Exhibition: Under Alien Skies: Lithuanian People in Soviet Hard Labour Camps and Exile in 1940-1958

Under Alien Skies: Lithuanian People in Soviet Hard Labour Camps and Exile in 1940-1958

5-6 November 2013, South Cloisters, Wilkins Building, Gower Street

This exhibition was first presented to the public in June 2011 at an event organised for the 70th anniversary of the Soviet Mass Deportations from Lithuania to the labour camps. It comprises secretly photographed scenes of the deportations unseen until now.

To this day Lithuania feels the painful consequences of the Soviet occupation. As many as 50,000 to 60,000 Lithuanian people died in labour camps and in exile. Another 50,000 people unable to return to Lithuania and remained living in their former places of exile or neighbouring countries.

The aim of the exhibition is to inform the citizens, especially the younger generation, of the countries of Western Europe about the crimes of the Soviet totalitarian regime. The other aim is to respect the people of Lithuania who endured the horrors of exile and labour and as a memento to those who did not return.