Chechnya commemorates victims of Chechens' and Ingushes' deportation in 1944

This very day 65 years ago, on February 23, 1944, deportation of Chechens and Ingushes began. Then, during several days practically all the population of the then Checheno-Ingushetian Republic was deported by Stalin's regime out to Kazakhstan and Middle Asia, charged with complicity to Hitlerites.

Today, all the mosques of Chechnya are holding religious ceremonies and prayers in memory of deportation victims. At the same time, domestic animals are sacrificed all over the republic. Meat of sacrificial animals is distributed among needy people and large families.

In the evening today, the Chechen TV Channels will show several documentaries in memory of the 1944 events. Last week, Chechnya hosted a comprehensive scientific-and-practical conference on the issues of Stalin's deportation. Educational establishments held special topical lessons and lectures dedicated to the tragedy.

The wide-scale operation of evicting Chechens and Ingushes, known under the coded name "Chechevitsa" (Lentils), was personally commanded by Marshal Lavrenty Beria, USSR People's Commissar of Internal Affairs. As of 1939, prior to the war and deportation, the population of the Chechen-Ingush ASSR (Autonomous Republic of the USSR) made 697,000 citizens.

One month prior to deportation, regiments of the People's Commissariat of Internal Affairs (known as "NKVD") and regular army units were deployed in all the dwelling settlements of Chechnya as if for exercises. The action began at dawn on February 23 simultaneously in all towns and villages. The population was forced into the centre of settlements, where the deportation decree was announced; then, people were given 20-30 minutes to get ready.

Less than 24 hours later, 18 railway echelons took the so-called "special contingent" of deportees to Kazakhstan and Middle Asia.