diff --git a/cmd/restic/cmd_forget.go b/cmd/restic/cmd_forget.go
index d634576c0..6810afbd8 100644
--- a/cmd/restic/cmd_forget.go
+++ b/cmd/restic/cmd_forget.go
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@ package main
 import (
 	"context"
 	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
 	"io"
 	"strconv"
 
@@ -240,6 +241,10 @@ func runForget(ctx context.Context, opts ForgetOptions, pruneOptions PruneOption
 
 				keep, remove, reasons := restic.ApplyPolicy(snapshotGroup, policy)
 
+				if !policy.Empty() && len(keep) == 0 {
+					return fmt.Errorf("refusing to delete last snapshot of snapshot group %v", key)
+				}
+
 				if len(keep) != 0 && !gopts.Quiet && !gopts.JSON {
 					Printf("keep %d snapshots:\n", len(keep))
 					PrintSnapshots(globalOptions.stdout, keep, reasons, opts.Compact)
diff --git a/internal/restic/snapshot_find.go b/internal/restic/snapshot_find.go
index cb761aee3..6d1ab9a7a 100644
--- a/internal/restic/snapshot_find.go
+++ b/internal/restic/snapshot_find.go
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@ type SnapshotFilter struct {
 	TimestampLimit time.Time
 }
 
-func (f *SnapshotFilter) empty() bool {
+func (f *SnapshotFilter) Empty() bool {
 	return len(f.Hosts)+len(f.Tags)+len(f.Paths) == 0
 }
 
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ func (f *SnapshotFilter) FindAll(ctx context.Context, be Lister, loader LoaderUn
 		}
 
 		// Give the user some indication their filters are not used.
-		if !usedFilter && !f.empty() {
+		if !usedFilter && !f.Empty() {
 			return fn("filters", nil, errors.Errorf("explicit snapshot ids are given"))
 		}
 		return nil
diff --git a/internal/restic/snapshot_group.go b/internal/restic/snapshot_group.go
index 964a230b3..f4e1ed384 100644
--- a/internal/restic/snapshot_group.go
+++ b/internal/restic/snapshot_group.go
@@ -66,6 +66,20 @@ type SnapshotGroupKey struct {
 	Tags     []string `json:"tags"`
 }
 
+func (s *SnapshotGroupKey) String() string {
+	var parts []string
+	if s.Hostname != "" {
+		parts = append(parts, fmt.Sprintf("host %v", s.Hostname))
+	}
+	if len(s.Paths) != 0 {
+		parts = append(parts, fmt.Sprintf("path %v", s.Paths))
+	}
+	if len(s.Tags) != 0 {
+		parts = append(parts, fmt.Sprintf("tags %v", s.Tags))
+	}
+	return strings.Join(parts, ", ")
+}
+
 // GroupSnapshots takes a list of snapshots and a grouping criteria and creates
 // a grouped list of snapshots.
 func GroupSnapshots(snapshots Snapshots, groupBy SnapshotGroupByOptions) (map[string]Snapshots, bool, error) {