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The Hoover Institution Library & Archives are pleased to offer competitive fellowships of $2,500 to support research based on our collections. Fellows will be expected to spend a minimum of five days in the Library & Archives; stipends may be used towards transportation, living, and other expenses.

BaltHerNet Summer School 2014 “Estonian Cultural Heritage Abroad” took place from 26-30 June in Tallinn and Viinistu. The sixth annual meeting of heritage preservers emphasised, in particular, the value of film and audiovisual material, its storage and use as research material. Over 40 people from eight different countries took part in the four-day programme.

The 26th Estonian Song Celebration and 19th Dance Celebration “Touched by time. The time to touch” takes place from 4th to 6th of July. The theme of the Song and Dance Celebration is that time stores every given touch and it becomes the story of time. Kogu Me Lugu also aims to store the touch of time by way of collecting memories. Kogu Me Lugu will be at the XXVI Song Celebration, which is held at the Tallinn Song Festival Grounds from 5th to 6th of July to collect and store family stories. If You or Your family has a story that is deeply affecting, come and tell us your story!

Kogu Me Lugu (KML) is an oral history initiative to collect video testimonials of people (direct witnesses or their friends and relatives) who have lived under or fled from the Soviet and/or the German occupation in Estonia or migrated as a result of acts committed by these regimes (http://kogumelugu.ee/). We invite and encourage the families of Estonian diaspora to share their story in Tallinn during Laulupidu (July 2-8 2014).

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the 1944 mass exodus from Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania that was triggered by the Soviet annexation of the Baltic republics. For those who still remember the 1940 elections in Estonia, there are some chilling parallels regarding the recent referendum and resulting annexation of Crimea by Russia.

In the summer and autumn of 1944, approximately 70,000 Estonians escaped across the Baltic Sea to Finland, Sweden, and Germany from the advancing Soviet army.

Enn Nõu’s film material about Estonian refugee culture in Sweden is available for viewing on YouTube.

On April 26, a seminar dedicated to collecting Estonian memory was held at Stanford University.

On April 5, a memorial event was held in Toronto, commemorating Dr. Olga Kistler-Ritso, an Estonian émigré who, together with thousands of other Estonians, was forced to flee the country during World War II.

After the Second World War, some of the largest communities of Estonians in exile formed around the world – Stockholm, Sydney, New York, Lakewood in New Jersey, and so on. One of the most important centres was Toronto, where thousands of Estonians found their new home.