deportations. The main character also does not escape the fate of her compatriots - she is sent to Siberia.
Despite the fact that the filmmakers, in particular, the widow of the director Asya Bench, in their interviews were more than once surprised that the movie was allowed to be shown at all, among the inhabitants of Latvia, the opinion that “Long Road in the Dunes” is only Soviet fake, an attempt to brighten up real events. Director Alois Branch himself wrote: "Look through any newspaper of those years ... in my opinion, for 1981, and you will not find a word, not a half word in my favor."
- Let's start with the general framework of our conversation. We will talk about the deportation of 1949, about its causes and consequences. What is generally called the deportation of 1949?
- The deportation of 1949 is what happened on March 25: a mass expulsion - more than 42 thousand people - from Latvia to remote areas of the Soviet Union. It was called administrative expulsion. At the same time, upon arrival at the place of settlement, the deportees were announced that they were deported for eternity, that they had no right to leave their place of residence without permission and under threat of punishment. And for flight, according to the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of November 26, 1948, 20 years of camps were supposed.
- Legal basis for deportation. How was the decision on administrative expulsion prepared?
- On January 29, 1949, a resolution was adopted by the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the expulsion of "kulaks with their families, families of bandits and nationalists who are in an illegal position, killed in armed clashes and convicted, legalized bandits who continue to conduct enemy work, and their families, as well as families repressed accomplices of bandits.
That is, repressions fell upon all family members, including children and very old people, regardless of how individual members perceived the activities of a person who fell under suspicion. In general, the deportation of 1949 was directed against wealthy peasants, which is also confirmed by the figures. Of the 13,624 deported families, about 10,000 belonged to the category of kulak families and about 3,000 families belonged to the category of families of "bandits", "nationalists", "gang accomplices", etc.
- Explain, please, the term "legalized bandit".
- After the war, the Soviet authorities repeatedly called through the press and other media, up to church services, to get out of the forest of those who were hiding there and return to normal life - to legalize. Those who responded to this call were promised amnesty and a quiet life without persecution. Of course, many heeded these calls and left the forest. But in order to “convict” of continuing “enemy work”, there was enough slander from a neighbor. It was very easy for such people to fall under the decree of January 29, 1949.
You ask about the legal basis, but even according to the laws of that time, according to the same Stalinist laws, it was insignificant and, to put it mildly, doubtful. People suffered who did practically nothing against the Soviet regime and were never prosecuted according to the law. In the then Soviet Union, whether it was bad or good (here one can argue), there was legislation, in particular, criminal legislation. And according to this legislation, a person guilty or suspected of any anti-Soviet actions fell under investigation and trial.
Now we are not saying how correct such an investigation and trial was - by and large, incorrect and illegal! But there was still some sort of procedure. In this case, there was no procedure. There was enough sign - belonging to one of the mentioned categories.
But they didn't take people at random. There were some lists...
- The lists were made in advance, of course. As if even very detailed. But at the same time, there was a very large amount of work - the operation was carried out by the state security bodies of the Latvian SSR with the involvement of employees from other regions and republics of the USSR. Since the deportation was simultaneously carried out in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia. And what did they do? They searched the archives for data on the national economic census of 1939, and from them it was already determined whether this or that peasant economy was kulak or not.
It was not taken into account that over the past 10 years since then there have been very big changes: the nationalization of 1940-1941, the war, the increased agricultural tax introduced in 1947 for kulak farms. All this could not but leave an imprint.
- I read that the lists for deportation were compiled by local financial authorities on the initiative of the Ministry of Finance of the Latvian SSR.
- I heard about this, but the sources that we have at our disposal are summarized and analyzed in two volumes of the three-volume book "Aizvestie" ("Exported"), which contains a list of names of those deported during the two deportations of June 1941 and March 1949 - make it possible to emphasize the role of the central bodies, namely the Council of Ministers of the USSR, and the leadership of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Latvia, which also to some extent contributed to the process of dispossession.
- It is interesting to pay attention to the interaction between the federal authorities and the local republican leadership.
- As far as we know now, local authorities (it must be said that these issues have not yet been fully studied), local activists, including county and volost executive committees, were connected at the last moment.
- And if you look at the central bodies of the Latvian SSR - the Council of Ministers of the Latvian SSR and the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Lithuania?
