The changes in Estonian
population after World War II
Juhendaja: õp. Reet Kandimaa
Kärt Anton, Marily Kool ja Triin Kesküla
Introduction
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The flight of Estonians to the West during
World War II
Deportation of Estonians into Siberia in
1949
Immigration of Russians into Estonia
during 50 years of the Soviet Era
• Estonia was one of the smallest states in Europe in the
1920s and 1930s.
• Estonian population was about 1 million people.
• During and after WW II Estonia lost about of 150,000
people: people lost in war, war refugees, deportees.
Estonia before World War II
An Estonian housewife
A typical home of an Estonian family
Boys behind Aruküla manor
A beautiful summer day
Our wrestler – Olympic gold medallist
Kalevipoeg – our national epic
University of Tartu
Theatre Vanemuine
The change of power in Estonia
1918-1940
1940
1941-1944
Estonian Republic
Soviet occupation
Nazy occupation
1944 – 1991
Soviet occupation
1991 Estonian
Republic
Loss of independence
In 1940 Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union as a
result of the deal between Nazy Germany and the Soviet
Union (Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FsGVOdFAIxw
http://www.estonica.org/media/files/images/64/642333028638-29_punaarmee-sissemarss_1939_farh_jpg_690x518_q100.jpg
The first mass deportation in 1941
• In June 1941 over 10,000 people
from Estonia were arrested and
deported to the prison camps in
Russia, Siberia
• Similar things happened in Latvia,
Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine and
Moldova
• The Soviet Union wanted to ruin
the independent statehood and
suppress the people with fear and
terror
• Politicians, the military, scientists,
the clergy, businessmen and their
families were the victims of
deportation
The victims of deportation in 1941
Prime minister Otto [August]
Strandman shot himself
when he was arrested
Prime minister Friedrich Akel
was murdered on 3 July 1941
in Tallinn
Prime minister Jaan Teemant
was arrested on 27 July1940 by
the Soviet Union, died in prison
Nazy Germany occupies Estonia
•On June 22 1941 Nazy Germany declared war to the Soviet
Union and invaded it.
•By the end of August 1941 Estonia was under the German
occupation which lasted for about 3 years.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-B08041,_Reval,_Besuch_General_Georg_v._K%C3%BCchler_in.jpg?uselang=et
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_101I-010-0938-19,_Estland,_Angetretene_Soldaten.jpg?uselang=et
Nazy Germany occupies Estonia
The second Soviet occupation
At the beginning of 1944 the Soviet Army was again at the
borders of Estonia. The battles for Estonia lasted for about 6
months.
The main cities were seriously damaged, the city of Narva was
almost in ruins.
http://f5.pmo.ee/f/2010/11/04/460252t20h6b5e.jpg
Narva in ruins
http://files.ene.test.finestmedia.ee/EV%2090/large/Purustatud%20Narva%201944_164.jpg
Theatre Vanemuine before and after the war
http://www.ra.ee/fotis/index.php?type=2&id=611770
http://files.ene.test.finestmedia.ee/Varia_ajalugu/large/Tartu_Vanemuine_%20u%201916.jpg
Tartu stonebridge before and after the war
http://www.tartu.ee/data/kivisild1.jpg
Damaged Tallinn
http://www.rindeleht.ee/foorum/phpBB2/download/file.php?id=4138&mode=view
Damaged Tallinn
Theatre Estonia before and after the war
http://vanadasjad.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/tlm-f-2004.jpg
http://www.estonica.org/et/Teises_maailmas%C3%B5jas_h%C3%A4vinud_Eesti_arhitektuurip%C3%A4rand/#/104/7124/13798/13822/14342/14343/14344/18404
The flight of Estonians to the West during
World War II
• In 1944 about 80,000 Estonians escaped to Sweden and
Germany
• They escaped because Estonia was occupied by the
Soviet Union and they were afraid of arrest and
deportation
• About 8,000 of 80,000 people died trying to escape
because of autumn storms and they used simple fishing
boats which were full of people
The flight of Estonians to the West
http://migrationsmap.net/#/EST/departures
Escaping to Sweden
• About 25,000 people escaped to Sweden because
Sweden was a rich, prosperous and neutral country
• Swedish government was ready to help the refugees –
hot cocoa and warm, clean clothes were ready
Leaving home
Waiting for the boat
Refugees leave for Gotland
http://www.saartehaal.ee/wp-content/uploads/2008/08/4149.jpg
Swedish warship saving the refugees
Arrival in Gotland
Escaping to Germany
• About 30,000 people escaped to Germany, because
Germany was close and people could use horse
carriages and the railway
• Estonian soldiers in the German Army left Estonia with
the German Army
• Refugees were placed in refugee camps where food and
shelter were poor because Germany was full of refugees
• In 1947 - 1949 people left Germany and went to other
countries with better living conditions – the USA,
Canada, Australia
On the road to Germany
http://www.kool.ee/failid/pogenik.jpg
After the flight
• Estonians had to get used to the new society, find new
jobs
• People had to learn a new language – Swedish, German
or English and do hard physical labour in the forests,
factories or fields
• Estonians were valued because they worked hard and
were well educated
• They were homesick because of lack of contacts with
their relatives in homeland
• It was 30 years after the war that the emigrees could visit
their homeland for the first time
Laul - “Ma tahaksin kodus olla“
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDwaXL4_rro
Estonians in the Estonian House in Sweden
An Estonian school in Stockholm
“Better to die at the sea as a
free person than to die in
Siberia as a forced labourer”
Memories
“The first night at the sea passed
peacefully, but in the morning a strong
wind had risen, which turned into a storm.
