The Great Baltic Escape – and the armada of boats that saved so many

The Great Baltic Escape – and the armada of boats that saved so many (2)

Eestlased Kanadas | 24 Oct 2022 | Toomas EichenbaumEesti Elu

The small boat Triina left Tallinn on 19 September, with about 450 Estonians and 80 coastal Swedes on board. The passengers included writers August Gailit, Marie Under, Artur Adson and August Mälk, who all continued to be prominent Estonian writers in exile. - pics/2018/07/51881_001_t.jpg — The small boat Triina left Tallinn on 19 September, with about 450 Estonians and 80 coastal Swedes on board. The passengers included writers August Gailit, Marie Under, Artur Adson and August Mälk, who all continued to be prominent Estonian writers in exile.

In the late summer of 1944 tens of thousands of Baltic people were compelled to flee their homelands. They fled in desperation with the intensifying war front in the Baltic lands and in fear of the pending terror of a Soviet reoccupation of their nations. Some fled via limited land routes, several thousand crammed onto the last departing freighter ships. In Estonia, over 30,000 Estonians fled to the Baltic sea coast seeking passage to Sweden on boats large and small. Those who were fortunate to find space on boats would embark on a perilous journey - across the Baltic sea. Many boats capsized in the stormy seas, some boats were ruthlessly sunk by the invaders’ gunboats. Several thousand perished at sea. Yet over 27,000, crammed on their small boats for two or more days and nights, survived the journey and landed on Swedish shores. They disembarked into an uncertain future but feeling heaven blessed for their deliverance. The escapees hoped that the war would soon come to an end and envisaged a return to their homeland and to their loved ones left behind. But this was not to be. The lives of those escapees were irreversibly diverted and a return to the homeland would not be possible for decades…

(Pikemalt saab lugeda Eesti Elu 21. oktoobri 2022 paber- ja digilehest)

Viimased kommentaarid

Kommentaarid on kirjutatud EWR lugejate poolt. Nende sisu ei pruugi ühtida EWR toimetuse seisukohtadega.

Susi29 Oct 2022 10:47

Nùùd tundke kaasa oma vanavanematele..
Ma mòtlen globalistid, feministid...

The end of the Story!29 Oct 2022 08:41

The Soviet Government wanted 80,000 Estonians, Latvians, and Lithuanians forcibly retuned and even got some of them. They pressured the Swedish Government by kidnapping their diplomat, Raoul Wallenberg, and using him as a bargaining chip.
My father was in a refuge camp in Sweden and witnessed Soviet soldiers come and grab former soldiers.
He decided then and there that he must to get out of Sweden a.s.a.p!

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