Tallinn, Stenbock House, 13 June 2011 - Tuesday 14 June marks the 70th anniversary of the day when the Soviet authorities deported over 10,000 people from Estonia to Siberia. These victims of the red terror will be remembered in Tallinn with the laying of wreaths at the War of Independence Victory Column and new exhibitions on Freedom Square and at the Museum of Occupations.
At midday on 14 June, the commemorative events of the day of mourning will begin at the foot of the War of Independence Victory Column in Tallinn. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, President of the Republic, will make a speech, and this will be followed by a prayer by Jaan Tammsalu, Provost for Tallinn of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, and a speech by Enn Tarto, Chairman of the Estonian Memento Union.
Wreaths will be laid at the War of Independence Victory Column by the President of the Republic, the President of the Riigikogu, the Prime Minister, the Chiefs of General Staff of the Defence Forces and the National Defence League, the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, a representative of Tallinn City Government, the Chairman of the Estonian Memento Union and the Chairman of the Tallinn Memento Association.
An exhibition dedicated to the deportation will be open to the general public from early morning until late in the evening on 14 June on Freedom Square. You can view a cattle car used on the narrow-gauge railways of the time, similar to those in which the deportees were moved to transhipment stations. On display on the square will also be a Soviet GAZ-AAA lorry manufactured in 1938 and used to remove people designated for deportation from their homes in June 1941.
The exhibits bear information placards in Estonian, English, Russian and German describing the abysmal events. Electronic version of the exhibition is available on the Government website:
- in Estonian and English http://www.valitsus.ee/UserFiles/valitsus/et/riigikantselei/uldinfo/kyyditamine_plakat_est-eng_v.pdf
- in Russian and German http://www.valitsus.ee/UserFiles/valitsus/et/riigikantselei/uldinfo/kyyditamine_plakat_de_rus_v.pdf
Another exhibition will open on 14 June at the Museum of Occupations, providing a more detailed historical overview of the deportations.
Estonia has condemned the crimes of all anti-human regimes. It is important to condemn the crimes of the Nazi and Stalinist regimes on the same moral grounds, as human life and dignity are universally valuable. Perpetuation of the memory of the victims of such crimes is a vital part of the condemnation of criminal regimes throughout history.
In the first 12 months of the Soviet occupation (1940–1941) approximately 8000 people fell victim to daily political arrests by Communists, 2400 of whom were murdered in Estonia and 5400 of whom perished in prison facilities across the Soviet Union. During unlawful forced mobilisation into the Red Army in the summer of 1941, 34,000 young men were deported from Estonia to Russia, with every third man eventually dying from hunger and disease before reaching the front.
On 14 June 1941 the violent deportation of over 10,000 people from Estonia to Siberia took place. This ‘operation’ simultaneously covered the Soviet-occupied Polish territories, Bessarabia (now Moldova), Lithuania and Latvia.
Political arrests and murders continued during the German occupation from 1941 to 1944 and the second Soviet occupation from 1944 to 1991. Over 20,000 people living in Estonia – most of them women and children – were deported in March 1949.
Information for editors:
All journalists are welcome to report on the event. Accreditation is not required.
