Estonia Opens Memorial to Victims of the Holocaust

A "Gallery of Memory" installation dedicated to 974 Jews killed in Estonia during the Holocaust was opened at the Jewish Center in Tallinn on January 27, the date that marks International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

"The gallery consists of niches in which glass pieces are placed bearing the names of all the Jews we know to have been killed in Estonia up until January 20, 1942," said the center's executive director Vadim Ryvlin, referring to the time of the Wannsee Conference in Berlin in which Estonia was declared"Judenfrei."

"Perpetuating the names of these people was our goal," said Vadim Ryvlin.

Prior to World War II, approximately 4,300 Jews lived in Estonia. Most fled prior to the Nazi occupation of the country in June of 1941. Nearly all of those remaining, approximately 1,000, were killed by the regime.

At the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Andrus Ansip said: "I am convinced that the [...] mutual understanding [between the ethnic Estonian and Jewish communities] cannot be undermined by malice or indifference, nor by provocateurs, yellow media or political technologists abroad. I point out once again that liability for the crimes of totalitarian regimes does not expire, that there can't be any justification for such crimes and that Estonia has condemned them without reservations."

The installation will become a permanent exhibition and is open to the public.

ERR News