"Enemies of the people": 72% of deportees were women and children under the age of 16.[/caption]Estonia
Estonia was formally annexed into the Soviet Union on August 6, 1940 and renamed the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1941, some 34,000 Estonians were drafted into the Red Army, of which less than 30% survived the war. After it became clear that the German invasion of Estonia would be successful, political prisoners who could not be evacuated were executed by the NKVD, so that they would not be able to make contact with the Nazi government. More than 300,000 citizens of Estonia, almost a third of the population at the time, were affected by deportation, arrests, execution and other acts of repression. As a result of the Soviet takeover, Estonia permanently lost at least 200,000 people or 20% of its population to repressions, exodus, and war.
Soviet political repressions in Estonia were met by an armed resistance by the so-called forest brothers, mostly Estonian veterans of the Waffen-SS, Omakaitse militia and volunteers in the Finnish Infantry Regiment 200 who fought a guerrilla war, which was not completely suppressed until the late 1950s. In addition to the expected human and material losses suffered due to fighting, until its end this conflict led to the deportation of tens of thousands of people, along with hundreds of political prisoners, and thousands of civilians lost their lives.
Latvia
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Railcars with Latvians to be deported to the East[/caption]In 1939, Latvia fell victim to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact between the USSR and Nazi Germany, leading to its annexation and incorporation into the Soviet Union on 5 August 1940. The establishment of a brutal puppet-state, the Latvian SSR, resulted in mass terror, the destruction of civil liberties, the economic system, the Latvian culture. In all, over 200,000 people suffered from Soviet repressions in Latvia, of which some 60% were deported to the Soviet GULAG in Siberia and the Far-East. The Soviet regime forced more than 260,000 Latvians to flee the country.
Latvia was again occupied by the Soviet Union from 1944-91. Under the Soviet occupation thousands of Latvians were deported to Siberian camps, executed or forced into exile.
Many Latvians fled in fishermen's boats and ships to Sweden and Germany, from where until 1951 they drifted to various parts of the Western world (mostly Australia and North America). Approximately 150,000 Latvians ended up in exile in the West.
According to approximate estimates, as a result of the WWII the population of Latvia decreased by half a million (25% less than in 1939). In comparison with 1939 the Latvian population had diminished by about 300,000. The war also inflicted heavy losses on the economy – many historic cities were destroyed, as well as industry and the infrastructure.
World War II losses in Latvia were among the highest in Europe. Estimates of population loss stand at 30% for Latvia. War and occupation deaths have been estimated at 180,000 in Latvia.
Lithuania
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Memorial to deported Latvian children who died in exile, 1941–1949.[/caption]Lithuania, and the other Baltic States, fell victim to the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact. This agreement was signed between the USSR and Nazi Germany in 1939, leading first to Lithuania being invaded by the Red Army on 15 June 1940, and to its annexation and incorporation into the Soviet Union on 3 August 1940. The Soviet annexation resulted in mass terror, the destruction of civil liberties, the economic system, and Lithuanian culture. Between 1940-41, thousands of Lithuanians were arrested and hundreds of political prisoners were arbitrarily executed. More than 17,000 people were deported to Siberia in June 1941. After the German attack on the Soviet Union, the incipient Soviet political apparatus was either destroyed or retreated eastward. Lithuania was now occupied by Nazi Germany for a little over three years. In 1944, the Soviet occupation of Lithuania resumed following the German army's being expelled. Following World War II and the subsequent suppression of Lithuanian partisan resistance, Soviet authorities executed thousands of resistance fighters and civilians accused of aiding them. Some 300,000 Lithuanians were deported or sentenced to prison camps on political grounds. It is estimated that Lithuania lost almost 780,000 citizens as a result of Soviet occupation, of which around 440,000 were war refugees.
During the Lithuanian restoration of independence in 1990, the Soviet army killed 13 demonstrators in Vilnius.
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Monument of Lithuanian victims of Soviet occupation in Gediminas Avenue of Vilnius.[/caption]In memory of millions of Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians whose lives were destroyed by USSR during entire 21st Century in whatever way, and also in memory of Forest Brothers who gave their blood fighting for their nations' freedom!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQ51iYAGxxE&bpctr=1512836913
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