LITUANUS LITHUANIAN QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF ARTS AND SCIENCES   Volume 17, No.2 - Summer 1971 Editors of this issue: Antanas Klimas, Ignas K.Skrupskelis Copyright © 1971 LITUANUS Foundation, Inc.

ON THE OCCASION OF THE 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE FIRST MASS DEPORTATION
FROM THE SOVIET OCCUPIED LITHUANIA

VYTAUTAS VAITIEKŪNAS

I

DEPORTATION means a system of punishment for a certain crime involving the removal of the criminal to a penal settlement outside his own country. Some countries practice deportation as a method of secondary punishment. Deportation also means expulsion from a country of an alien. Deportation is also used to confine to selected areas for the time of war people unreliable and dangerous to the national security. Most notorious, however, is the mass deportation involving the removal of some social groups or even entire nationalities to compulsory settlement and forced labor outside their own country.

Deportation has been practiced from the most ancient times. The ancient Assyrian empire in the 8th century B. C. deported inhabitants of the conquered Israel. Later, in the 6th century B. C., when Assyria in her turn was conquered and subjugated by Babylonia, Assyrians were deported by the Babylonians. Deportation was also practiced by the ancient Greece and Rome.

When European states acquired overseas colonies, deportation of criminals to the colonies begun. For that purpose, Spain used her South American colonies. Great Britain deported criminals to Australia; France, to Madagascar, French Guiana, New Caledonia, Devil's Island, etc.; Portugal, to Angola. United States applies deportation only to an alien for illegal entry into the United States; the proceedings of such deportation are civil, not criminal.

Under the law of Independent Lithuania, military commandant of a district or city could deport persons, dangerous to national security or to military forces, from the areas where the state of war was proclaimed.

In czar's Russia, from the times of Peter I (1672-1725), simultaneously with deportation of criminals sentenced by court to penal settlement with harsh forced labor-katorga in Siberia, deportation were practiced of persons punished for opposition to czar's regime not by court sentence, but by the administrative orders of the Ministry of Interior. Thus, deportation became one of the methods whereby czar's regime fought its adversaries. During the reign of czar Aleksander I (1777-1825), about one million people were thus transferred to Siberia.

II

To Lithuanians, Siberia was and is synonymous with the reign of terror and of national genocide. For the first time, Lithuanians were deported to Siberia after the Lithuanian-Polish Commonwealth was partitioned in 1793. Several thousands of Lithuanians were also deported after the 1831 uprising against the Russian domination. Even more were deported after the 1863 uprising against the Russians. In addition to the deportation by the orders of the Russian Minister of Interior, the Governor General of Vilnius, Muravyov, was authorized to order deportation of Lithuanian inhabitants who in one way or another have been involved in the uprising. Entire villages whose inhabitants were suspected of any kind of ties with the uprising were burned down, people deported. Muravyov himself admitted to having deported 9361 persons.

III

After the establishment of the Soviet regime in Russia, an instruction of the People's Commissar of Justice of January 1, 1918, imposed among other penalties also "deportation from the capitals, from particular localities, or from the territory of the Russian Republic."

Beginning with 1928, Stalin's regime availed itself of mass deportation to a highest degree. Stalin used deportation to crush the farmers' resistance against forcible collectivization of agriculture. Simultaneously, deportation aimed at the moral and physical destruction of actual or potential opponents of the soviet regime.

According to the decree of July 10, 1934, a special body was attached to the People's Commissariat of the Interior-NKVD, which was entrusted „with issuing orders regarding administrative deportation, exile, imprisonment in correctional and labor camps, as well as deportation outside the confines of the USSR." Till 1934 all corrective labor institutions and penal settlements of the criminals were under the jurisdiction of the People's Commissariat of Justice. According to the decree of the Council of the People's Commissars of October 27, 1934, all these institutions were transferred to the competence of the NKVD, to which the Supreme Administration of the Labor Camps-GULAG (Glavnoe Upravlenye Lagerei) was attached.

According to Soviet official data, the population of Siberia increased from 14.7 million in 1926 to 22 million in 1939, and this despite the fact that during the first years of mass deportations 20 to 30 per cent of the deportees perished from cold, starvation and diseases. In 1941, the Autonomous Soviet Republic of Volga Germans was abolished and its inhabitants were deported to Siberia, Tajikistan, and northern Kazakhstan. In 1944-1945 the same fate befell the Crimean ASSR, the Kalmuk ASSR, the Chechen-Ingush ASSR, and the Karachai Autonomous Oblast. Some 910,000 inhabitants of these units were deported to Siberia and elsewhere.

