New online exhibition highlights stories of Estonians who fled from Sweden in 1940s
The Vabamu Musuem of Occupations and Freedom in Tallinn has launched a new online exhibition highlighting the incredible transatlantic journeys of Estonia's post-World War II refugee ships. "Free Winds" tells the stories of thousands of Estonians, who secretly fled from Sweden in the late 1940s in old, battered boats and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to freedom.
The refugees had just escaped to Sweden during the Great Flight (Suur Põgenemine) when about 80,000 Estonians, fearing for their lives, left their homeland. In the fall of 1944, as the Nazi German occupation collapsed and the Soviet Army advanced across the Baltic states, tens of thousands of Estonians crowded into small boats and escaped across the Baltic Sea.
Estonians thought they were safe in Sweden but soon the Soviet Union began pressuring the Swedish government to send the refugees back. Having survived the 1940-41 Year of Terror when Soviet troops occupied Estonia and imprisoned, murdered, and deported 20,000 people, the refugees had no illusions about what would happen if they were forced back home.
In the immediate post-World War II period, it was difficult for refugees to emigrate from Sweden legally and even harder for them to enter the United States and Canada. Preferring to control their own destinies, groups of Estonians secretly pooled their savings, bought and repaired old boats, and quietly sailed as far away as possible from the Soviet Union.
"Free Winds" tells the stories of these brave men, women, and children.
According to maritime historian Jüri Vendla, around 47 Baltic ships left Sweden between 1945 and 1951. At least seventeen vessels made it to the United States, eleven reached Canada, seven sailed to Argentina, two landed in Brazil, and three reached South Africa.
Estonians organized most of the unsanctioned voyages, but Latvians also captained ships. Some of the boats didn't make it however. Several were forced to end their journeys early and others probably sank or may have been seized by patrolling Soviet ships. However, since the voyages were planned in secret, accurate figures are unknown.
The popular press dubbed the vessels "Viking boats" because they came from Sweden and because, thanks to their skillful crews, most made it across the Atlantic. "No one, except the Vikings, has come in such a small boat," an astonished Canadian official exclaimed when the Astrid landed in Quebec in 1948 with 29 people on board.
One of the goals of "Free Winds" is to advance Jüri Vendla's research presented in "Forgotten Sea Journeys: The Daring Escapes of Estonians across the Atlantic in the Late 1940s" ("Unustatud merereisid: Eestlaste hulljulged põgenemisreisid üle Atlandi 1940.aastate teisel poolel").
"Free Winds" is based on ("Forgotten Sea Journeys" ("Unustatud Merereisid2), the only comprehensive account of the Estonian Viking ships. When his book was published in 2010, Vendla noted that Soviet censorship had suppressed knowledge of this period of Estonian history and that further research was warranted.
The "Free Winds" exhibition can be found online in English and Estonian here. It will soon also be available in Swedish.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Michael Cole