Estonia Commemorates Victims of June Deportations

14.06.2012

Nr 172-E

Today, on the Day of Mourning, Foreign Minister Urmas Paet said that the 1941 deportations were a violent attempt by foreign totalitarian powers to destroy the Estonian people. “In remembering one of the most tragic events in Estonia’s history, we know that all the crimes of totalitarian regimes must be condemned so that they are not repeated,” he stated.

On 14 June 1941 over 10 000 people were forcefully deported to Siberia; 80% were women, children and elderly people.

Paet stated that the authorities tried to break the spirit of the Estonian people through fear and terror and erase the memories of Estonian statehood. “They wanted to suppress the desire and dream to restore our lost independence,” Paet said. “Practically every Estonian family was affected by the repressions of the Soviet regime,” he added.

Today Foreign Minister Paet will participate in the memorial ceremonies being held at the statue of Linda on Toompea at 15.00 and at the memorial marker at Pääsküla train station at 18.00. On 14 June 1941 close to 500 people were loaded into railway cars in Pääsküla to be sent to Siberia.