Estonia's Victims of Communism 1940–1991

the Electronic memorial

The following are entered in the electronic memorial:

  1. persons repressed extrajudicially or groundlessly convicted by the Soviet occupying regime in 1940–1991 and who are subject to rehabilitation according to the legislation of the Republic of Estonia ‘Act concerning the rehabilitation of persons who have been extrajudicially repressed and groundlessly convicted’;
  2. persons murdered for political reasons;
  3. persons who were designated to be deported but whom the occupying regime did not succeed in deporting.

Working groups formed by the Ministry of Justice, which organised the establishment of the Memorial, that included specialists and representative associations of repressed persons, determined the categories of persons that would be remembered on the Memorial.

Thus the electronic memorial includes information on persons who perished in the course of the communist terror and persons who were released from imprisonment or banishment, along with data on those victims whose fate is not known.

Structure of the electronic memorial

Information on repression contained in various written sources is assembled to accompany persons in the electronic memorial (see the list of sources here) together with data that has been received from people as feedback. Information is presented in unaltered form such as it is recorded in the source.

Basic data on persons (name, year of birth and death) can be found as the result of searches in the electronic memorial on the left edge of the page and they are presented on the basis of sources or feedback that are available by the current time. In addition to the person who is being searched for, data on his/her family members who were subject to repression is also presented such as it is entered in the books published by the Registry Bureau of Estonian Repressed Persons.