IV

After the Soviet Army invaded and occupied Lithuania in June, 1940, the first individual deportation from occupied Lithuania to USSR was carried out in July, 1940, prior to Lithuania's illegal incorporation into the USSR. With the consent of the puppet president of the occupied Lithuania, the puppet minister of interior found it necessary "to deport from the territory of Lithuania and to settle in the Soviet Union the former Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania, Antanas Merkys, and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Urbšys, together with their families, as persons dangerous to the Lithuanian State."*

V

After the forcible and illegal incorporation of occupied Lithuania into the USSR in August, 1940, the preparation for mass deportations from Lithuania was initiated. First the so-called "accounting", i. e., the lists of the families to be deported were prepared, then the executional personnel were appointed and instructed about the procedure of carrying out the deportation.

In conformity with the order No. 001223 of the NKVD of the USSR, two strictly secret orders have been issued in occupied Lithuania concerning the accounting. The order No. 0054 of November 28, 1940, issued by the Lithuanian People's Commissar of Interior, stipulates:

"The index account must cover all those persons who by reason of their social and political past, national-chauvinistic opinions, religious convictions, moral and political instability, are opposed to the socialist order and thus might be used by the intelligence services of foreign countries and by the counter-revolutionary centers for anti-soviet purposes.

"These elements include:

"a) All former members of anti-soviet political parties, organizations and groups: Trotskyists, rightists, Essers (socialist revolutionists), Mensheviks, Social democrats, anarchists, and the like;

"b) All former members of national chauvinistic anti-soviet parties, organizations and groups: nationalists, members of the "Young Lithuania", voldemarists, populists, Christian Democrats, members of nationalist terrorist organization ("Iron Wolf"), active members of student fraternities, active members of the National Guard, Catholic terrorist organization "White Knight";

"c) Former gendarmes, policemen, former employees of political and criminal police and of the prisons;

"d) Former officers of the czar's, Petliura's and other armies;

"e) Former officers and members of military courts of the armies of Lithuania and Poland;

"f) Former political bandits and volunteers of the white and other armies;

"g) Persons expelled from the Communist Party and the Communist Youth organization for anti-party offences;

"h) All deserters, political emigrants, re-emigrants, repatriates and contrabandists;

"i) All citizens of foreign countries, representatives of foreign firms, employees of offices of foreign countries, former citizens of foreign countries, former employees of legations, firms, concessions and stock companies of foreign countries;

"j) Persons having personal contacts and maintaining correspondence abroad, with foreign legations and consulates, esperantists and philatelists;

"k) Former employees of the departments of ministries (from councilors up);

"l) Former Red Cross workers and Polish refugees;

"m) Religionists (priests, ministers), sextants and active religionists of religious communities;

"n) Former noblemen, estate owners, merchants, bankers, businessmen (who availed themselves of hired labor), shop owners, owners of hotels and restaurants.

"For the preparation of these index accounts of anti-soviet elements all sources must be made availed, including: agencies' reports, special investigative materials, materials of the Party and State organizations, statements of citizens, testimony of the arrested persons, and other data."

VI

When in 1941 the People's Commissariat of State Security-NKGB was established to take over some of the functions of the NKVD, another strictly secret order No. 0023 was issued on April 25, 1941, by the Lithuanian NKGB concerning this accounting. It stipulates:

"A fighting task has been placed before the NKGB organs of Lithuania by the Party and government — the purging of the Lithuanian SSR from the counterrevolutionary and hostile element.

"We shall be able to perform this important political objective successfully and speedily only if the accounting operation is well organized.

"Practical experience of the LSSR NKGB work shows that the most important and, in the past, the most active collaborators of the bourgeois organs of the government, army, and intelligence agencies, as well as of the former counter-revolutionary political parties and organizations, frequently do not fall within the field of observation of the NKGB organs and are not fully screened.

"Existence of a large contingent of persons, subject to operative accounting under Order No. 001223 of the NKVD of the USSR, dated October 11, 1939, regardless of concrete data concerning their anti-soviet activities, obligates the NKGB of the LSSR at the present time because of the activation of the counter-revolutionary element on the territory of the LSSR, to specify separately in its accounting work and screening of the counterrevolutionary and hostile elements the categories of particularly dangerous persons, whose accounting must be organized in first priority order and within the shortest time possible.

