ovwb – International Conference of Deportees Held in Tallinn

This Thursday and Friday, Tallinn hosted a discussion event and conference of the Baltic Alliance cooperation network, which brings together deportees from Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.

The conference focused on the stories of the victims of the Soviet occupation, intergenerational cooperation, and activities aimed at collecting and presenting the shared historical memory both to the wider world and to younger generations.

According to Enno Uibo, Chairman of the Broken Cornflower Society, the Baltic Alliance is a network across generations and countries that helps to keep history alive. “Today, those who were taken to Siberia as children are still alive. With each passing day we feel ever more strongly that we must pass on our stories, because memories fade with us. At a time when military aggression is once again very close to us, it is crucial that our stories and experiences are heard also beyond the Baltic States.”

During the conference, the Baltic Alliance signed a resolution and a petition calling for the establishment of a compensation mechanism for the victims of military deportations between 1926 and 1952 in Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Ukraine, using frozen assets of the Russian Federation.

The Baltic Alliance, a joint organization of the repressed in the Baltic States and Poland, was established in the autumn of 2024. The organization’s aim is to raise awareness about the repressions carried out by the Soviet Union and to organize educational events. Estonia is represented in the Baltic Alliance by the Broken Cornflower Society.

Currently uniting around 700 members, the Broken Cornflower Society was founded in 2003 with the aim of bringing together those deported to Siberia. Its name comes from the Broken Cornflower badge introduced by President Lennart Meri in 2001.