- As for the Central Committee, there are very few materials that would cover the process of preparing and carrying out the deportation. There are only documents from the meeting that took place after the deportation, at which its results were considered. It was recognized that everything went as it should, and the active role of local activists was noted. Very short. As if specifically, but at the same time very sparingly. And the same can be said about the Council of Ministers of the Latvian SSR - several proposals that duplicate the decision of the Council of Ministers of the USSR of January 29, 1949.
Latvian Vendee
- How can one explain such a hasty deportation? Was this measure sudden at all?
— No, this measure was prepared in advance. I would say since 1947. Then increased taxation of kulak farms came into force and collectivization began, the first results of which were very meager. As of January 1949, only about 12% of peasant farms in Latvia were covered by collectivization. Such low rates served as one of the important pretexts for the deportation. They wanted to instill fear in those who remained, they resorted to a measure of intimidation or terror. The second factor was resistance in the forests, the so-called national resistance, or what was then called banditry. Kulak farms were considered the social base of this movement. The deportation was intended to eliminate the social base of national resistance.
- Modern Latvian science recognizes that the kulak farms ensured the stability of the "forest brothers" movement?
- Undoubtedly supported. This is a perfectly logical argument.
- That is, the "forest brothers" were the national guard of the Latvian rural bourgeoisie?
This is again an exaggeration, of course. We cannot go to extremes: to say that it was the national guard of the Latvian rural bourgeoisie, or, on the contrary, to assert that there was no connection between them. It was both. It is impossible to draw very clear boundaries. But one of the most negative consequences of the deportation was that the national resistance on the part of those who remained in the forests and those who joined them at the last moment (there were some) became very tough.
- Strange, the website of the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs claims that, on the contrary, the second mass deportation on March 25, 1949 led to the curtailment ...
- To curtail in a quantitative volume. It is certain. It is right. But one must distinguish between quantity and quality. Terror by the "forest brothers" has become more terrible, more brutal than it was before.
- Can you demonstrate the scale of the “forest brothers” movement before and after the deportation using figures?
- The scale, as you probably know, reaches 10,000 people operating in the forests, but not at the same time.
- According to the NKVD data for 1946, 64 bandit formations consisting of 753 people operated in the Latvian forests.
- Yes, the current Latvian historians call very large numbers - the 10 thousand people I mentioned. I don't believe in them myself. Counting 10,000 can only be done by summing up the "accomplices", liaisons and everyone who was somehow connected with the movement. Those who fought with weapons in their hands were, of course, fewer. But the biggest atrocities of the "forest brothers" began after the deportation. It should also be noted that in the history of the Latvian, one might even say, Latvian national resistance, there were only a few cases when the "forest brothers" decided on an open clash with the troops, units of the NKVD or the MGB. These were rare exceptions. Mostly shots were practiced ...
- From the corner?
- Yes, and, unfortunately, after the March deportation, there were reprisals against family members of Soviet activists, including young children.
Can't generalize
- Where did these "forest brothers" come from? How does modern Latvian science answer this question?
- We have a tendency to glorify the "forest brothers", but in this matter we must be very careful. Of course, there were people among them who believed that they were fighting for an independent Latvia, believed that they were fighting against the occupying authorities. That is how they acted. But there were cases... Everything was there: both ideological fighters and bandit formations. This also needs to be acknowledged. It is impossible to generalize here.
- Is there a connection between the "forest brothers" and the Latvian Legion?
- Undoubtedly. Many of the legionnaires, fearing captivity and its consequences, went into the forest. Among them were those who were involved in the punitive operations of the German occupation authorities, German accomplices and those who were left by the German special services after special training. All this was.
- You say: you were afraid of retribution for what was then called, and is now called collaborationism. But, as you know, the Soviet government, which initially did not distinguish between those who fought for the Germans in the Latvian Legion and the Red Army soldiers who were captured and went to serve the Germans, already in the middle of 1946 sharply changed its attitude towards the Latvian collaborators. At the initiative of the Latvian leadership, all Latvians sent to the 6-year special settlement, and this is more than 30,000 people, were allowed to return to Latvia. That is, the Soviet government showed leniency towards the Latvian collaborators. Shouldn't this have served as a signal to everyone who remained in the forests that, in principle, an agreement could be reached with the Soviet authorities?
