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The project closes on June 14 – Day of mourning and hope, the first expedition of the Siberia Mission left 15 days ago. The symbolic day will be commemorated with the “Speak, listen, save” campaign, which has already become a tradition.
It took 15 years
Mission Siberia expeditions take place for fifteen years. During them, Lithuanian exile sites, abandoned cemeteries were managed and the participants interacted with their compatriots or their descendants.
V.Ušackas says that the end of the project was determined by two reasons: the coronavirus pandemic and Russia’s determination not to allow expeditions to the regions of this country.
“Everything has a beginning and an end … Because of the COVID pandemic and above all because of foreign policy affected toxic bilateral relations, it is inconceivable that there is the political will to engage 15 minutes said V.Ušackas, president of the advisory council of the project.
Last year’s expedition was canceled due to the pandemic, but then the 2021 expedition was expected to take place.
Before that, the mission went to Kazakhstan for several years because Russia did not issue visas to mission participants.
18 expeditions
“Although our main activity has always taken place here in Lithuania, expeditions are an important base for them. For 15 years, we have organized thousands of meetings with schoolchildren, students, communities, dozens of exhibitions, walks and management work in Lithuania, made more than 15 documentaries and published a book-album.
The success of all these activities depends to a large extent on the expeditions, the emotions and stories that the participants will bring from Siberia and other places of exile of their compatriots, ”said project director Aistė Eidukaitytė.
Since 2006, Mission Siberia has organized 18 expeditions, attended by more than 200 people. During this time, expedition participants visited and organized more than 170 cemeteries for deportees and political prisoners in Russia, Kazakhstan and Tajikistan.
After the Soviet Union occupied Lithuania in 1940-1953, more than 130,000 people were deported from the country. more than 156 thousand people incarcerated. Lithuanian.
One in ten Lithuanian deportees was a child. Along the way and in exile, some 5,000 people died. Lithuanian children.
Victoria Savicka / 15-minute photo / meeting of “Mission Siberia” participants at Vilnius airport
Invite the connection to a minute of silence
On the last day of the project, June 14, for the sixth time, you will be invited to join the Universal Minute of Silence and the “Speak, Listen, Save” campaign to read the names, surnames and destinations of deportees and political prisoners. , which will last 24 hours a day.
These initiatives will also mark this year the 80th anniversary of the mass arrests and deportations of the population to Siberia, which began in 1941. June 14 and lasted until 1953. An estimated 300,000 people were affected during the entire period of repression. people, organizers said.
You can find more information about the project and its expeditions here.
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