Monthly Archives: December 2022

At the end of 2022, the Academic Publishing House of the University of Latvia launched the monograph “For Latvia. Political activities in exile, 1940s to 1980s”. The study examines the political activity implemented by Latvians in exile in the host countries, the purpose of which activity was to sustain the idea of the independence of the Republic of Latvia and promote the restoration of Latvian statehood. The author of the monograph is PhD Kristīne Beķere, a researcher at the Latvian Institute of History, University of Latvia.

Estonian House in Sydney is being renovated, and part of it is being prepared for commercial letting. This meant that the Archive had to move from its previous location on the first floor to a new site on the lower ground floor. Though smaller than the previous one, the new architect-designed, air-conditioned and light-controlled room is a much better fit for our collection. We had to carefully review our collection, especially the library, to decide what to keep and offer other memory institutions. The new compact takes 660 archive boxes; we are rearranging the library shelves and will, for the first time, have room to display our collection of paintings.

This fall, the Pica Pica Press publishing house, located in Flossmoor, IL, USA, was pleased to announce for the first time in English, a release of a classic of Lithuanian literature, Fall Comes from the Forest (Miškais ateina ruduo) by Marius Katiliškis, translated by Birutė Šležas-Vaičjurgis.

After travel restrictions that lasted a couple of years, active travel between Canada and Estonia has been restored and many interesting guests have visited the Toronto Estonian community and found their way to VEMU.

Since the invasion of Ukraine by Russia in February 2022, various forms of media have broadcast the events in Ukraine as well as the quality and state of life of Ukrainian refugees in Estonia. However, a lesser degree of focus has been put on how the war has affected Estonians and what role Estonians have played overall in the war. Another question that needs to be posed is how this war has affected diaspora Estonians and their respective communities. There’s no doubt that the war in Ukraine has revived personal and familial memories for many Estonians from the era of the Second World War, the fears related to it, and the trauma of leaving their homeland. With the upcoming collection campaign titled “Stories of War” from the Association of Estonian Life Stories and the Estonian Cultural History Archives (Estonian Literary Museum), we wish to collect stories related to the Ukrainian war from individuals belonging to various generations. VEMU/Estonian Museum Canada in Toronto is a partner for the collection campaign. When documenting your story, the following questions can be considered:

On September 6th, Latvian Member of Parliament Veiko Spolitis presented a lecture titled “Russian war in Ukraine, the Baltic States in transformative Northern Europe & European Union”. Veiko Spolitis visited Canada as a guest of the Muskoka Forest University.

An art exhibit titled “Konrad Mägi. Unseen Paintings” could be viewed at the Mikkeli museum in Tallinn throughout August and September. The exhibition introduced artworks that the public had never seen from almost all of the artist’s creative periods, allowing for a further understanding of Mägi’s legacy. The pieces came from Estonian and Swedish private collections as well as from VEMU/Estonian Museum Canada. In addition, the album “Konrad Mägi” detailing the artist’s life and all of his surviving works was launched alongside the exhibition’s opening.

The National Library of Lithuania has added new documents to the collection of documents on the activities of cultural attachés of diplomatic missions of the Republic of Lithuania. The last collection of documents came from Tomas Ivanauskas, who served as Cultural Attaché to China and South Korea from 2019 to 2021. The archive handed over is exceptionally rich in published documents, illustrating the intensity of publishing work.