May 18th

On this day - May 18th 1944 -  Deportation of of Crimean Tatars

Up to as many as 238,500 Tatars were deported from Crimea on Joseph Stalin and Lavrentiy Beria orders. The deportations began on May 18th 1944 and lasted until May 20th.The justification for the deportation was allegations against the Tartars for working against the Red Army and with the German Nazis. The tartars were given 30 minutts to gather their belongings, and everything left behind by the tartars were confiscated by the Soviet Union. The tartars were thereafter put on cattle trains and sent out of Crimea. The events in May 1944 recently received new interest as the topic for the winner song in The Eurovision Song Contest 2016.The song was by Jamal / Ukraine and had the title "1944".