Kyrm: Paradise Lost

"Little known to the western world, the Crimean Tatars flourished on the Crimean Peninsula for hundreds of years. These people, descendants of ancient central asian dynasties, were systematically wiped out due to famine and deportation. In 1944, the Crimean Tatars were subjected to mass deportation and annihilation by Stalin who claimed they were conspiring with German occupational forces. Nearly 250,000 Crimean Tatars were place on traincars that led nowhere -- most of them perished or were killed during the boundless trainride. Today the diaspora is spread around the globe but the Crimean Tatars numbers have dwindled to under 25,000. This short-doc was made by Cihan Kaan for his film school thesis and is a compilation of public domain footage and interviews. There is much more to be done with a documentary on this subject so the point of putting online is twofold; one to disseminate information for the Crimean Tatar people's plight and two to inspire or create another in depth documentary. As this was made some time ago, much of the recent occurances in the Ukraine have affected the political situation with the Crimean Tatar people, none of which is explained or documented yet"