Pilistvere hosts memorial service for victims of communism and Nazism

ERR reported that about 200 people from across Estonia gathered at the Pilistvere stone mound on Sunday for a memorial service for victims of communism and Nazism.

The service was organised by the Estonian Memento Union together with the Pilistvere St Andrew’s congregation. Speeches were delivered, while participants recalled the difficult years they spent in Siberia.

Viivi Lemberpuu-Tootmaa, a survivor of the March 1949 deportation, recalled being given half an hour before being sent to Siberia.

“Half an hour was given, and then the journey to Siberia began. My father was so frightened; he did not know what to do. He had done nothing wrong. We were told that children and women would not be deported, but everything turned out the opposite way,” she said.

Arnold Aljase, chairman of the Estonian Memento Union, said many relatives had been left in foreign lands without a cross or stone to mark their graves.

“In 1988, people began bringing here stones to free themselves from sorrow. It is our sacred duty to come here again,” Aljase said.