Remembering 25 March 1949
Members of the European Parliament with the Unitas Foundation and the International Commission for the Evaluation of the Crimes of the Nazi and Soviet Occupation Regimes in Lithuania invited Baltic communities across the world to hold commemoration events on March 25th, the launch day of the 1949 March deportations then in few days during operation „Priboj“ („Wave fall“) soviet occupants deported from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania 95 thousand people – mostly women and children.
Soviet mass deportations from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are among the most disheartening events in the history of the Baltic States. During Stalin’s rule, more than 220 000 people were deported to Siberia (not including political prisoners in GULAG camps, which numbers is even greater). On March 25th 2012, thousands of candles were lit in memory of the deportees. Among others, the Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian Members of the European Parliament hosted a commemoration event in Brussels.