Yes, the bulk of them went through the filtration camps and returned to Latvia, but we must remember that propaganda during the Nazi occupation played a role. The big trump card for them was what happened in Latvia in 1940-1941 - the first deportation, the corpses of the executed, found in the courtyard of the Central Prison, in Baltezers and in other places. It has been widely shown. The book “Baigajs gads” (“The Terrible Year”) was published, including anti-Semitic content, in order to kill two birds with one stone: to scare and incite Jews, to justify the executions and mass extermination of Jews in Latvia. People were very frightened by the return of Soviet power.
- Has the question been investigated and are there any data: did people returning from the filtration camps and from the special settlement in 1946/47 join the movement of the “forest brothers”? Did they strengthen it by returning to Latvia?
To answer this question, special studies are needed. I didn't do this kind of research myself. As far as I know, the old filtration files were destroyed after the statute of limitations expired. Probably, a certain percentage of those who returned to Latvia joined the “forest brothers”, but I don’t think there were many of them. There were cases when a person was filtered and then arrested for some actions during the German occupation. "According to newly revealed circumstances." I remember the plot of one such case. The man passed the filtration, then it turned out that since 1942 he had been in the Arajs team. During the investigation, he spoke in detail about his participation in executions and in operations against partisans outside Latvia, but at the trial he retracted his testimony, saying that he had given them under pressure from the investigator. The court took this into account, excluded these testimonies from the case file and issued a warning to the investigator. It was somewhere in 1948-49.
- One modern Latvian historian writes that Stalin's propaganda exaggerated the crimes of the Nazis against the civilian population, while Stalin's Themis carefully and soberly, in accordance with the norms of the then criminal law, investigated specific cases and did not deal with postscripts. The example you cited also speaks in favor of the Stalinist Themis, which acted ... humanely.
- This case is an exception. The only exception. The problem of Stalin's Themis was precisely in the desire to choose a more severe punishment than it would have been, if at all. Many of those who were recognized as accomplices of the Germans, gang accomplices, etc., in principle, by and large, were not guilty even according to Soviet laws. For example, armed people enter the hut, demand food and try not to give it. And everything is a bandit.
- Do you agree with the thesis: the movement of the "forest brothers" was a manifestation of the civil war?
We can talk about signs of a civil war. Still, what happened in Latvia cannot be compared with the civil war in Russia, where the opposing armies stood against each other on several fronts. There was no such thing here, but there were shots on the sly.
External factor
- Did the international situation, in your opinion, have any influence on these processes?
- Yes, the Cold War gave rise to hopes: they say, the British will come, the Americans will come. There were such unfulfilled hopes that the cold war would develop into a hot one, and everything would fall into place.
- Did the British and Americans support these hopes, or were they born by themselves?
— I believe that they were born themselves. Well, of course, they were supported by broadcasts from Western radio stations. It certainly was. The rhetoric of the Cold War - it was. But by and large, we see that these big democracies - the USA and Great Britain, in principle, were not very interested in the restoration of the Baltic states. We know this. Otherwise, a different policy towards the Soviet Union would have been pursued. Yes, there was a non-recognition by the United States of the inclusion of the three Baltic republics into the Soviet Union. It was, but in general they carried out the so-called realpolitik. So, for example, the British in the 60s very easily made a deal with the Soviet Union at the expense of Latvian gold. We are talking about the repayment of old royal debts.
- Nevertheless, plans were developed in the West for a nuclear bombardment of the Soviet Union, including the same Baltic states.
- I do not deny the existence of such plans, but the United States, which at first had a monopoly on nuclear weapons, had enough realism and understanding that there were not enough delivery vehicles to wage a nuclear war against the Soviet Union (this is even without taking into account the possible consequences of a nuclear war, about which there was no complete understanding at that time). It was possible, of course, to start a nuclear war, but whether it was possible to win it was unknown. Fortunately, common sense prevailed in this matter.
Let's get back to the issue of deportation. Is there any information about the fate of the deportees?
- The vast majority of those deported in the second half of the 50s returned to Latvia. The foreshadowing of the change in policy was the decree on May 27, 1953 on amnesty, when criminals and some categories of political people were released from places of detention. True, this did not apply to the administratively deported. The mass return of exiles dates back to the second half of the 1950s.
"Illegality and Crime"
- But before they returned from Siberia, they were nevertheless taken there. How it was?
- More than 30 echelons were formed to transport the deportees to the places of exile. The book "Aizvestie" speaks of 33 echelons. The operation itself was carried out from 25 to 30 March. Not in one day. Each deported family was given the right to take with them 1.5 tons of their property. But this prescription in many cases remained on paper. Immediately there were many complaints that one hour was given for the collection, and you can’t collect 1.5 tons of food and “small agricultural equipment” in an hour. Many did not have so much property.
