The first mass deportation of Poles to Siberia carried out by the NKVD began on 10 February 1940. About 140,000 Polish citizens were sent deep into the Soviet Union. Many of them died during the journey, thousands never returned to their country.
Many of them died during the journey, thousands never returned to their country. Among the deportees were mainly families associated with the army, clerks, forestry and railroad employees from the eastern areas of pre-war Poland.
The last, fourth deportation began on June 20, 1941 – on the eve of the outbreak of the German-Soviet war. The action was aimed at families and people associated with previously deported population groups. This deportation also covered the Baltic republics and Moldova. In total, 90,000 people were exported and over 22,000 from the so-called Western Belarus. The exiles were sent to Krasnoyarsk Krai, Altai Krai, Novosibirsk Oblast and Kazakhstan. It is difficult to estimate the number of people deported during the last deportation: researchers say that there could have been between 31,000 and 52,000.