HOPE and SPIRIT | Audrius V. Plioplys MD, FRCPC

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$4 for one egg, $70 for a pound of butter

Morta Abromaviciene, at the age of 67, was deported to Siberia with her husband Stasys, who was 74. Mr. Abromavicius died 3 years later, while Mrs. Abromaviciene was able to serve her prison term in Tinsk, in the Krasnoyarsk District. After 7 years of hard labor, her health was broken–she was so frail and weak that she was transferred to the Tupik sanatorium, in the Shirinsky District of Khakassia, for one year to recover. It was while she was in the sanatorium, that she was able to write letters to one of her daughters, who was living in Chicago.

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Thank you letter to Sydney, Australia

Barbora Nakutiene with her three children, Pranyte, Alfonsas and Grazinute, in Zalari, Irkutsk Oblast, near Lake Baikal. Her husband, Juozas Nakutis was deported 300 miles further, to Tayshet.

This letter was written by Grazinute to her uncle, Mykolas Nakutis, living in Sydney, Australia. She writes that she will be starting the 6th grade, Pranyte the 4th grade, and Alfonsas, the 3rd grade, and that they are all studying quite well. She is very thankful for having received a pair of warm shoes that she expects to wear for several years. Continue Reading →

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Murder by Nazis, deportation by Stalinists

Rozalija Stulginskiene’s son, Father Vaclovas Stulginskis, was a deacon at the Kaunas Theological Seminary. In 1941 he was murdered by occupying German Nazi forces.

In 1947, because she owned a small family farm, she was deported to Siberia by occupying Stalinist forces. Continue Reading →

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Family separated in two prison camps

This is a most unusual two page letter, written in Russian. It appears to be a transcription of letters written by Kazimieras Gaigalas to his wife and son. He is in the Riesoty gulag prison camp, near Krasnoyarsk, writing to his family who is in another Siberian location, near Tomsk. The distance separating them is about 300 miles. There are a total of 8 transcribed letters dating from October 21, 1942 to July 21, 1943.

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71 year old woman lumberjack in Siberia

My grandmother, Ona Pliopliene, was deported to Siberia, to serve a 12 year term of hard labor. Her husband, Motiejus Plioplys, had recently been murdered by the NKVD (Soviet secret police). In addition my great-grandfather, my other grandfather and an aunt were also killed by the NKVD. Besides my grandmother, 7 other aunts and uncles were likewise deported to Siberia.

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Mother and three sons in Siberian exile

Mary Vysniauskiene, with her three young sons, was deported to Siberia for eleven years. In this letter she writes of her first days in exile. Upon arrival she had to sell her few clothes, leaving her and her sons only with the clothes on their backs, and two small pillows. She used the little money she received to buy potatoes to feed her children.

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A woman in Siberia

Elena Juciute was a high school mathematics teacher in Pilviskiai, Lithuania. (The Plioplys village is located in this city, and is where my father and his forefathers were born and raised.) In response to the mass deportations and slaughter of innocent people, she started to provide paper-work support to the underground resistance movement. She was caught and sentenced to 10 years of hard labor in a Soviet gulag.

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Letters from the Sukys family

Juozas Sukys with his three children, Juozukas, Aleksyte and Aldute in Siberia. Letter was written by Aldute to her aunt in Chicago.

In 1948 the Sukys family was deported from Lithuania to the Manski district in the Krasnoyarsk region of Siberia. In this letter Aldute thanks her aunt for a package in which she received shoes, her brother, a wallet, and her sister a fountain pen. She is proud to be the second best student in the second grade. Continue Reading →