Welcome remarks by EANC President

At the Sept. 22, 2024 event cohosted by EANC at the NY Estonian House in commemoration of the 1944 Mass Flight of Refugees from Estonia

`Remembering the Mass Flight of 1944´

Väga austatud Eesti Vabariigi President Alar Karis, Suursaadik Kristjan Prikk, lugupeetud külalised, kallid kaasmaalased ja sõbrad.  On suur au teiega koos olla ja esindada Eesti Rahvuskomitee Ühendriikides(ERKÜ-t) sellel üritusel.  Greetings fellow Estonians and friends! It is an honor to be with you and represent the Estonian American National Council (EANC) at this event.

This year marks the 80^th anniversary of the Mass Flight (Suurpõgenemine), when an estimated 80,000 Estonians felt compelled to flee their country ahead of invading Russian forces.  Fleeing Estonians were deeply conflicted — they did not want to go, nor did they feel they could stay.  For these Estonians, 1944 is when the world shifted.  There was a „before“ and an „after“.    

Indeed, today it is considered every person’s birthright to know their roots. For Estonians, this is not just a question of knowing one’s DNA, but of knowing the stories that have woven the fabric of our communities.  It is these stories that connect us together and answer why we are here, connecting us to history and giving us perspective on events occurring today.   

My own connection to the Suurpõgenemine is this – both my parents left Estonia in 1944 – one by ship from Tallinn, the other on foot and train from Viljandi, the details of which I do not know.  They met in a displaced persons camp in Augsburg, Germany.   In 1956, when I was three, my mother, sister and I came to the U.S., where she struggled as a single parent, and where the Los Angeles Estonian House and school became an important focal point for our lives.

This important 80^th anniversary serves as a reminder of this huge displacement of people with its multi-generational impacts that also gave rise to our Estonian communities and organizations here in the U.S.  While they – our parents — left their hearts in Estonia, it is here in the U.S. they re-made their lives.  These pagulased helped to build and develop a vibrant Estonian-American community and culture, deeply linked to Estonia but still a thing unto itself that continues to this day.  These pagulased were also persistent in their advocacy for a free Estonia.

This anniversary provides the last best opportunity to collect the memories of those with direct experience of those dark days in 1944,  It is a chance to reclaim lost stories and unearth new details, which reveal the complexity of our history.  It  is a chance to send these stories forward where they can inspire new generations.  One more time, we have the opportunity to honor and celebrate those who got us here — to give recognition to a group — the pagulased — many of whom have been unrecognized for the difficult decisions they had to make.  It is a chance to remind our children from whence they came. 

We can also find fresh meaning in the fact that today – three generations later — we and our children have maintained or re-discovered our Estonian identity and our homeland.  We can understand our Estonian American story from varied perspectives — of those who left and those who stayed behind, of those who were already here before us, and those who came afterward.    

Yesterday in Pärnu, Estonia, a graceful commemorative statue and permanent place of remembrance was unveiled.  EANC, working together with and through the Estonian World Council, provided leadership to gather financial support worldwide from Estonian refugees and their descendents, and to plan the project and its unveiling.  This was no small undertaking!  EANC wants to sincerely thank all of you who contributed and invite everyone to visit and remember their own story.

Mai-Liis Bartling,

Eesti Rahvuskomitee Ühendriikides, president

*EANC cohosted this event with

the Estonian Embassy in the USA,

the New York Estonian Educational Society,

and the Foundation for Estonia Arts and Letters.