Actions in Europe to commemorate victims of Chechens and Ingushs deportation
Actions in memory of the 1944 deportation of the Chechens and Ingushs, committed by Stalin, took place on February 23 in Paris, Strasbourg, Berlin, Vienna and other places.
The major event was hosted by Strasbourg, attended by the Chechens from across Europe. They protested the fact, that the deportation has not been recognized as an act of genocide so far, and the territories taken away from Chechnya and Ingushetia are still not returned to them. The participants believe, that full rehabilitation of the repressed peoples has not taken place, Caucasus.Realities reports.
About thirty participants gathered in Paris on the Republic Square. 250 came to the rally in Belgium. The modest action in Berlin, organized by the German-Caucasian Committee took place near the Brandenburg Gates.
Dozens came out in Vienna, shouting “Freedom to Chechnya!”, praying, holding photos and slogans reading “1944 genocide”.
Mourning actions took place in Ingushetia. The tragic date is not officially commemorated in Chechnya since 2011, when Ramzan Kadyrov ordered to change it to May 9 (the day the first Chechen president Akhmat Kadyrov was killed in a terrorist attack in 2004).
The operation “Chechevitsa” meant to deport the Chechens and the Ingushs in Kazkhstan and Middle Asia lasted from February 23 to March 9 1944. Mass desertion, draft evasion in war time and preparation for armed rebellion in the Soviet hinterland were stated as the reasons for the deportation of almost half a million people from Chechnya and Ingushetia.
The Chechens and the Ingushs started to come back to the home places only in 1957. The law on the rehabilitation of the repressed peoples was passed in the USSR only in 1989.
According to the estimates, about 100 000 Chechens and Ingushs have died because of the NKVD actions, hunger, cold and deprivations as the result of the deportation.