The very idea of the deportation contained many errors (for example, namesakes of those who were appointed for deportation were included in the lists), but its implementation was accompanied by even greater errors, up to the point that someone was taken instead of someone else. It got to the point that in the absence of the owners they took laborers. There were cases when relatives of veterans of the Soviet Army and Red partisans were deported.
- Does this indicate the haste of the deportation?
- About haste and, one might say, carelessness. According to the order, in each individual case, the documents of the deportees were to be verified. In particular, it was forbidden to take out the relatives of those who served in the Soviet Army or in the Red partisans. But this was not fulfilled. There were a lot of mistakes. But what is the crime of deportation is that the children were taken away. According to the book "Aizvestie", out of more than 42,000 deportees, there were 10,987 children under the age of 16.
- Wouldn't it be better if the children were separated from their families?
- I'll tell you straight. And according to the laws of the Soviet Union, criminal and administrative legislation was in force, providing for the presumption of innocence. If there is no evidence of the guilt of a particular person, he was considered innocent according to the then Soviet laws.
The deportation was illegal in respect of each of the 42,149 people subjected to it. One should not look for any kind of humanity in the actions of the regime, which were based on no humanity at all. Did not have. The only humane solution could be only one thing - not to do this and that's it. I don't have another answer. Just don't do it is all.
Only after agreeing that the deportation should have been carried out, we can think whether to take the children with their parents or leave them. It was against the law. And according to the laws of the Soviet Union and according to any humane laws, let's face it, this is a crime against humanity.
There are many versions of the genocide issue. I also need to think about it. There is an extended interpretation of what genocide is and there is a narrower one. What can I say? According to the extended version, there are signs of social genocide here. I will not say that this has affected the majority of Latvians. What I am categorically against is against those who say that this action was directed against the Latvians. If there were Russian kulaks, for example, they would have gone the same way, they would have been deported in the same way as it was during the deportation of 1941.
- Are there any data on the ethnic composition of the deportees?
– In the book “Aizvestie”, to which I refer all the time, there are no such data, but mostly, of course, these are Latvians. Mostly, but not exclusively. It went along social lines, not national ones. This family of Latvians meets the criteria of kulaks - let's take them; this family of Russians or Belarusians also corresponds - we will leave them, because they are Russians or Belarusians. It wasn't like that.
- How did the deportees get along in the settlements?
- Are there more detailed studies on the living conditions of the deportees and relevant statistics: mortality, birth rate, employment?
- There is data that can be found in the book "Aizvesti". The only pity is that its compilers made introductory articles only in Latvian and English, and did not make them in Russian. It surprised me a little. It should have been done in Russian. Despite the fact that the documents are mostly in Russian, and it was very easy to do.
I will not give you any generalizing data now, but what struck me in the course of my last research, which I myself did not know before, was how the Soviet state security agencies worked in those years. I am now looking into the affairs of the highest commanding staff of the state security organs of the Latvian SSR, starting from 1944. And these cases show how many in 1949 received high state awards for carrying out this operation. These are orders! Not a medal. For the heads of district and district departments, these were the Orders of the Red Star, the Red Banner of War, and even (but this still needs to be verified) the Order of the Great Patriotic War.
- By the way, the orders of the Red Star and the Red Banner of Battle are revolutionary orders. This means that the deportation was considered as an event carried out within the framework of the so-called revolutionary legality.
Yes, we can talk about revolutionary legitimacy in this sense, but what struck me? A person, for example, ended up in the state security agencies after demobilization. Prior to that, he fought on the fronts - received medals. So he fought well. And the other in wartime served in special departments, then in counterintelligence departments - SMERSH, and received orders there! Not a medal. The same orders of the Red Star, the Red Banner of War, the Great Patriotic War.
- You always refer to the book "Aizvestie". Does this mean that there are no special fundamental studies and serious generalizing monographs, except for this work.
- I'll tell you yes. Basically, they don't exist. Our state remembers these dates - June 14, March 25, the days of mourning, there are radio and television broadcasts, but our state has never had the means to study all these questions of history, is not now and does not foresee when it will be found in the future. We, the Institute of History of Latvia, simply exist. You can talk about handouts, but not about funding. Sometimes we get a grant. It's not a salary.
