Commemorating the anniversary of deportation of 10 000 Estonians to Siberia
18.06.2024 / 14:47 | Aktualizováno: 18.06.2024 / 14:57
On Friday 14 June a ceremony was held at the Liiiva cemetery. Another ceremony was held later in the afternoon at the Victims of Communism Memorial at Maarjamäe in Tallinn where officials made speeches and laid wreaths of flowers to remember those who never returned home.
On 14 June 1941, Soviet Union authorities deported more than 10,000 Estonians to Siberia and Kazakhstan to eliminate moral, physical and legal resistance to the occupation regime. Of those, approximately 7,000 were women, children, and the elderly. Anyone who resisted was branded an enemy of the state. In total, the Soviet regime deported more than 30,000 people from Estonia between 1941 and 1951. Nearly 10,000 were minors.
Many of the people who had contributed to the development of the first Estonian Republic between 1918 and 1941 were executed in Siberia.
Dozens of new names were also unveiled on the memorial, names that had been discovered by the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory.
New names unveiled on the memorial.
Ambassador of Czechia and the Dean of the Diplomatic Corps Mr David Král mentioned in his speech the importance of historical memory. At the end of his speech, he also added a message to all aggressors: „ Hence, my message to those who think that we can trade our core values with the aggressor to buy peace: no, we cannot." (you can read the whole speech here: Speech of the ambassador David Král. (DOCX, 17 KB)).
Ambassador's speech.