Estonian group: Marilin, Alina, Robin and Jana

November 2012

Estonia tries to declare neutrality in the war Molotov – Ribbentrop pact – a reason for

the Soviet Union to occupy Estonia in 1940 Nazi Germany reaches Estonia in July

1941 The Soviet forces reoccupy mainland

Estonia in September 1944 - Estonia remains incorporated into the Soviet Union even after the war

Mass political arrests, executions, terror and murders, deportations follow

In January 1949, the Council of Ministers of the USSR issued a top secret decree to exile the people's enemies from Estonia

In the early morning of March 25, a major operation "Priboi"(Coastal Surf), called “March deportation” by Baltic historians, began

The code name for the Soviet mass deportation from the Baltic states on March 25–28, 1949

Many Estonians, labeled as enemies of the people, were deported to inhospitable areas of the Soviet Union

Portrayed as "dekulakisation", the operation was intended to:force the collectivisation of rural householdseliminate the support base for the insurgency by

the Forest Brothers against Soviet occupation

Almost 21,000 Estonians were sent to inhospitable areas of Siberia

The deported included disabled people, pregnant women, newborns and children separated from their parents, men of working agethe youngest deportee – 1-day-old girlthe oldest – 95-year-old woman

Number %

Men 25 708 27.1

Women 41 987 44.3

Children 27 084 28.6

Total 94 779 100.0

Nine trains of people were directed to Novosibirsk Oblast

six to Krasnoyarsk Krai two to Omsk Oblast two to Irkutsk Oblast Amur Oblast Tomsk Oblast

Estonian SSR Number of families Absolute number of people

“Picked up” 7 743 20 134

“Loaded” - 19 827

Trains used 15 -

Deportees were required to sign a document upon their arrival, officially designating them with the status of "special settlers"

No right to return to their homes The penalty of twenty years' hard labour for

attempted escapes Deportees were not permitted to leave their

designated area Were required to report to the local MVD

commandant once a month, failure of which was a punishable offense

Many of the deportees perished, most have never returned home

Due to the high death rate of deportees during the first few years of their Siberian exile, some sources consider these deportations an act of genocide

Based on the Martens Clause and the principles of the Nuremberg Charter, the European Court of Human Rights has held that the “Priboi” deportation constituted a crime against humanity

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