Vabamu is making an exhibition about global Estonians! While the actual exhibition will be ready in 2026, we will be opening a smaller teaser exhibition this summer. This teaser exhibit will hopefully make the wait for the real thing a bit easier. 

While (obviously) smaller than the real exhibition, the teaser will still include many astonishing items and stories from the global Estonian diaspora.  

What, for example, did Siberian Estonians take with them when moving back to newly independent Estonia in the 1920s? How did Estonians know how to find a job in Finland before the Internet? What did Estonian refugees living in the free world write on their protest signs when demanding the release of dissidents imprisoned by the USSR? What was life like in a refugee camp in post-WWII Germany or on a tiny boat crossing the Atlantic?  

All this and maybe more will be featured in this upcoming teaser exhibit. 

Creating an exhibition to adequately tell the stories of the global Estonian diaspora is a large endeavor and the teaser exhibition is just one step on the way to creating hopefully the best and most thorough exhibition about Estonians abroad that has ever been made. And a task like this we cannot do alone. 

If you are an Estonian living elsewhere in the world or if you have lived in Estonia any time in the past (or right now) or if your family story is connected to Estonia – send us a photo of what being a global Estonian means to you. You can do so here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfUgP5ayPuDKIiW2c2mW5d3Zw2XVB37vAUSdskkjqvN-hERJQ/viewform