"In view thereof, the district branches and subdivisions of the NKGB must immediately organize the accounting of all the accountable element, in conformity with the instructions given to you during the briefing and in our directives.

"Noting the quite unsatisfactory performance of the accounting up to present, we consider the continuation of such a situation intolerable in any event.

"I therefore order:

"1. All chiefs of district branches and subdivisions and their deputies to personally organize immediately the work of performance of the proper operative accounting of all accountable element.

"2. In the first place, to expose, take under account and forward to the NKGB of the LSSR detailed data concerning the accountable element, in conformity with the specification of the accountable element enclosed herewith.

"3. By May 5, 1941, to supply the NKGB of the Lithuanian SSR with data regarding the number of persons already taken into account by you according to the specification enclosed herewith.

"4. To organize immediately a factual re-checking of the accounted for contingent by places of residence, and to start a file-form or an accounting folder for each person, and to register same with the 2nd Division of the NKGB of the LSSR (see Order No. 001223 of the NKVD of the USSR of October 11, 1939).

"5. To start the screening of the archives, as well as the exposal of persons of the aforesaid categories through existing agencies (network), and simultaneously to verify their location as to the place of residence, so that they be taken into operative account immediately.

"6. Tracing files must be opened for all persons under this category, whose whereabouts could not be ascertained at their former place of residence, in conformity with the Order No. 001530 of the NKVD of the USSR of December 9, 1940; these files must be directed for publication of persons wanted in the Lithuanian SSR — to the 2nd Division of the NKGB of the LSSR.

"7. Every five days (the 5th, 10th, 15th, etc.) to submit to the 2nd Division of the NKGB of the LSSR a summary of the results of the work in compliance with this Order as per enclosed form.

"8. I reiterate that, together with the work of accounting and tracing of the contingents enumerated herein above, the apparatus of the NKGB must conduct the exposal and organize the accounting and screening of the residual contingents subject to accounting who are listed in the aforesaid summary, namely: members of the parties — Krikdems (Christian Democrats), Lyaudininki (Populists), Esdeks (Socialdemocrats), Essers (Socialist Revolutionists), leadership personnel and active members of the Ateitininki (Catholic Youth), and other Catholic organizations, also the rank and file personnel of the parties and organizations whose leadership is subject to highest priority in accounting according to the present Order (rank and file Tautininki (Nationalists), Shaulisty (National Guardsmen), etc.).

"NOTE: Detailed listing of the categories subject to accounting will be additionally forwarded within the next few days. In the event of omission of certain categories in the prepared lists, — supplement same and inform us.

"9. All work of accounting of persons of the listed categories must be completed and filed by June 1, 1941. Once again I forewarn the chiefs of the district branches of the NKGB and their deputies that the success and achievement of the objective of our measures for the crushing of the counter-revolution depend on the timely, precise and instant organization of the operative accounting.

"10. For the task of the organization and direction of the accounting work, an operative group is created hereby within the 2nd Division of the (Lithuanian) NKGB." Follows enumeration of three respective officials with remark that they should be relieved of any other work.

VII

A further step in preparation for the first mass deportation from Lithuania was the appointment of the operative personnel. "In carrying out the directive No. 77, of May 19, 1941, of the People's Commissar of State Security of the Union of SSR," Lithuanian People's Commissar of State Security issued on May 23, 1941, strictly secret order No. 0037, whereby created "an operative Staff of nine members: seven respective officials of the NKGB and two of the NKVD, as well as NKGB operative "troikas" ("troika" means a body of three members) in district branches, railway precincts, and at the NKGB Board of Vilnius. NKGB operative "troikas" were also formed at the Railroad Transport Department branches in the cities of Vilnius, Kaunas, and Šiauliai.

The chiefs of the Operative Departments of the NKGB and chiefs of district branches and precincts have been ordered to mobilize their entire operative personnel for the carrying out of deportation. People's Commissar of the Interior has been requested "to direct local organs of the militia that they collaborate with the organs of the NKGB in carrying out the operation."

VIII

The last step in preparation for mass deportation was a very detailed strictly secret instruction regarding the procedure and manner for carrying out the deportation. The instruction was issued by the Deputy People's Commissar of State Security of the USSR and stipulated:

"1. General Regulations. The deportation of anti-soviet element from the Baltic Republics is a problem of great political importance. Its successful solution depends upon the extent to which the district operative "troikas" (a body consisting of three members) and operative headquarters are able of carefully working out a plan for carrying out the operation, and providing in advance for all necessaries. Moreover, it is necessary to proceed in such a manner that the operation is carried out without disturbance and panic, so as not to enable any hostile manifestations and other excesses either on the part of those to be deported, or on the part of the well known portion of the surrounding population hostile to the Soviet administration.

