Even official reports acknowledged lack of suitable housing; for example, a report from Due to poor living conditions, demanding physical labor, lack of food and medical care, the Deportations of civilian population without warning, trial, or apparent cause were one of the most serious grievances against the Soviet regime.

As even that generation became frail and began dying out the “Misija Sibiras” program began where Lithuanian youths would visit the cemeteries.While Russia, still in Soviet-Genocide-denial, has curbed any memorialization of the Lithuanian exiles, numerous monuments were constructed in Kazakhstan by the Lithuanians and Lithuanian-Kazakhstanis. Subsequent reports lowered the number of the deportees. However, the pace of collectivization in Lithuania was still not as rapid as in Latvia or Estonia, where 93% and 80% of the farms were collectivized by the end of 1949.The living conditions varied greatly and depended on the geographic location of the forced settlement, local conditions, and type of work performed by the deportees. As their families died out or moved away though, the cemeteries became uncared for.A group grave of Lithuanians who remained in Kazakhstan (village of Rudnyk) after surviving GulagAfter the independence of Lithuania, the exiles became a symbol of the Lithuanian tragedy under the Soviet occupation. However, the deportations were kept strictly secret. There was a single public order by Juozas BartaÅ¡iÅ«nas in February 1946.The first mass deportation was carefully planned by the Soviets. There was a single public order by The first mass deportation was carefully planned by the Soviets. The deportation took place from May 22 to June 20, 1941, just before the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany. In the Exiles, entire families would be put into cattle carriages and moved to prisons and villages in the least hospitable parts of the Soviet Union. Life was not easy for those who survived and returned to Soviet occupied Lithuania… In July 1944, Extra soldiers, equipment, and vehicles would be brought in to carry out the deportation. The main method of oppression were individual arrests of "Two largest deportations were carried out in May 1948 (code name As people had witnessed previous deportations and knew the warning signs (e.g. Mass deportations from Lithuania into the USSR took place in the last week before the Soviet-German war broke out. The Soviet re-occupation of Latvia in 1944 refers to the military occupation of Latvia by the Soviet Union in 1944. However, eventually, this idea was dropped in favor of targetting narrower parts of the Lithuanian nation based on their love for Lithuanian culture, religion, and social class.As this was a part of genocide rather than a form of political persecution, the targetted groups would be expelled Soviets have exiled some 350 000 to the inhospitable parts of the Soviet Union and the labor camps, many of them to perish.This number does not include the "Special cases" that are not considered parts of exiles but are closely related (their numbers are written below).Soviet Union mostly exiled people to the far-away parts of A typical 'house' in a cold village of Siberia where the exiled people lived atMany have died en-route, unable to withstand the crowded transportation in cattle carriages.

Already in late summer 1940, high-ranking Soviet officials began hinting at planned mass arrests and deportations.The operation began during the Friday night of June 13 and was carried out by The deportations continued, but on June 16 it was counted that the Soviets were still missing about 1,400 people from their list.From 1946 to early 1948, the civilian deportations were relatively small. Germany's invasion of the Soviet Union led to a massive escalation in Soviet ethnic cleansing. Lithuania spent much of its history as an involuntary part of the Russian and Soviet ... Thousands of “anti‐ Soviet elements” in Lithuania were arrested, ... as well as mass deportations. All these persecutions triggered the longest major guerilla war in modern Europe. the arrival of fresh troops and transport vehicles), many residents attempted to hide. In 1940, the Soviet Union has occupied Lithuania, launching the Soviet Genocide.While tens of thousands of people were killed outright by the Soviets, it was the Exiles that became the face of the tragedy. The actual number was higher as Soviet officials had little incentive to prepare accurate statistical reports. Subsequent reports lowered the number of the deportees. In Lithuania, according to official Soviet records, some 13,700 avoided capture.It seemed that the 1947–1948 deportations achieved their goals: 1949 saw a flurry of collectivization and further weakening of the armed resistance. Under Stalin, Lithuania lost 32% of its pre-WW2 population. Subsequent reports lowered the number of the deportees. At first, the descendants of those exiled or their relatives would search for their relative graves, repatriating them to Lithuania if possible or otherwise marking them with improvised memorials.