The aim of the trip was partly to connect with new audiences and conduct research, but also for Vabamu to exchange knowledge and experiences with the Swedish National Maritime Museum. The visit started at the Maritime Museum, where the Vabamu team met museum staff. In 2022 the Maritime Museum opened their temporary exhibition Escape from the Baltics, focusing on the mass flight from the Baltic States to Sweden in 1944. As Vabamu’s Free Winds exhibition deals with continued escapes to Sweden in the late 1940s, this was an opportunity to share experience and identify areas for cooperation.

At the Maritime Museum, the team met staff who had worked on the exhibition, conducting research, curating, and developing pedagogical material. They also visited the archives and collections and examined some of the exhibited objects. During our week in Sweden, Ede, Maja, and Lisa delivered public talks at the Swedish National Maritime Museum, the Stockholm Estonian School, the Stockholm Estonian House, and Göteborg City Library. At the museum, school, and library the talks focused on Free Winds, while at the Estonian House the talks were more broadly about how Vabamu engages with the Estonian diaspora, and invited the audience to share their stories for Vabamu’s current Estonia Worldwide exhibition.

At the Estonian House the team consulted the Estonian Archives and reviewed materials ranging from photos of refugee camps in Sweden to Estonian exile newspapers.

For the public presentations the team asked attendees to share any knowledge about the boats and people featured in the exhibition. People shared personal and family stories that helped the team identify additional relevant information. As Free Winds is primarily a digital exhibition, Vabamu can continue to develop it and incorporate new stories as we learn more.