25 March 1949 Deportation

The representatives of the power institutions in Moscow decided to perform a mass deportation, mainly from Latvian villages. The aim was to break the resistance against collectivisation of farming. Moreover, the purpose was to create the physical infrastructure for kolkhozes and to get rid of supporters of the national partisans.

By deporting the most successful and productive part of the rural population, the occupation regime destroyed not only agricultural production in Latvia, but the long traditions of the Latvian rural community and its structure.