“I don’t want to get into politics, but…”
- You have already spoken about the consequences of deportation. Two points were mentioned: the tightening of terror by the "forest brothers" and the awards to the leadership of the state security agencies for carrying it out. In general, what were the consequences of the deportation?
- If in January 1949 only 12% of peasant farms were covered by collectivization, then in the period from March 25 to April 6, more than 70%. For two weeks! The so-called collective farm spring has begun. Even a poem with that title was then published in the newspaper "Literatūra un Māksla" ("Literature and Art"). Mass collectivization has begun.
How has this affected agricultural performance?
- The livestock of the deportees was transferred to collective farms, grain stocks went to the state, the property remaining from them went on sale through a chain of stores. But in general, I agree with those historians who point out that the most hard-working part of the agricultural population of Latvia was deported. And it had a very negative impact. Even from purely pragmatic positions, this should not have been done. The deportation largely ruined Latvian agriculture. And at the end of the 1950s, it was said from very high rostrums that, in many respects, Latvian agriculture lags behind the indicators of 1938/39.
- It is unlikely that only the deportation of 1949 affected this.
Of course, the war also played its part. But so is deportation.
- Probably, the deportation left the most devastating consequences in the social memory?
- Yes, of course, and it's very bad. I don't want to get into politics, but what's going on is scary. Again, national strife is reviving in some form and the national question in the bad sense of the word. It's very bad when we start talking about "Russian occupation" again. We do not call a spade a spade. Historically and legally, it was the Soviet era.
I had a lot of arguments about the "occupation". I was even once called a provocateur because I took the liberty of quoting Citizens Congress documents dating back to 1990, which refer to the period from 1940 to 1941 and from 1944 to 1990 as "occupation-annexation" and not "occupation ". Annexation is the right word. This is an-nek-si-ya. We're using the wrong word when we call this "occupation." Occupation is a different legal term, a different legal concept. Here is the period from 1941 to 1944, you can talk about the occupation, the Nazi occupation. There was an occupation regime. What is the name of the Soviet period? Professor Bluzma believes that we should speak about the Soviet occupation only in relation to the period from June 17 to August 5, 1940. Then there is the question of annexation.
- But even from June 17 to August 5, the government existed and continued to function. Until July 21, President Ulmanis continued to act, although I don’t know how you can call him president - a usurper who called himself president, who usurped presidential powers?
- I'll tell you - I wrote about this in my articles - the Soviet emissary Vyshinsky and the Soviet embassy in Riga used the legislation of Latvia very well. Latvia continued to exist as a Republic on May 15 until August 24-25, 1940 - until it was completely annexed to the USSR, that is, until the formation of the Council of People's Commissars of the Latvian SSR. Until then, all the old institutions of power continued to function. The People's Seimas appeared, but the People's Seimas did not pass any laws. He accepted only declarations, and the laws continued to be adopted by the Cabinet of Ministers in the same form as they were accepted by Ulmanis after the 1934 coup. Nothing has changed, complete continuity.
- This is all very interesting, but goes beyond the scope of our interview. Thank you.
In order to understand how appropriate such kisses of the regional authorities in Siberia and civil activists in Latvia and Lithuania are, it is necessary to find out the validity of Soviet repressions against those deported in 1941.
One of the claims of Lithuanian historians to the Soviet Union is that the deportations were prepared 2 years before they began, i.e. before the accession of Lithuania to the USSR. At the same time, the researchers refer to the Order of the NKVD No. 001223 of 10/11/1939. However, the real order No. 001223 was taken to be the deportation instruction propagated in 1941 by the Germans, signed by Deputy People's Commissar for State Security Serov in June 1941 (Myllyniemi S. Die baltische Krise 1938 - 1941. Stuttgart, 1979. S. 80 - 81). Despite the recognition of the error, no one abandoned the idea of preparing the deportation in advance. In instruction No. 001223, it was about taking into account the “anti-Soviet element”, while biased historians say that this is preparation. However, in the content of this document there is not a word about preparations for repressions against registered "anti-Soviet elements". (The full text of the Order of the NKVD No. 001223 dated October 11, 1939 can be read in the collection of documents by A.R. Dyukov “On the Eve of the Holocaust” p. 469). Accounting for disloyal citizens is a common thing for the special services of that time.
Alexander Dyukov
Real lists of deportees began to be drawn up only in May 1941, the field of the appearance of the “Instruction of the NKGB of the USSR to the Commissar of State Security of the Lithuanian SSR on the preparation of an operation to clear the territory of the republic from an anti-Soviet, criminal and socially dangerous element”, signed by Commissar of State Security Merkulov dated May 19, 1941.
