Doctoral defence: Elmar Gams "The release procedure of the deportees from the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian SSR, 1945–1989"

On 9 December at 16:15, Elmar Gams will defend his doctoral thesis "The release procedure of the deportees from the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian SSR, 1945–1989".

Supervisors:
Professor Tõnu Tannberg, University of Tartu
PhD Meelis Maripuu, Estonian Institute of Historical Memory

Opponent:
PhD David Feest, University of Hamburg (Germany)

Summary

The deportation operations in the Baltic Soviet Socialist Republics conducted in 1941, as well as in 1944–1952 resulted in the repression of app. 202 148 individuals: 28 439 from the Estonian SSR, 53 361 from the Latvian SSR, and 120 348 from the Lithuanian SSR. In 1945–1954, the release procedure meant repeal of deportation decisions and dealt with the “kulaks“, and post-1947 deportees. Exceptions were rare (e.g. the children deported in 1941). From 1954 onward, the release procedure predominantly meant release without repealing deportation decisions. This policy, initiated on the Union level, led to the gradual release of all the Baltic deportees by 1965. The republic-level procedure followed the course set on the Union level focusing both on repealing deportation decisions as well as release with no repeal of such decisions. From 1965 until the late 1980s, the Baltic SSRs focused on repeal of deportation decisions of the deportees previously released with no repeal of their deportation decisions. This release procedure significantly resembled the earlier release procedure of the “kulaks“ deported in the first half of 1930s. That meant that a release procedure as such was embedded in the Soviet deportation policy already during Stalin’s rule. In 1988, the Baltic SSRs began to challenge the existing order. The Estonian SSR was the first one to repeal the deportation decisions of the “kulaks“, the Lithuanian SSR eventually became the first one to repeal all the deportation decisions. The Latvian SSR finalized that process only in summer 1989.