Embed CodePlays: 717 (Embed: 0)Stalinist deportation affected many ethnicities – Ingushs, Karachays,
Balkars, Kalmyks, Crimean Tatars, so-called Meskhetian Turks, Koreans,
Finns, among them. The case of the Chechens is distinguished from others
because their tragedy began long before the Stalin era had even begun.....
An estimated ten percent of all deportees died during the long journey.
Typhoid spread quickly among men, women and children packed into the
cattle cars. The dead were buried close to the rail lines in the snow.
Firing squads executed anyone stepping more than five meters away from
the rail tracks during train stops. The length of the journey
intensified the suffering. The first train that set off in February did
not reach its destination until mid-March.(Taken from "Chechnya - War Without End."by Nini Gogiberidze.[b]This article first appeared in Tabula Georgian Issue # 89, published 27 February 2012.)[/b]