Documentary “Far Land Siberia. Why March 25, 1949?” will look back on events 72 years ago. LTV1 and REPLAY.lv on March 25, Commemoration of the Victims of the Communist Genocide, pl. 21.05 In the latest film by director Dzintra Geka, people who were deported as children will share their memories.
The deportation on March 25, 1949 was part of a grand plan to destroy the intellectual, political, and economic elites of our nation. It was a plan to make the nation easier to control – by cutting off its head. The other part of the plan was to intimidate people into collectivization. You could always threaten, “Do you want to get to Siberia?” After the deportation in 1949, many were convinced that all Latvians would be deported to Siberia and that others would follow. These feelings did not completely leave the consciousness of those living in Soviet Latvia for a long time. 43,000 people were deported to life in Siberia, including 10,000 children and infants, the elderly and even those raised from the deathbed. Many of the deportees died, others spent long and distressing years in the northern areas of Siberia, in inhumane conditions, fighting for their own lives and the lives of their children. The deportations of 1949 were, in a sense, even more brutal than the deportations of 1941, because one in four deportees for life was a child and one in six was over 60 years of age.
Each family was allowed to take 1,500 kg of luggage. It took one hour to collect. However, sometimes the task forces arbitrarily shortened the time to 15 minutes or less. There were cases where soldiers, destroyers or activists engaged in maraudierism, robbed the farm during the removal or the homes of already deported families. Latvians were deported to the Amur, Tomsk and Omsk districts. Upon arrival at the settlement site, a questionnaire was completed for each deportee who had reached the age of 16. They all had to sign that they had been deported for life under a decree of 26 November 1948. Escaping from the camp site was punishable by 20 years in cathedral work.
75 perpetrators of the Red Flag were awarded to the perpetrators of the 1949 genocide for carrying out deportations in general and for committing inhumane crimes.
The film “Far Land Siberia. Why March 25, 1949? ” will explain the reasons for the deportation, show the places of deportation in Siberia. People who were deported as children will share their memories. March 25 pl. 21.05 LTV1 and REPLAY.lv. After the film, it will be possible to watch the harsh story “Companion Child” made within the framework of the Estonian Centennial Film Program.
State Ltd. Latvian Television
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