Izsūtīšana uz Sibīriju 1941. gadā

On June 14th, 1941, atotal of 15,425 people from Latvia (ethnic Latvians, Jews, Russians and Poles) were deported to Siberia, among them 3, 751 children aged 16 or younger. During the deportations men were separted from their families and sent to the camps of Gulag, where many of them were put to death. Others were locked up in prison camps. Woman and children were mostly sent to villages in the Krasnoyarsk and Tomsk regions. While World War II continued, these woman and children suffered terrible deprivations. Forced labor and disease cost many of them their lives.

In 1946, thanks to the efforts of the education Ministry of the Latvian SSR, more than 1, 000 of the children who had been deported on June 14, 1941, most of them having lost one or both parents, were brought back to Latvia where they were turned over to relatives or placed in children’s homes. Sadly this was not the end of their torturous route. Many of them were sent back to Siberia by those who were in power, and then they could return to Latvia only in the mid-1950s. Many died, many assimilated into Siberian life.


This project continues in two portions – continuing the interviews of people who were deported as children in 1941, and then correlating the materials into a series of films and then a book. I have already interviewed 270 of 400 survivors, finding them in Latvia, Siberia, Isreal, the United States of America and Germany.

The film „Children of Siberia” has gained much publicity in Latvia, it has been shown in 10 major cities in the United States. The film has been translated into English, French and German. It has been shown at many film festivals and at an Amnesty International forum. I have also continued my work on „The Siberian Diaries” . The first two parts of these series were shown on Latvian Television on June 14, 2002, while the later two were shown on June 14, 2003. On June 14, 2004 Latvian Television showed my new film „Greetings from Siberia”.

My contract with Latvian Television states that it is inportant to show such films each year, and so it is important to continue my work on the interviews – some 120 people remain to be surveyed. Each interview would be available on DVD and VHS so that the materials can be used by schools and libraries. We intend to correlate the materials into a book, telling the destinies of these people over the course of time. The book will be translated into English German an French so that people all over the world can understand it.

In 2005 we would like to revisit Omsk, Tomsk and Krasnoyarsk to find and interview those depotees of year 1941 who are still alive but have not returned to Latvia for one reason or another.

 

The public fund „children of Siberia” offers informational and material aid to those who are still in Siberia, helping them return to Latvia. This is the segment of our population which has suffered the most. We must help these people. 


	

2009.gada brauciens uz Krieviju no 15.-26.jūnijam

Route: Riga – Moscow – Krasnoyarsk – Galanin – Kazachinska – Ikshurma – Lesosibirsk – Jeniseijska – a journey by ship to Yeniseysk to Igarka – Krasnoyarsk – Kansk – Dolgij most – Abana – Zapasnoj Imbezh – Suhanoy – Krasnoyarsk – Moscow – Riga.

We placed the eternal memorial plaque in memory of Latvian children and mothers- the victims of the deportations 1941-1949 – in Yeniseysk, Igarka and Aban.

…un Igarka, Cerība un Taurenis, 2008

In the summer of 1929, 160 kilometres beyond the Arctic Circle and on the right bank of the Yenisey River, a group of Russian farmers who had fallen victim to Soviet collectivisation were deposited on the shore from several barges.  Were there hundreds of them?  Perhaps thousands?  Who knows?  They are all buried there.  It is said that nearly all of them died during the winter – the strong men of Siberia, along with their wives and small children.  Even if there was any registration of this tragedy at that time, then nothing is left today.  Those were the days when Stalin’s idea that “if there is a man, there is a problem; if there is no man, then there is no problem” was in full swing.  The first victims of famine, fold and disease were buried not far from the tents and wooden huts in which people lived.  Their graves are long gone, because an entire city, complete with a massive wood processing industry, was built on top of their bones.  This was the first result of industrialisation in Russia’s polar regions.  This is the city of Igarka. Continue reading “…un Igarka, Cerība un Taurenis, 2008”

600 stāsti par Sibīriju

Between 2000 and 2007,  we interviewed 670 people who were deported to Siberia in 1941, when they were children.  Fragments of memories shape a mosaic which reveals all of the tragedies of the past – the fathers, mothers, brothers and sisters who were lost for all time.  They say that time heals all wounds, but people cannot forget.  They must tell their story… Continue reading “600 stāsti par Sibīriju”

Atcerēties vai aizmirst? , 2006

Documentary film “Remember of forget?”

