From 1930 to 1952, the government of the Soviet Union, on the orders of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin and under the direction of the NKVD official Lavrentiy Beria, forcibly transferred populations of va
The empty Crimean Tatar village of Üsküt, near Alushta. Photo taken in 1945 after the complete deportation of its inhabitants
A train with Romanian refugees following the Soviet annexation of Bessarabia
A dwelling typical to some deportees into Siberia in a museum in Rumšiškės, Lithuania
The departure of a train echelon carrying former prisoners of war and Ostarbeiters from a transit camp near Hamburg. May 31, 1945
During the Sürgünlik, at least 191,044 Crimean Tatars were subjected to ethnic cleansing and cultural genocide through deportation carried out by Soviet Union authorities from 18 to 20 May 1944. The d
Population transfer in the Soviet Union
…deportations as a crime against humanity and ethnic persecution. Two of these cases with the highest mortality rates have been described as genocides–the deportation of the Crimean Tatars was declared as genocide by Ukraine and several other countries, whereas the deportation of the Chechens and Ingush was declared as genocide by the…
Corpses of victims of the winter 1918 Red Terror in Evpatoria, Crimea
A Crimean Tatar family in the 1960s during deportation after Soviet authorities refused to permit them to live in Crimea. Even after the "special-settlers" regime was lifted, Crimean Tatars were not allowed to live in Crimea without a residence permit
An empty Tatar home in Crimea, photographed in 1968
Amet-khan Sultan was a highly decorated Crimean Tatar flying ace who was twice awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union. Amet-khan was one of the first people in the Soviet Union to publicly request the rehabilitation and right of return for the Crimean Tatars in 1956.