I am not the original poster and I have not lived it first hand, but my grandparents left Lithuania in the 1930s (not a Soviet republic at that time). I was always told the story of how my grandfather went back to visit in the 1970s, and that his friends and family expressed concern that they were being surveilled.

On the other hand I wonder if that might say something about these specific people, and if it might have varied by place. I've talked to a lot of people from Russia (as opposed to satellite republics) who say that it wasn't really on very many people's minds at the time.