On June 14, 1941, 15,400 people from Latvia were deported to prisons and camps. There were 4,000 children among them. During the 1949 deportations, another 42,000 people were deported, along with children. They were guilty of living on Latvian land, their own land, which was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1940. The Soviet Union destroyed and deported the indigenous population and brought a flood of its own citizens into Latvia. More than half a century has passed, but the violence of June 14 has not yet ended.

1941.gada upuru piemiņas pasākumi 2006.gada 25. martā un 13.-14.jūnijā

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1949.gada 25.marta deportācijās cietušo upuru piemiņas koncerts 2006.g. 25.martā plkst.17.00 sv.Pētera baznīcā

2006.g. 14.jūnijā plkst.16.00 sv.Jāņa baznīcā,

konference Latvijas televīzijā

un videoliecības „6 no 600” Latvijas Televīzijā 2006. gada pavasarī Continue reading “1941.gada upuru piemiņas pasākumi 2006.gada 25. martā un 13.-14.jūnijā”

Reiz bija Sibīrija, 2005

Once There was Siberia

This film is dedicated to the children who were violently forced to leave Latvia on June 14, 1941, to those who died during the journey in cattle cars, to those who died in Siberia – the land of torture and murder, to those who survived, and to those who came home. Of those who were deported from this location, one-half died in the next two or three years. A great tragedy occurred here – water collected under the coffin. The water froze and began to lift the coffin and corpse. The corpse and coffin appeared above ground in the third or the fourth year. The gruesome sight of a dead person’s hand appearing from the ground.

Producer and director Dzintra Geka

Screenplay Ēriks Lanss

Operator Aivars Lubānietis

Latvia

2005.

52min.

Sveiciens no Sibīrijas, 2004

Documentary film “Greetings from Siberia”

In the Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Yenyiseiska and other regions, we can still find people who were violently deported from Latvia in 1941 and 1949 – children then, old and disabled people now. They are far from one another, they have no way to communicate amongst themselves. They have been robbed of their native language. Many of them no longer speak Latvian. They have not returned. We don’t know whether they are lost for the Latvian people and Latvian land. That will all depend on “big politics” – something that cannot be foreseen today.

Continue reading “Sveiciens no Sibīrijas, 2004”

Sibīrijas dienasgrāmata, 2003

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Dokumentālā filma “Sibīrijas dienasgrāmata”

1941.gada 14.jūnija deportācijas rezultātā cieta 15 425 Latvijas iedzīvotāji (latvieši, ebreji, krievi, poļi), tajā skaitā ap četriem tūkstošiem bērnu vecumā līdz 16 gadiem.

1946. un 1947.gadā, pateicoties Latvijas Izglītības ministrijas darbinieku uzņēmībai un pūlēm, vairāk nekā tūkstotis 1941. gada 14. jūnijā aizvestie bērni, bāreņi un pusbāreņi vecumā līdz 16 gadiem, tika atvesti atpakaļ uz Latviju, atdoti audzināšanā radinieku ģimenēs. Diemžēl, ar to viņu moku ceļš nebeidzās.

Gandrīz visus 1949.gada 25.martā pa etapu atkal nosūtīja uz agrākajām nometinājuma vietām, no kurām Dzimtenē viņi varēja atgriezties tikai piecdesmito gadu beigās. Daudzi bija nodibinājuši Krievijā ģimenes, zaudējuši saites ar radiniekiem Latvijā. Tie, kuri atgriezās, dzimtenē tika uzņemti kā nevēlami cilvēki. Sibīrijas bērni otrreizējo deportāciju piedzīvoja kā netaisnību un absurdu. Continue reading “Sibīrijas dienasgrāmata, 2003”

1941.gada upuru piemiņas pasākumi 2003.gada 13.-14.jūnijā

Continue reading “1941.gada upuru piemiņas pasākumi 2003.gada 13.-14.jūnijā”