Commemorate deportations from Lithuania, which took place in March-April 1949

This exhibition commemorates the victims of deportation from Lithuania, which took place in March 1949. 65 years have passed since 1949 March-April deportation.
Deportation began on the 25th of March, 1949, when occupants executed an operation called “Priboj” (sound of the sea). By character and motivation this deportation was different from deportations carried out in 1941 and later years. Deportations were associated with a partisan war and collectivization.
1949 deportation victims were families, whose members participated in the resistance struggles and farmers who didn’t wanted to participate in collectivization.
From March till July of 1949 more than 33500 people (9844 families ) were exiled from Lithuania. They were transported in cattle wagons. They were deported to Amur, Irkutsk, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Tomsk and other regions. This time families weren’t separated: men were exiled to Siberia together with their wives and children, so it was easier for families to settle down.
Since 1989 a collection dedicated to the Soviet occupation and deportation of Lithuania people is exhibited in our museum. Employees of the museum visited former exiles and political prisoners, collected their belongings and wrote down their memories. The victims of deportation shared not only photos but also their precious relicts from exile. We visited about 1, 5 thousand exiles and gathered about 18 thousand items. In our exposition depicting the deportation you can see copies of photos, which were made in exile and a lot of personal belongings – relicts, who also were brought back from exile. Many exhibits were given to the museum by people who lived in Taishet, Magadan, Inta and other places of exile.
In this virtual exhibition of photographs you will find descriptions and names of family members, relatives or even neighbors of people who were exiled in 1949.
The Museum would like to thank everybody who gave their photos and other personal belongings for this exhibition.