Estonia: Põlluaas on the anniversary of the June deportation: the tragedy etched a seal of memory into the soul of our nation

NordenBladet — Today, on the anniversary of the June deportation, President of the Riigikogu (Parliament of Estonia) Henn Põlluaas laid the flowers and lit a candle in the memory of all victims of communism at the Memorial Wall of the Memorial to the Victims of Communism at Maarjamäe in Tallinn.  

“Today, we celebrate the day of commemoration in memory of the deported. It is the Day of Mourning,” Põlluaas said. “The June deportation, the war years that followed it, the new deportations by communists in 1945, 1949 and 1951 left a mark for long times. The tragedy we experienced etched a seal of memory into the soul of our nation that we carry from generation to generation.”

Põlluaas said that today we commemorated the victims of these tragic events – those who suffered, those who perished, those who returned and those who stayed behind. “We will not forget also other victims of communism. None of them,” he emphasised. “We bow our heads in memory of them all. We remember and we commemorate, so that nothing like that would never again be repeated, and our children would grow up with laughter and joy in a free, cornflower blue land our ancestors have left us.”

The President of the Riigikogu also visited the installation “”Wagon of Tears” that was erected on the Freedom Square in Tallinn by the Estonian Institute of Human Rights.

During the night before 14 June 1941, mass deportation took place in Estonia. Soviet repressive authorities deported around 10,000 people to Siberia. Among them, there were over 100 children under the age of one year. Even bedridden old people were deported. 6,000 children, women and men died of hunger and exhaustion, or were executed. On the Day of Mourning, all victims of repressions are commemorated.

Video of the speech by the President of the Riigikogu

Text of the speech by the President of the Riigikogu

Photos of the day of commemoration of the June deportation (author: Erik Peinar, Riigikogu)

 


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