"Instructions as to the procedure for conducting the operation are given below. They should be adhered to, but in individual cases the operatives engaged in carrying out the operation shall take into account the special character of the concrete conditions of such operation and, in order to correctly appraise the situation, may and must adopt other decisions directed to the same end, vis. to fulfill the task entrusted to them without fuss and panic.

"2. Procedure of Instructing, The briefing of operative groups by district "troikas" shall be done just before the beginning of the operation, taking into consideration the time necessary for traveling to the scene of operation.

"The district 'troikas' shall prepare in advance the necessary transport for conveyance of the operative groups in the villages to the scene of the operation.

"On the question of allocating the necessary number of motorcars and wagons for transport, the district 'troikas' shall consult the leaders of the soviet communist organizations on the spot.

"Premises for the briefing must be carefully prepared in advance, and their capacity, exits, and entrances, and the possibility of intrusion of strangers must be considered.

"During the briefing the building must be securely guarded by operative workers.

"Should anybody from among those participating in the operation fail to appear for briefing, the district 'troika' shall at once take steps to replace the absentee from a reserve which shall be provided in advance.

"The 'troikas' through their representatives shall notify those assembled of the Government's decision to deport an accounted for contingent of anti-soviet elements from the territory of the respective republic or a region. Moreover, a brief explanation should be given as to what the deportees represent.

"The special attention of the (local) soviet communist workers gathered for instruction shall be drawn to the fact that the deportees are enemies of the soviet people and that, therefore, the possibility of an armed attack on the part of the deportees is not excluded.

"13. Procedure for Obtaining Documents. After the general briefing of the operative groups they should definitely be issued documents regarding the deportees. The deportees' personal files must be assorted and put together for each operative group, each county and village in advance, so that when they are being issued, there should be no delays.

"After receipt of the personal files, the senior member of the operative group acquaints himself with the personal files of the families which he will have to deport. Moreover, he must check the number of persons in the family, the supply of essential forms to be filled out regarding the deportees, and transportation for the deportees, as well as he shall receive exhaustive answers to questions not clear to him.

"Simultaneously with the issuing of documents, the district 'troika' must explain to each senior member of the operative group where the families to be deported are located and must describe the route to be followed to the scene of deportation. The routes to be taken by the operative personnel with the deported families to the railway station for entrainment must also be indicated. It is also necessary to indicate places where reserve military groups are placed, should it become necessary to call them out during excesses of any kind.

"The possession and the state of arms and ammunition of the entire operative personnel must be checked. Weapons must be in complete battle-readiness and magazine-loaded, but the cartridge shall not be slipped into the rifle breech. Weapons shall be used only as a last resort, when the operative group is attacked with or without arms or when resistance is offered.

"4. Procedure for Carrying Out Deportation. If the deportation of several families is being carried out from a community, one of the operative workers shall be appointed senior as regards deportation from that village, and under his direction the operative personnel shall proceed to the villages in question.

"On arrival to the villages, the operative groups shall get in touch (observing the necessary secrecy) with the local authorities: the chairman, secretary, or members of the village Soviets, and shall ascertain from them the exact dwelling place of the families to be deported. After this, the operative groups, together with the representative of local authorities, who shall be appointed to make an inventory of property, shall proceed to the dwellings of the families to be deported.

"Operation shall be begun at daybreak. Upon entering the house of the person to be deported, the senior member of the operative group shall assemble the entire family of the deportees into one room, taking all necessary precautionary measures against any possible excesses.

"By checking the members of the family against the list, the location of those absent and the presence of sick persons shall be ascertained. After checking, they shall be called upon to give up their weapons. Regardless of the fact whether or not any weapons are delivered, the deportee shall be personally searched and then the entire premises shall be searched in order to disclose hidden weapons.

"During the search of the premises one of the members of the operative group shall be appointed to keep watch over the behavior of the deportees.

"Should the search disclose hidden weapons in small quantities, this shall be collected by and distributed among the operative group. If many weapons are discovered, they shall be piled into the wagon or motorcar which brought the operative group, after the locks have been removed. Combat supplies shall be packed and loaded together with rifles.

"If necessary, a convoy for transportation of weapons shall be mobilized with an adequate guard.