In the last article, I already noted that on the eve of the war in Lithuania, under the leadership of the secret services of the Third Reich, an anti-Soviet structure LFA (Front of Lithuanian Activists) was formed, which staged pogroms of Jews and committed terrible atrocities. But besides the LFA, other anti-state structures are also being formed in the region.
So in the Special Communication of the People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the Lithuanian SSR A.A. Guzevicius about measures to combat the performances of the "Polish counter-revolution" in the mountains. In Vilnius, on the eve of Poland's Independence Day, no later than November 11, it is said that the activity of Polish nationalists has increased and it is proposed to hold a number of events.
Also, the historian Dyukov in the above collection cites a number of NKVD documents that prove the high activity of the German special services in Lithuania. The scheme of recruitment of Lithuanian nationalists and anti-Soviet people is described in detail (see Special report of the NKVD of the Lithuanian SSR on the case of A. Susinskas, November 18, 1940, p. 53).
In November 1940, the same LFA was organized in Berlin by the former Lithuanian ambassador to Germany. With the support of the fascist special services, the organization of the rolls was growing at a tremendous pace, which is noted in the documents of the NKGB: “Officials of the political criminal police who fled illegally across the border, as well as former officers of the Lithuanian army, are used for intelligence purposes by German intelligence agencies. This category of persons recruits the remaining relatives, colleagues and acquaintances on the territory of the Lithuanian SSR, and also takes measures to establish contact with the agents they have, recruited by them during their work in the political police and military intelligence ”(from the report of the heads of the NKGB of Lithuania P. Gladkov in Moscow, March 1941). At the end of March, a LFA leaflet fell into the hands of the Lithuanian NKGB, which states that on the eve of the war between Germany and the USSR, this underground organization will be preparing an armed uprising. At this time (March 24), the LFA coordinating center in Berlin prepared the document "Instructions for the liberation of Lithuania." Here are a few lines from that instruction:
“..Germany, as far as is known, is preparing to present itself in the east of Europe as the liberator of these peoples, i.e. set itself the goal of fragmenting Soviet Russia into a number of states under the protectorate of Germany. For the peoples who agree to this, prospects are opening up for creating a better future for themselves. And those who decide to resist are threatened by the German sword. Under such conditions, all the peoples mentioned will have no choice but to follow the path dictated by the circumstances of the moment ...
…
every effort must be made in Lithuania to organize so covertly that, after the start of the offensive of the German troops against the Red Army, a general uprising spontaneously flared up all over the country. His goal is to take the apparatus of government into his own hands and present the Germans with a fait accompli that they intended and will later have to reckon with.
... For the ideological maturation of the Lithuanian people, it is necessary to intensify anti-communist and anti-Jewish actions ... It is very important to get rid of the Jews on occasion. Therefore, such a heavy atmosphere against the Jews should be created in the country so that not a single Jew could dare to admit the thought that in the new Lithuania he could still have any rights and, in general, the opportunity to live. The goal is to force all Jews to flee Lithuania along with the Red Russians. The more of them disappear from Lithuania on this occasion, the easier it will be to get rid of them altogether afterwards.”
Lithuanian Ambassador to Germany, future head of the Lithuanian Activists' Front, Colonel Kazys Shkirpa (center in the background) and Adolf Hitler. April 1939
The instructions are large and detailed. It is both an organizational document and an ideological manifesto of Nazi content. Assistance to the advancing German fascists is clearly pronounced:
“When creating obstacles for the retreat of the Russian Red Army and transport, it is necessary to avoid large explosions, especially not to destroy bridges. On the contrary, make efforts to protect them so that they are not destroyed by the Reds, because they will be very necessary for the advancing German army, especially their motorized units, so that they do not have to waste time crossing rivers. For the implementation of these operations, the leadership of the LFA reported to the Abwehr.
Therefore, the Front of Lithuanian Activists can be considered one of the intelligence structures of the Third Reich.
I won't include all of its content here. I consider the key here is the fact that the uprising was being prepared, and it was 100% fascist, which was proved by the LFA activists not in words, but in deeds in the summer of 1941 and later.
So were the actions of the NKGB of the LSSR justified or were they far-fetched? The answer I think is obvious. To what extent were those who went to Siberia guilty? We will try to answer this question in the next article.