Sources
  • Poliitilised arreteerimised Eestis, kd 1
    Poliitilised arreteerimised Eestis 1940-1988. Vol. 1; compiled and edited by Leo Õispuu; Tallinn: Registry Bureau of Repressed Estonian Persons, 1996.
  • Poliitilised arreteerimised Eestis, kd 2
    Nõukogude okupatsioonivõimu poliitilised arreteerimised Eestis. Vol. 2; compiled by Leo Õispuu; Tallinn: Registry Bureau of Repressed Estonian Persons, 1998.
  • Poliitilised arreteerimised Eestis, kd 3
    Nõukogude okupatsioonivõimu poliitilised arreteerimised Eestis. Vol. 3; compiled by Leo Õispuu; Tallinn: Registry Bureau of Repressed Estonian Persons, 2005.
  • Küüditatud 1940
    Deportees from 1940. In the book: Küüditamine Eestist Venemaale: juuniküüditamine 1941 & küüditamised 1940-1953; compiled by Leo Õispuu; Tallinn: Registry Bureau of Repressed Estonian Persons, 2001.
  • Küüditatud juunis & juulis 1941
    Deportees from June and July 1941. In the book: Küüditamine Eestist Venemaale: juuniküüditamine 1941 & küüditamised 1940-1953; compiled by Leo Õispuu; Tallinn: Registry Bureau of Repressed Estonian Persons, 2001.
  • Sakslastena küüditatud 15.08.1945
    Persons deported as Germans on 15 August 1945. In the book: Küüditamine Eestist Venemaale: juuniküüditamine 1941 & küüditamised 1940-1953; compiled by Leo Õispuu; Tallinn: Registry Bureau of Repressed Estonian Persons, 2001.
  • Vahepealsetel aegadel 1945-1953 küüditatud
    Deportees from the intervening period 1945-1953. In the book: Küüditamine Eestist Venemaale: juuniküüditamine 1941 & küüditamised 1940-1953; compiled by Leo Õispuu; Tallinn: Registry Bureau of Repressed Estonian Persons, 2001.
  • Küüditatud usutunnistuse pärast (1951)
    Persons deported because of their religion (1951), in the book: Küüditamine Eestist Venemaale: juuniküüditamine 1941 & küüditamised 1940-1953; compiled by Leo Õispuu; Tallinn: Registry Bureau of Repressed Estonian Persons, 2001.
  • Märtsiküüditamine 1949
    Küüditamine Eestist Venemaale: märtsiküüditamine 1949. 2. osa; compiled by Leo Õispuu; Tallinn: Registry Bureau of Repressed Estonian Persons, 1999.
  • Lisanimestik. Märtsiküüditamine 1949
    Additional list of deported persons in 1949. In the book: Küüditamine Eestist Venemaale: märtsiküüditamine 1949. Part 1; compiled by Leo Õispuu; Tallinn: Registry Bureau of Repressed Estonian Persons, 2003.
  • Nimestik R4-1
    Küüditamisele 14.03 ja 22.03.1949 määratud, kuid mitte küüditatud.
  • Lisanimestik nimekirjade R1-R7 täiendamiseks
    Additional list of repressed persons. In the book: Kommunismi kuriteod Eestis: lisanimestik 1940-1990 raamatute R1-R7 täiendamiseks; compiled by Leo Õispuu; Tallinn: Registry Bureau of Repressed Estonian Persons, 2010.
  • Lisanimestik nimekirjade R1-R7 täiendamiseks
    Kommunismi kuriteod Eestis: lisanimestik 1940-1990 raamatute R1-R7 täiendamiseks; koostanud Leo Õispuu; Tallinn: Eesti Represseeritute Registri Büroo, 2019
  • Matmispaigad
    Küüditatute matmispaigad Siberis; andmebaasi koostanud MTÜ Siberi Lood; Rahvuskaaslaste programmi projekt, 2019.
  • Hukkunud metsavendade nimestik
    List of forest brothers who perished; compiled by Eerik-Niiles Kross.
  • Kommunistliku terrori läbi hukkunud Eesti ohvitseride nimestik
    List of Estonian officers who perished in the communist terror; compiled by Peeter Kaasik, Estonian Institute of Historical Memory.
  • Represseeritute kartoteek
    Operative-informational card file of persons convicted for political reasons (original card file of the state security organs); Estonian National Archives, ERAF.130SM.2.2-1 to ERAF.130SM.2.2-44
  • Suvesõjas mõrvatud, Tartumaa
    Herbert Lindmäe, Suvesõda Tartumaal 1941; Tartu: H. Lindmäe, 1999.
  • Suvesõjas mõrvatud, Virumaa
    Herbert Lindmäe, Suvesõda Virumaal 1941; Tartu: ORURK, 2002.
  • Suvesõjas mõrvatud, Viljandimaa
    Herbert Lindmäe, Suvesõda Viljandimaal 1941; Tartu: ORURK, 2004.
  • Suvesõjas mõrvatud, Pärnumaa
    Herbert Lindmäe, Suvesõda Pärnumaal 1941; Tartu: Sihtasutus Valge Raamat, 2006.
  • Suvesõjas mõrvatud, Valgamaa
    Herbert Lindmäe, Suvesõda Valgamaal 1941; Tartu: Valge Raamat, 2008.
  • Suvesõjas mõrvatud, Järvamaa
    Herbert Lindmäe, Suvesõda Järvamaal 1941; Tartu: Valge Raamat, 2010.
  • Suvesõjas mõrvatud, Võrumaa
    Herbert Lindmäe, Suvesõda Võrumaal 1941; Tartu: Valge Raamat, 2012.
  • Suvesõjas mõrvatud, Petserimaa
    Herbert Lindmäe, Suvesõda Petserimaal 1941; Tartu: Valge Raamat, 2013.
  • Suvesõjas mõrvatud, Harjumaa
    Herbert Lindmäe, Suvesõda Harjumaal 1941; Tartu: Valge Raamat, 2015.
  • Vjatlagis hukkunute nimestik
    List of persons who perished at Vjatlag – Jüri Vlassov II. The GULAG and Estonians at the Vjatka prison camp in 1941–1945]. Bachelor’s thesis. University of Tartu, 2015. Electronic appendix.
  • Sõjavangilaagrite nimekirjad
    List of Estonians who perished in Soviet prisoner of war camps and filtration camps, Estonian Institute of Historical Memory.
  • Juudid, Mark Rõbak
    Database of Estonian Jews who were victims of communism, compiled by Mark Rõbak.
  • ERA.R-296
    Personal files of prisoners in General Prison no. 1, Estonian National Archives, ERA.R-296 series 5.
  • ERAF.131SM
    Card file of killed forest brothers and so-called special deaths of persons killed by forest brothers; Estonian National Archives, ERAF.131sm.1.431.
  • ERAF.12SM
    Collection of personal files of prisoners, Estonian National Archives, ERAF.12SM.
  • ERAF.12BSM
    Collection of personal files of persons sentenced to death, Estonian National Archives, ERAF.12BSM.
  • Pereregister
    Family Registry database, Tallinn University Centre for Estonian Demographics.
  • Rahvastikuregister
    Population Registry
  • Pension files of the repressed
    Pension files of the repressed, Archive of the Ministry of Social Affairs.
  • EMI kirjed
    Composite entry compiled by the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory based on various sources.
  • Tagasiside
    Feedback to the website of the Memorial for victims of communism memoriaal.ee, Estonian Institute of Historical Memory.
PERSONS NOT INCLUDED IN THE DATABASE OF VICTIMS OF COMMUNISM
  • fighters as forest brothers or members of the Omakaitse (Home Guard) killed in battle against the Soviet regime in 1940/1941
  • persons who perished as victims of war as a consequence of combat;
  • persons who departed as evacuees from Estonia to the Soviet rear area in the summer of 1941 and died there without having been subjected to repressions;
  • men who were mobilised into the Red Army in the summer of 1941 and died in labour battalions in the Soviet rear area from illnesses, inhuman living conditions, or due to circumstances that have not been clearly identified. Mobilised men who were arrested for political purposes and put on trial while they were in labour battalions;
  • men who fell in battle as part of any kind of armed unit during the war or persons who died in some other war situation;
  • victims of the communist terror who were known to have themselves been guilty of crimes against humanity or war crimes as collaborators with the communist or national socialist regime.
  • victims of communist terror who served in the ranks of Soviet organs of repression and destruction battalions or had joined the Communist Party before 1954
CHECKING AND SUPPLEMENTATION OF INFORMATION

Please check to see if the following information is known about any particular individual in the electronic memorial.

  • Are the name and the years of birth and death correct and is the name of the person’s father or mother included?
  • In the case of deportees, is the date when the person was released provided? Do you know when the person actually returned? Did family members return together, or did someone come earlier?
  • In the case of arrested persons, it is important to know whether release from prison camp was followed by being sent into banishment or the return of the released person to the Estonian homeland.
  • If you find two personal entries in the electronic memorial that actually refer to a single person, please inform us of this.
  • If the change you are proposing concerns a person’s basic information (name or year of birth and death), please send a document verifying the correct information to the e-mail address memoriaal@mnemosyne.ee

We are very grateful for corrections and additions! We will enter accepted corrections continuously, thus the list is constantly being supplemented and altered.

Contact:
Tõnismägi 8, Tallinn 10119;
Tel. +372 648 4962
memoriaal@mnemosyne.ee
mnemosyne.ee

Search in the electronic memorial

By using the search window, you can find information in the electronic memorial on persons who suffered in the communist terror and you will find instructions for finding their names on the name plaques.