Nearly 1,700 applications received for Mission Siberia 2012

The number of applications is the highest in seven years, the Lithuanian Youth Council said.

According to the press release, the number of applications from abroad this year exceeded expectations.

"We have calculated that about 10 percent of applications came from various foreign countries – the United States, most European countries, as well as Haiti, Cambodia, Mexico - places where Lithuanians live and study but do not forget their roots and want to keep their contact with Lithuania," Arnas Marcinkus, coordinator of the project, says.

This year, the expedition will go to deportation sites in the Republic of Khakassia, some 5,000 kilometers from Lithuania. According to the press release, a Lithuanian expedition last visited the country more than two decades ago, therefore, Mission Siberia 2012 team will have to locate and tidy cemeteries and meet with Lithuanians who still live there.

Organized by the Lithuanian Youth Council (LiJOT) since 2006, Mission Siberia has facilitated upkeep of nearly 100 Lithuanian cemeteries.

The missions are held in an effort to encourage the interest of young people in the country's history, promote a dialogue between generations and mutual understanding.

Over 130,000 Lithuanians were deported to Siberia in 1940-1953. The Soviet authorities did not spare even elderly and ill people, nor people with disabilities, pregnant women, children, and babies. About 28,000 people were killed in exile, in addition to another 23,000 who were shot or died in Soviet labour camps.