In the afternoon, the engine of the ship
stopped working. Because of the strong
wind we could not use any sails either.
Fortunately, a Swedish warship noticed us
the next morning and saved us.”
“We had been sailing for only a few hours,
when the Swedish naval patrol spotted us
and lead us to the port on Fejan island.
Some people were saved from drowning
by the naval ship and we do not know how
many refugees died in that September
storm. We know that of fourteen boats,
which sailed out from Viimsi port, only nine
managed to arrive in Sweden.”
The second mass deportation in Estonia
In 1949
• The second mass deportation in
Estonia took place in March
1949.
• The deportation happened during
one night, at the same time in all
Baltic countries.
• From Estonia almost 20,000
people were deported to Siberia.
• The majority of deportees were
rich farmers with their families.
• Some people resisted, they
escaped with their families to the
forests and to other cities.
Children in a deportation wagon
Transportation
Wagons
Forest brothers
• The men who did not
manage to escape to the
West and were afraid of
deportation, escaped to
the forests
• They were called Forest
Brothers and hunted by
the Soviet Security
forces. When captured,
they were sent to prison
camps in Siberia
Metsavennalaul
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oZIcn
YcGmJA
Life in Siberia
Young Ants Laaneots
and uncle Elmar
http://arhiiv2.postimees.ee:8080/leht/99/03/25/2lk1.jpg
http://www.saartehaal.ee/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/13915.jpg
Memories
“One captured woman poisoned herself at the train station, the
woman's body was sent to the hospital.”
“The Russian officer was not a cruel man. He was calm and
showed what we should take with us. The Russians promised to
take all we wanted.”
“Two young people tried to escape, but they failed and were shot
on the spot.”
“My grandmother took the children away from the village when
she heard the warning. My grandmother escaped to the forest.
The parents of the children, however, were deported to Siberia.”
Life after deportation
After deportation in 1941
After deportation in 1949
• People returned to their
• Almost all men died in
home country after being
prison camps, few came
away for 8 years
back
• Their property had been
destroyed, strangers lived in
• Their wives and children
ther homes
could return to their home
• People who moved back to
country
their home country could not
live in big cities anymore
• Occupation bans, limited
learning opportunities and
other various restrictions
remained for a long time
Influence of deportations
• Investigation and commemoration of deportation was
banned for 50 years
• Deportations destroyed Estonian economic, political and
military elite
• Small farmsteads were replaced by collective farms
• The lives of about 30,000 people were destroyed
• People lived in fear, they did not know what would happen
next
Commemoration of deportees
in Tallinn
Commemoration of deportees
in Tartu
The immigration of Russians into Estonia
after World War II
• From 1945 -1991 about half a million people from Russia
and Ukraine migrated to Estonia
• Mostly the immigrants were Soviet Army personnel and
Russians who began to work in the factories and oil
shale mines
• State companies and ministries required cheap
workforce
• Good salary and living space in blocks of flats were used
as bait
• Some of the immigrants came to Estonia because of
marriage or family relations
Soviet Army
Workers in the Kreenholm factory
New residential area for immigrants in Tallinn
Lasnamäe
Town of immigrants: Sillamäe
Conclusion
• The Second World War changed Estonian population a
great deal
• About 8% of Estonians fled to the West, they were
isolated from their homeland for decades
• After the restoration of Estonian independence a
younger generation of Estonian emigrees contributed to
the restoration of independence. For example, President
Ilves
• Many Estonians deported to Siberia returned to
homeland after the death of Stalin in 1953 and had to
start their life from scratch
• Russian immigration led to the Russian-speaking
community, who did not speak Estonian and was located
mainly in the North-East of Estonia and in Tallinn.
• During the restoration of Estonian independence many
Russians were against it and part of them returned to Russia
and Ukraine.
• Nowadays the Estonian Government tries to integrate the
Russian-speaking community - about 300,000 people - into the
Estonian society
The Estonian flag on top of the tower Tall
Hermann in Tallinn
Tallinn old town
Tartu city centre
Snail tower in Tartu
Jägala waterfall in spring
Jägala waterfall in winter
Thank you for your attention!