Estonia`s Memorial to Victims of Communism in Maarjamäe and Liberty Square in Tallinn, Tartu Town Hall Square, Narva Town Hall Square, Pärnu Independence Square, Paide Central Square and elsewhere in Estonia
Take a look at previous years` Memorial Days: 2018, 2017, 2016, 2014
Photo Gallery here
On Monday, 25thof March, 70 years will pass from the March Deportation. Under the leadership of a number of non-governmental organisations and youth organisations, commemoration events will take place all over Estonia.
In March 1949, more than 22 000 Estonian people were taken to Siberia by force. The totalitarian regime branded innocent residents a “socially alien element“. Together, we commemorate the victims of the Soviet occupying power and display readiness to stand up for humanity and freedom, so such crimes would never be repeated.
16.00–17.00 A remembrance and wreath-laying ceremony will take place at Estonia`s Memorial to Victims of Communism in Maarjamäe, Tallinn
The President of the Republic of Estonia Kersti Kaljulaid, Minister of Justice Urmas Reinsalu and Chairman of the Board of Memento Estonia Arnold Aljaste will speak and a commemorative prayer will be given by the Archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Urmas Viilma.
Wreaths will be laid on the Memorial and all participants are invited to light candles in memory of those deported.
12. 00–21.00 Arvo Pärt`s “Spiegel im Spiegel“ will be played in the Memorial`s commemoration corridor. Everyone is welcome to commemorate the victims with flowers, wreaths and candles. Information about the Memorial and visitation and an online memorial with data of more than 100 000 victims of communism are located here: www.memoriaal.ee
18.00 Traditional commemoration candles are lit in Liberty Square in Tallinn, Tartu Town Hall Square, Pärnu Independence Square, Narva Town Hall Square and 19.00 Paide Central Square
The outline of the map of Estonia, with the railway lines where the fateful journey began, will be marked down on Liberty Square in Tallinn. Laser technology seldom used in Estonia will be used to display the story of the March Deportation on the wall of Tallinn City Council building. This emotional and descriptive audiovisual composition will give a glimpse at just how unexpected and cruel the injustice imparted on the deportees was. The names of the deportees will be displayed next to the animation throughout the evening.
A brief overview of the events in March 1949 will be provided in six different languages.
We ask the participants to bring grave candles.
The art group Sled, engaged in issues of memory and identity on the verge of contemporary art and anthropology, will be showing an exhibition series “Siberian childhood“ in sixteen different railway stations in Estonia from March 25 to June 14. The exhibit is about people deported to Siberia as children or who were born in Siberia.
Read more: https://www.hooandja.ee/projekt/siberi-lapsepolv
In the evening of the Memorial Day, the former Patarei Prison, one of the symbols of the crimes of totalitarian regimes, will be coloured red from the seaward side as a precautionary beacon of memory. The Estonian Institute of Historical Memory will establish an International Museum for the Victims of Communism and Research Centre in Patarei with the support of the Estonian state. Already in May 2019, an exhibition introducing crimes of communism will be opened in the building.
Additional information about the museum initiative is available here: www.communismvictimsmuseum.com.
Commemorative events are organised by Tulipisar, Federation of Estonian Student Unions, Estonian School Student Councils` Union, Estonian National Youth Council, Memento Estonia, Estonian Institute of Historical Memory, Institute of Human Rights, youth association Open Republic, Sled, Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom in cooperation with the Ministry of Justice.
#mäletame #25.03.1949
Remembrance Day events across Estonia (Non-exhaustive list)
