Today, Ukraine commemorates the victims of the genocide of the Crimean Tatar people: how many indigenous people of Crimea died as a result of criminal deportation
Kyiv • UNN
On May 18, Ukraine commemorates the victims of the genocide of Crimean Tatars through forced deportation in 1944, when up to 425,000 people were deported and up to 42% of them died.
Today, on May 18, Ukraine commemorates the victims of the forced deportation of Crimean Tatars in 1944, which was recognized as genocide by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, UNN reports.
The mass deportation of the indigenous population of Crimea from the peninsula by freight cars took place on May 18-21, 1944, on Stalin's personal order. The arrival of the trains to the remote corners of the then USSR ended on June 4.
Crimean Tatars were accused of allegedly collaborating with Nazi Germany on a massive scale.
At the moment, there is no absolutely accurate data on how many Crimean Tatars were forcibly removed from the peninsula, and how many of them died during or in the first years after the deportation.
According to various estimates, between 190 and 425 thousand Crimean Tatars were deported. Of these, 27% to 42% died on the way or in the first years after the forced transportation.
Crimean Tatars did not want to accept forced resettlement, and they organized daring escapes. One of the most massive occurred in 1948. More than eight thousand Crimean Tatars left their special settlements without permission. However, almost all of the fugitives were detained and punished.
Since 1994, May 18 has been marked as the Day of Mourning and Remembrance of the Victims of the Deportation of the Crimean Tatar People. After Russia's occupation of Crimea in 2014, this date also became the Day of Struggle for the Rights of the Crimean Tatar People.
In 2015, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine recognized the deportation of Crimean Tatars as genocide and established the Day of Mourning and Remembrance of the Victims of the Genocide of the Crimean Tatar People.
