Ashes in the Snow

AUTHOR’S NOTE

In 1940, the Soviet Union occupied the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia. Shortly thereafter, the Kremlin drafted lists of people considered anti-Soviet who would be executed, sent to prison, or deported into slavery in Siberia. Doctors, lawyers, teachers, military servicemen, writers, business owners, musicians, artists, and even librarians were all considered anti-Soviet and were added to the growing list slated for wholesale exile. The first deportations took place on June 14, 1941.

Separation of family was a form of Soviet terror that facilitated dominance over a nation while undermining identity, human dignity, and endurance. Husbands and fathers were sent to gulags and prison camps, while women, children, and the elderly were transported to forced labor settlements. Many families were never able to reunite. Branches of family trees were forever broken.

This historical period is of personal importance to me because my father is the son of a Lithuanian military officer. Like Joana, he fled with his parents through Germany. After leaving Lithuania, he spent nine years displaced in refugee camps. Like Lina, he had members of his family who were deported and imprisoned.

The horrors the deportees endured were ghastly. Meanwhile, the Soviets ravaged their countries, occupying land, burning libraries, and destroying churches. Caught between the Soviet and Nazi empires, following World War II the Baltic countries disappeared from maps and, sadly, from the minds of many. When I began work on the novel, one survivor assured me through tears, “Ruta, the world has forgotten us.”

I took two trips to Lithuania to research this book. I met with family members, survivors of the deportations, survivors of the gulags, psychologists, historians, and government officials. Many of the events and situations I describe in the novel are experiences related to me by true witnesses and their families, experiences they said were shared by many deportees across Siberia. Although the other characters in this story are fictional, Dr. Samodurov is not. He arrived in the Arctic and reportedly saved many lives.

Those who survived spent ten to fifteen years in Siberia. Upon returning in the mid-1950s, the Lithuanians found that Soviets had occupied their homes, were enjoying all of their belongings, and in some cases had even assumed their names. Everything was lost. The returning deportees were treated as criminals. They were forced to live in restricted areas and were under constant surveillance by the KGB, formerly the NKVD. Speaking about their experience meant immediate imprisonment or deportation back to Siberia. As a result, the horrors they endured went dormant—unexpressed trauma shared by hundreds of thousands remained secret.

Like Lina and Andrius, some deportees married and found comfort in knowing looks and whispers. Beautiful children like Jonas and Janina grew up in forced-labor camps and returned to Lithuania as adults. Countless mothers and wives like Elena perished. Brave souls who feared the truth might be lost forever buried journals and drawings in Baltic soil, risking death if their capsules were discovered by the KGB. Like Lina, many channeled emotion and fear into art and music, the only ways they could express themselves, keeping their nation alive in their hearts. Paintings and drawings were not shared publicly. Art was passed secretly among deportees, encoded with messages and news from the various prison camps. Sketches that included symbols from their homeland were sometimes enough to push detainees onward, to fight—and to live—for another day.

It is estimated that Josef Stalin killed more than twenty million people during his reign of terror. The deportations also affected Poland, Finland, Moldova, and other nations. To this day, some deny the separations and deportations ever happened. For certain countries, the fight for freedom continues.

Some wars are about bombing. For the people of the Baltics, war was about believing. The Soviets took their flag, their family, and their country, but they couldn’t take their spirit. The people chose hope over hate and kept the flame of freedom alive in their hearts. In 1991, after approximately fifty years of brutal occupation, the three Baltic countries regained their independence peacefully and with dignity. Today, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia are member countries of NATO and part of the European Union.

Unfortunately, progress isn’t always permanent. But if we look to the past, we discover that history holds our most valuable teachings. Please research the time period. Share the story with someone. Although history contains sadness and pain, it also shines light on hope, courage, and resilience. Through that lens, the history of three small nations teaches us that love is the most powerful army. Whether love of friend, love of country, love of God, or even love of enemy, love reveals the miraculous nature of the human spirit. Through love—and remembrance—all things are possible.