Mass Deportations From Soviet Estonia

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 22 March 2017

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In 1949, Soviet authorities deported tens of thousands of Estonians to Siberia. They included rich peasants and "nationalists" and their families, as well as other social groups who were viewed as a threat to communist rule. Rita Metsis was one of the child deportees. She shares her story with Dina Newman. Photo: Rita (r) and her twin sister Tiia (l) with their parents in 1940. Courtesy of the family.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:04.7	My name's Linda Davies and I Commission Podcasts for BBC Sounds.
0:08.5	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:18.0	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
0:24.6	poltergeist, cricket, and conspiracy theories and that's just a few examples.
0:29.7	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over at BBC
0:35.4	Sounds.
0:36.4	Just before this BBC podcast gets underway, here's something you may not know.
0:40.9	My name's Linda Davies and I commissioned
0:43.0	podcast for BBC Sounds.
0:45.0	As you'd expect, at the BBC we make podcasts of the very highest quality,
0:49.0	featuring the most knowledgeable experts and genuinely engaging voices.
0:54.4	What you may not know is that the BBC makes podcasts about all kinds of things like pop stars,
1:00.9	poltergeist, cricket and conspiracy theories, and that's just a few examples.
1:06.4	If you'd like to discover something a little bit unexpected, find your next podcast over
1:11.1	at BBC Sounds.
1:12.3	You're listening to the Witness Podcast, History as
1:15.4	told by the people who were there. I'm Dina Newman and today I bring you a story
1:20.7	from Estonia in 1949. Three years earlier this small Baltic
1:26.1	country had been taken over by the Soviet Union as part of the international
1:30.5	settlement after World War II. In March 1949, tens of thousands of Estonians
1:37.8	were suddenly rounded up and deported to Siberia. It's 1949 and
	...

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