crimes committed by totalitarian regimes - Ministrstvo za pravosodje

Crimes committed by totalitarian regimes
returned later to Latvia. 18 Table 1 shows that 24,642 (42.9 %) women and 5,850 (10.2 %) children, aged
one to seven years, suffered mass deportations in 1941 and 1949; 70 % of the exiles were women and
children under 16 years of age. 19 The occupation forces sent all those people to possible death. During
the deportation of 25 March 1949 alone, 229 persons died on their way to Siberia, mainly the elderly
and children (Table 2).
Table 2:
Numbers regarding the 229 Latvian citizens who died in transport to Siberia (March–April 1949) 20
Under and including
1 year of age
2–16 years old 10–60 years old 60–80 years old Above the age
of 80
Number % Number % Number % Number % Number %
21 9.2 15 6.6 18 7.9 122 53.3 52 23.7
Latvian citizens, including children, were imprisoned in 44 concentration camps, or placed in
forced settlements (colonies) in the USSR, especially in the areas of Krasnoyarsk, Omsk and Tomsk.
Of those 44 concentration camps, exact data have so far been available for the concentration camp
Vjatka in the Kirov area; 3,500 Latvian political convicts were imprisoned there in the years from 1938
to 1950, i.e. 11.7 % of all prisoners in that camp. Table 3 shows that 2,373 Latvian citizens lost their
lives during their imprisonment – 14.8 % of all who died in the camp. In the same time period, 236,062
persons were killed in the death camp Buchenwald. When comparing the death rates of Latvian citizens
in Vjatlag and Buchenwald in the years 1938–45, Russian historian V. Veremejev came to the conclusion
that the death rate of Latvian citizens in Vjatlag was, in percentage terms, five times higher than in
Buchenwald 21 (Table 3). And Buchenwald was generally considered a death camp, whereas Vjatlag was
regarded by many as a labour and re-education camp (ИТЛ) similar to the other concentration camps of
the Soviet Union. We shall, however, pursue a uniform understanding and a uniform assessment of the
crimes of both totalitarian regimes.
Table 3:
Number of persons who lost their lives in Vjatlag and Buchenwald (January–March 1938–45) 22
No. Year Number of Latvian citizens
who died in Vjatlag
Total number of persons
who died in Vjatlag
Total number of prisoners
who died in Buchenwald
1 1938 5 2,000 771
2 1939 45 1,060 1,235
3 1940 4 340 1,772
4 1941 407 1,810 1,522
5 1942 1,280 9,090 2,898
6 1943 569 5,630 3,516
7 1944 60 1,380 8,644
8 1945 3 103 13,056
18
J. Riekstins, “Deportation des 14 Juni 1941 in Lettland. Deportation des 14 Juni 1941– crimes against humanity. Materialien der
internationalen Konferrenz, 12.–13. Juni 2001”, in: Schriften des Ausschusses der Historiker Lettlands. Band 6, Riga 2001, pp. 21–25.
(J. Riekstins, “The Deportation of June 14, 1941 in Latvia. The Deportation of June 14, 1941 – Crime Against Humanity. Materials of the
International Conference, June 12–13, 2001, Riga”, in: Writtings of the Commission of Historians of Latvia. Vol 6, pp. 21–25.)
19
I. Zalite, S. Eglite, “Strukturanalyse der Deportation vom 14. Juni 1941. Deportation vom 14. Juni 1941 – Verbrechen gegen die Menschheit.
Materialien der internationalen Konferrenz, 12.–13. Juni 2001, in: Schriften des Ausschusses der Historiker Lettlands. Band 6, Riga 2001,
pp. 40–50. (I. Zalite, S. Eglite, “Structural Alalysis of the Deportation of June 14, 1941. The Deportation of June 14, 1941 – Crimes Against
Humanity. Materials of the International Conference, June 12–13, 2001, Riga”, in: Writtings of the Commission of Historians of Latvia.
Vol 6, p. 40–50.)
20
Die Weggebrachten. 25. März 1949, Riga 2007, p. 189.
21
Martirologium der Staatsangehöriger lettlans in Vjatlaa, 1938–1952, Riga 2001, pp. 38–39.
22
Card files of specific lists in Vjatlag, now card files Kartei of the Russian Ministerial Office ГУИН K--231 (Collection of V. Veremejev).
Бухенвальд. Документы и сообщения. Издательство Иностранной литературы. Моscow 1962, p. 77.
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