14/06/2026
🕯️ On 14 June, Lithuania remembers the victims of Soviet mass deportations.
This was a deliberate crime of the Soviet totalitarian regime. Thousands of Lithuanian citizens were taken from their homes, separated from their families and deported to Siberia and the Far North.
In just a few days in June 1941, around 17,000 people were forced into cattle wagons and sent into exile. Men were sent to labour camps. Women, children and the elderly were deported to remote settlements, where hunger, disease and brutal conditions became part of daily life.
Many did not survive. Many never returned to Lithuania.
Yet amid suffering and loss, hope endured. Hope gave strength to those who faced exile, preserved their dignity in the harshest conditions, and sustained their dream of one day returning home.