The Second Wave of Deportations

The Baltic deportations of June 14, 1941, were not the end of Soviet terror and oppression. In March of 1949, there was a second, larger deportation. By that time, my parents, three of my uncles were among the Balts who had fled their country to safety in the West. My father’s older sister and her husband were not so fortunate.

My father’s older brother had heard about the new deportations. Fearing that he and his wife would be arrested, he sent his nine-year-old son to stay with his sister. When the boy got to his aunt’s house, the arrest was in process. He ran home through the snow. His family was spared. After Stalin’s death in 1953, my aunt and uncle were able to return to Latvia.

This is a video from Radio Free Europe that tells a little about these events.

https://fb.watch/6djLeX5SX_/