Every year on 14 June, we mark the Day of Mourning and Hope. On this day in 1941, the Soviet Union began the mass deportation of the Lithuanian population. Exile affected all strata of the population, but the progressive part of society suffered the most.

The 17 echelons that were formed on 14–19 June 1941 included roughly 17,000 people who were removed from Lithuania. Separated from their families at railway stations, the men were taken to hard labour camps in the Komi ASSR, Arkhangelsk, Gorky, Molotov, Sverdlovsk, Vologda Oblast, the Kazakh SSR and Krasnoyarsk Krai. Their family members were deported to the Komi ASSR, Novosibirsk Oblast, Tomsk Oblast, Altai Krai and Krasnoyarsk Krai. In June 1942, more than 2,700 Lithuanians were taken from Altai Krai to certain death at the Laptev Sea. The situation of these exiles was particularly dire.

They suffered from the harsh climate, hunger, hard physical labour, and exhausting and soul-crushing everyday life. Many children, old people and feeble people died during their very first winter of exile.

Photographs, documents, letters, diaries, drawings and objects are exhibited in the virtual exhibition dedicated to the memory of the tragic events of June 1941. They tell of the shocking experiences of the exiles and their hope. The hope to survive and come home.