Children of the 1944 Estonian diaspora

During 1944, thousands of Estonian families escaped by sea from the invading Russian Army. My photographic project is recording the memories the 'children' of these families have today, almost 80 years later.

Children of the 1944 Estonian diaspora

During 1944, thousands of Estonians escaped by sea from the invading Russian Army. My uncle and mother were 7 and 5 years old when they were smuggled with their mother onto the boat Juhan, which made 9 journeys from Tallinn to Stockholm that year. My grandfather followed a few weeks later in a small rowing boat. Growing up, I heard this story from an adult point of view, but always wondered what it was like for the children. My project is finding these ‘children’ and hearing their stories.

These ‘children’ are now in their 80’s and 90’s but all of them have some sort of memory of the escape. To this day, my mum can’t stand the smell of engine-oil as she was hiding in a tool box. My uncle remembers the soft white bread and hot milk they were served as they arrived in Sweden. And this is what I am most interested in when pursuing this project. What memories do these 'children' have of the escape? I want to find as many of them as I can before it is too late and hear their stories - all so different, yet similar. I make portraits of them (siblings together if possible), but I also photograph an object  – often something they brought with them from Estonia or something else kept from that time. This project feels so poignant as there are so many refugees fleeing across waters all over the globe today. I want to go wherever I can find them and there are so many places I haven't yet been – Australia, Brazil, Argentina to name but a few – since I can't easily fund the travel there. With the 80th anniversary of the mass-flight coming up next year and these 'children' not getting any younger, I am feeling the urgency to get this project done stronger than ever.