On 14 June, the Day of Mourning and Hope was marked in Lithuania.
This day commemorates the deportation of the Lithuanian population to Siberia, which began 83 years ago during the first Soviet occupation.
Commemorative events were held in various places in Lithuania: in and around schools, in cities and towns, and at places connected with the events of the deportation and the partisan war. 206 Lithuanian schools and educational institutions joined the “Train to the Unknown” initiative initiated by the International Commission.
In preparation for the commemorations, students designed and built trains to symbolize the means of transport used to remove people from their homes forcibly.
An hour of remembrance was held at the Naujosios Vilnia Exile Memorial in Vilnius, attended by students and teachers from ten schools.
Ingrida Šimonytė, Prime Minister of the Republic of Lithuania, who attended the event at Naujoji Vilnia, reminded the participants not only of the losses suffered by the Lithuanian people during the Soviet occupation but also of the current threats and the ongoing war in Europe. In her speech, the Prime Minister emphasized that “history not only teaches but also obliges.”
The students present at the event presented the former exiles and guests with trains they had made inscribed with the places of deportation. Traditionally, the event ended with eating Lithuanian bread at the Naujoji Vilnia Memorial.
According to the research and conclusions of the historians of the International Commission, about 17,500 people were deported from Lithuania during the deportation operation in June 1941. Among the deportees were mainly representatives of Lithuania’s political, military, and economic elite. Among the deportees whose fate was traced were 2045 Jews (13.5 % of those deported and 9.8 % of those sent to camps), 1576 Poles (10.4 % of those deported and 7.5 % of those sent to camps), and 11 991 Lithuanians (72.7 % of those deported and 77.4 % of those sent to camps). Among the deportees were 5,060 children under the age of 16.
Since 2003, the Secretariat of the International Commission has initiated the annual commemoration of the Day of Mourning and Hope. Hundreds of schools and educational institutions join the initiatives every year.