"In the case of the detection of weapons, counterrevolutionary pamphlets, or literature, foreign currency, large quantities of valuables, etc., a brief report of search shall be drawn up on the spot, wherein the discovered weapons or counter-revolutionary literature shall be indicated. If there is any armed resistance, the question of the necessity of arresting persons showing such armed resistance and of sending them to the district branch of the NKGB shall be decided by the district troikas.'

"A report shall be drawn up regarding those deportees to be, who are hiding from deportation or are sick. This report should be signed by the representative of the activists of the soviet Communist Party.

"After completion of the search, the deportees shall be notified that, by a Government decision, they will be deported to other regions of the Union.

"The deportees shall be permitted to take with them household articles not exceeding 100 kg. in weight: 1. clothing; 2. footwear; 3. underwear; 4. bedding; 5. dish-ware; 6. teapot and tea cups; 7. kitchen utensils; 8. food — an estimated month supply for a family; 9. money in their possession; 10. trunk or box in which to pack articles.

"It is not recommended that large articles be taken.

"If the contingent is deported from rural areas, the deportees shall be allowed to take with them small agricultural inventory — axes, saws, and other articles, which shall be tied together and packed separately from the household articles, so that when boarding the deportation train they may be loaded into special freight cars.

"In order not to mix them with articles belonging to others, the first name, father's name and surname of the deportee and the name of the village shall be written on the packed property.

"When loading these articles into the carts, measures shall be taken so that the deportee cannot make use of them for purposes of resistance while the column is moving along the highway.

"Simultaneously with the loading work by the operative groups, assisting representatives of the soviet communist organizations shall prepare an inventory of the property and provide the manner of its protection in conformity with the instructions received by them.

"If the deportee possesses his own means of transportation, his property shall be loaded into the vehicle and, together with his family, shall be sent to the designated place of entrainment.

"If the deportees are without any means of transportation, carts shall be mobilized in the village by the local authorities, as instructed by the senior member of the operative group.

"All persons entering the house of the deportee during the operation or found there at the beginning of the operation must be detained until the conclusion of the operation, and their relationship to the deportees shall be ascertained. This is done in order to disclose policemen, gendarmes, and other persons hiding from investigation.

"Having checked the detained persons and ascertained of the fact that they belong to the contingent of persons in whom we are not interested, they are released.

"If the inhabitants of the village begin to gather around the deportee's house while the operation is in progress, they shall be called upon to disperse to their own homes, without permitting the crowd to form.

"If the deportee refuses to open the door of his house, although he is aware that the operatives of the NKGB have arrived, the door must be broken down. In individual cases, neighboring operative groups, carrying out operation in that community shall be called upon to help.

"The delivery of the deportees from the village to the assembly center at the railway station must by all means be done in daylight; moreover, the effort should be made that the operation shall not last more than two hours for each family.

"In all cases during the operation it is necessary to act firmly and decisively, without the slightest fuss, noise or panic.

"To take any articles away from the deportees except weapons, counter - revolutionary literature and foreign currency, as well as to make use of the food of the deportees is categorically forbidden.

"All participants of the operation must be warned of their most rigid judicial liability for an attempt to appropriate individual articles belonging to deportees.

"5. Procedure for Separation of Deportees' Family from Head of the Family. In view of the fact that a large number of deportees must be arrested and placed in special camps and their families proceed to special settlements in remote regions, it is necessary that the operation of deportation of the members of the family to be deported as well as of its head should be carried out simultaneously, without notifying them of the coming separation. After the search in the apartment of the deportee has been carried out and the respective documents for that individual case have been drawn up, the operative worker shall fill the forms for the head of the family and enclose them in the latter's personal file, but the documents pertaining to the members of his family shall be enclosed in the personal file of the deportee's family.

"The convoy of the entire family to the station of entrainment shall, however, be carried out in one vehicle, and only at the station of entrainment shall the head of the family be placed separately from his family in a car specially reserved for the heads of families.

"During the operation, in the apartment of the deportee the head of the family shall be warned that personal male articles must be packed in a separate suitcase, as a sanitary inspection of the deported men will be made separately from the women and children.

"At the stations of entrainment heads of families, subject to arrest, shall be loaded into cars assembled for them on special tracks which shall be indicated by operative worker appointed for that purpose.

"6. Procedure for Convoying Deportees. The operatives convoying the column of deportees in carts are forbidden to sit in the carts with deportees. The operatives must follow alongside and behind the column of deportees. The senior operative of the convoy shall from time to time make the rounds of all columns checking the orderliness of movement.

