Baltic diaspora pay tribute to the victims of Soviet deportations
June 12th, 2016. The Baltic diaspora gathered at St. James's Church Piccadilly in London to pay tribute to the victims of the June 1941 Soviet Deportations to Siberia. United Remembrance service to commemorate the deportees from Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is an annual event organized by the Baltic Council in Great Britain.
This year the traditional candle lightening ceremony was followed by the performances of the UK Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian choirs. In addition, a dedicated exhibition revealing the personal stories of people who experienced, suffered and endured Soviet deportations was opened and will continue to run at St. James's Church Piccadilly until June 17.
“Soviet deportations of the Lithuanians, Latvians and Estonians is a crime against Humanity committed by the Stalinist regime. Today we pay tribute to those who had to endure this wave of Red terror. The memory is alive”, the Lithuanian Ambassador Asta Skaisgirytė said.
On June 14, 1941, mass deportations began in Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. The deportees were subject to arrest, property confiscation and imprisonment in labour camps in remote parts pf the USSR. Lithuania alone lost 150 thousand people in Soviet Gulags.
