In the Haapsalu railway and communication museum, the exhibition “Destiny Year 1944 in Läänemaa” will be opened next Friday. From the rails to the boat”. The exhibition opens on August 23, the 85th anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the event that led to the Great Escape of 1944.
In the fall of 1944, Läänemaa had become a crossroads, which was crossed by most of the refugees trying to reach the West. The railway, along which the refugees could travel to Haapsallu, Rohukülla and Virtsu, played an important role in people’s escape. Haapsalu railway station was one of the hubs on the refugees’ route. In September 1944, refugees were fed at this dining table.
The fate of two Estonian railway workers – Estonian Johannes Saarmann and coastal Swede Emil Johannes Markus – reflects the fate of thousands who lost their homes.
The exhibition exhibits, for example, Emil Johannes Markus’s railway uniform (collection of the Estonian National Museum), which he wore when he left Estonia in February 1944 and kept for decades in exile.
The exhibition “Fateful year 1944 in Läänemaa. From the rails to the boat” is dedicated to all those thousands of compatriots who lost their lives or homes during the events of the Second World War. The mini-exhibition is part of the all-Estonian exhibition series “Year of Fate 1944” and is an introduction to the exhibition “Year of Fate 1944 in Läänemaa” reflecting the events of 1944 in Haapsalu Town Hall, which will be opened on September 20.
The authors of the exhibition are Tõnu Tammearu and Talis Vare. The exhibition can be viewed until September 2025.
2024-08-16 12:05:16
#railway #museum #miniexhibition #rails #boat
