Today is the 70th anniversary of the deportation of the population of Western Ukraine to Siberia

During the day from Western Ukraine were evicted 26 682 families, or 76 192 people: 18,866 men, 35 women and 152 22 174

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On this day, 70 years ago, was the mass deportation of the population of Western Ukraine to Siberia.

After completion of the Soviet-German war, the activities of the Ukrainian insurgent army was directed against the Soviet power structures. Concerned about the difficult situation in Western Ukraine, the political leadership of the USSR is constantly looking for new ways to neutralise the insurgency, writes “UKRINFORM“.

That deportation has become a powerful and effective tool to crack down on “dissent” of the Ukrainians. In 1944-1946 from Western Ukraine to distant areas of the USSR were deported 14 728 families of the members of the national liberation movement.

However, the party leadership demanded that law enforcement agencies do not stop there. The biggest deportation of the population of Western Ukraine was held on 21 October 1947. She went down in history under the code name “operation West”.

The operation began in Lviv in two hours nights in the house of Lvov were raided by the military and after a short search was allowed in a hurry to gather personal belongings, after which the whole families in trucks delivered to the railroad. From 2 to 4 o’clock in the morning the same fate befell the inhabitants of Rava-Russian, Zhovkva, Busk, town of, Sycamore. In Bukovina, Volyn, Ivano-Frankivsk, Rivne, Ternopil all started at 6 am.

Operation “West” was developed by employees of the MGB by all the canons of military operations, commanded by the Deputy Minister of internal Affairs of the USSR woodpeckers. On the operation every six hours, reported the Minister of state security, General Savchenko and Minister of internal Affairs of the USSR General Strokach.

During the evictions, security forces discovered an underground hiding-places, seized weapons, literature and nationalist anti-Soviet postcard, was taken prisoner by members of the underground. The property of the deportees were confiscated and transferred to state ownership.

During the day from Western Ukraine were evicted 26 682 families, or 76 192 people: 18,866 men, 35 152 women and 22,174 children.

The next day the first train went to remote areas of the USSR. All deportees waiting for forced labor in mines and farms of Siberia.

Operation “West” became one of the most massive and short-term deportation of Western Ukrainians. However, it was not the first and not the last. In total, from 1944 to 1953 in Western Ukraine were arrested, over 500 thousand people, arrested about 134 thousand, 150 thousand killed, deported outside Ukraine for life over 200 thousand people.