The Flight from Estonia to Sweden during World War II

The Flight from Estonia to Sweden during World War II

An estimated 70,000–80,000 people flied to the West from Estonia in the Second World War years, making it one of the largest waves of migration and one of the most important events of Estonian recent history, directly affecting the destinies of very many people.

Regarding this exodus, few traditional archival sources (lists of people departing and arriving) are available, as people mostly fled in secret on the basis of oral agreements and under conditions of immediate danger. The flight has been researched for decades relying primarily on memoirs, which provide an excellent overview of the escape journey of an individual or a family, but it is difficult to put an overall picture together out of such memories.

The seven articles in this collected work present new information, which largely originates from archival sources located outside of Estonia. Some of it has become freely accessible only in recent years. The authors shed light on various aspects of the great exodus, examining among other things the reception of and policies towards Estonian refugees in neighbouring Finland and Sweden. This is the first collection of research articles dedicated to the theme of flight from Estonia to Sweden during the Second World War.