"When the column of deportees is passing through inhabited places or encounters passers-by, the convoy must be on their particular guard, watch that nobody escapes, and no conversation of any kind shall be permitted between the deportees and passers-by.

"7. Procedure for Entrainment. At each point of entrainment, a member of an operative "troika" and a person specially appointed for that purpose shall be responsible for entrainment.

"On the day of the operation, the chief of the entrainment point, together with the chief of the deportation train, and of the convoying military forces of the NKVD, shall inspect the railway cars provided by the railway administration in order to see whether they are supplied with all necessities (bunks, tubs, lanterns, bars, etc.), and the chief of the entrainment point shall arrange with the chief of the deportation train about the procedure of the takeover by the latter of the deportees.

"Red Army men of the convoying forces of the NKVD shall encircle the entrainment point.

"The senior members of the operative groups shall deliver to the chief of the deportation train one copy of the list of the deportees in each railway car. The chief of the deportation train according to the list shall call the deportees, carefully check every surname and assign the deportee's place in the railway car.

"The household articles of the deportees shall be loaded in the same car together with the deportees, except small agricultural inventory which shall be loaded in a separate car.

"The deportees shall be loaded into railway cars by families; it is not permitted to divide a family (with the exception of heads of family, subject to arrest). An estimate of 25 persons to a car should be observed.

"After the railway car has been filled with the necessary number of families, it shall be locked.

"After the people have been taken over and loaded in the deportation train, the chief of the train shall bear responsibility for all people taken over by him and for the delivery to their destination.

"After the delivery of the deportees, the senior member of the operative group shall draw up a report on the operation carried out by him and shall address it to the chief of the district operative 'troika.' The report shall briefly indicate the names of the deportees, whether any weapons and counter-revolutionary literature have been discovered, and also how the operation itself proceeded.

"After having placed the deportees on the deportation train and having submitted reports on the results of the operation carried out, the members of the operative group shall be considered free and shall act in accordance with the instruction of the chief of the district branch of the NKGB."

IX

On June 14, 1941, the first mass deportation from occupied Lithuania was launched. According to data collected by the Lithuanian Red Cross, 34,260 Lithuanians were 'deported in two days.

The same scheme of mass deportations adopted in 1941 was resumed during the 2nd soviet occupation of Lithuania. Thirteen waves of mass deportations were carried out after World War II: in July, August, September, 1945; February, 1946; July, August, October, November, December, 1947; May, 1948; March and June, 1949; March, 1950. Because of the shortage of the means of transportation and convoying MVD (NKVD) troops, not all deportation waves embraced all parts of occupied Lithuania.

The deportees were usually seized between 1 and 4 A. M. After the search they have from a half to one hour to pack their household articles. In the course of one hour they have to bid farewell to all they had earned, saved, inherited, acquired. The deportees came from all walks of life and represent all age levels. Though the instruction provided for only 25 persons to a railway car, actually up to 60 people often were stuffed into one car.

The Lithuanian deportees were transported to Altai, Kazakhstan, Northern Russia, and Siberia. Most of the Lithuanian deportees were confined in the forced labor camps.

There are no published soviet statistical data concerning the number of deportees. Demographers in the West calculate Lithuania's population losses by 570.000. The soviet census of 1959 reported a population of 2,711,000 in occupied Lithuania, including Russian colonists. Yet, before the soviet occupation, at the end of 1939, Lithuania's population was 3,215,000.

After Stalin's death and Beria's liquidation in 1953, the GULAG was abolished and administrative mass deportations have been suspended.

This is the first page of the top secret order No. 0023, otherwise known as the notorious "Instruction Serov", of April 25, 1941. 
If it had been carried out completely, about 700,000 Lithuanians would have been deported to Siberia and to 
other dismal places in the USSR during the summer of 1941.

The procedure of the mass-deportations on June 14-15, 1941. 
NKVD sentinels watching the nailed and sealed box-cars, packed with human beings.

Original

A partial summary of the deportees. It indicates the names of some towns and the numbers of deportees June, 1941.

Totals by NKGB and NKVD")
The "Svodka" (Summary) in original and translation, the (2) in translation only:

Translation (2)

Summary 
Of the Number of Detained and Exiled

Translation of the document. The original document is in Russian.

* Photostatic copy of this document as well as photostatic copies of orders and instruction concerning deportation quoted below are deposited in the Law Library of the Library of Congress, Washington, D. C.