OH, FATHERLAND, COLD & SWEET

The repatriates, having just begun to recover from initial despair and disillusionment, stood shoulder to shoulder with local Armenians, striving to rebuild their lives in the aftermath of the war and finally taste the sweetness of their Fatherland. However, this hope was short-lived. In the early hours of June 14, 1949, Stalin ordered the deportation of 15,000 Soviet Armenian citizens to the Altai district of Siberia. Among them were many newly arrived repatriates who had sought refuge in Armenia’s warm embrace. Instead, they spent the next five, eight, or even ten years enduring the frozen depths of Siberia.