{"id":12514,"date":"2024-10-10T11:18:52","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T11:18:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vabamu.ee\/?post_type=exhibitions&#038;p=12514"},"modified":"2026-01-16T04:02:45","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T04:02:45","slug":"online-exhibition-free-winds","status":"publish","type":"exhibitions","link":"https:\/\/vabamu.ee\/en\/exhibitions\/online-exhibition-free-winds\/","title":{"rendered":"Online exhibition &#8220;Free Winds&#8221;"},"content":{"rendered":"            <div class=\"block-exhibitions-inner-info b-bottom\">\n            <div class=\"wrap\">\n                                                <h2>\n                                            Online exhibition &#8220;Free Winds&#8221;                                    <\/h2>\n                <div class=\"desc\">\n                                    <\/div>\n                <div class=\"thumb\">\n                                            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1105\" height=\"515\" src=\"https:\/\/vabamu.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Free-Winds-image-for-release.jpg\" class=\"attachment-9999x515 size-9999x515 wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/vabamu.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Free-Winds-image-for-release.jpg 2294w, https:\/\/vabamu.ee\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Free-Winds-image-for-release-1024x477.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1105px) 100vw, 1105px\" \/>                                    <\/div>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    \n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-buttons is-layout-flex wp-block-buttons-is-layout-flex\"><\/div>\n\n\n            <div class=\"block-post-content\">\n            <div class=\"wrap\">\n                <p><strong>\u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/freewinds.vabamu.ee\/\">Free Winds<\/a>,\u201d a new online exhibition\u00a0highlights how in the late 1940s thousands of Estonians secretly fled from Sweden in old, battered boats and sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to freedom.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"none\">The refugees had already escaped once from their homeland. In autumn 1944, as the Nazi German occupation collapsed at the end of World War II and the Soviet Army advanced across the Baltic states, tens of thousands of Estonians crowded into small boats and fled to Sweden. The refugees thought they were safe but soon the Soviet Union began pressuring Sweden to send them back. Having survived the 1940-41 Year of Terror when Soviets imprisoned, murdered, and deported 20,000 Estonians, the refugees had no illusions about what would happen if they returned.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">In the immediate post-World War II period, it was difficult for refugees to emigrate from Sweden <\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">legally and even harder for them to enter the United States and Canada<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. Preferring to control their own destinies, groups of Estonians <\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">secretly<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> pooled their savings, bought and repaired old boats, and quietly sailed as far away as possible from the Soviet Union.\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">According to maritime historian J\u00fcri Vendla, about 47 ships left Sweden between 1945 and 1951. At least 17 vessels made it to the United States, 11 reached Canada, 7 sailed to Argentina, 2 landed in Brazil, and 3 reached South Africa. Estonians organized most of the unsanctioned voyages, but Latvians also captained ships. <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">Poles and Finns also captained ships, but these are beyond the Baltic focus of \u201cFree Winds.\u201d<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> Some of the<\/span> <span data-contrast=\"auto\">boats didn\u2019t make it: Several were forced to end their journeys early and others probably sank or may have been seized by patrolling Soviet ships. However, since the voyages were planned in secret, accurate figures are unknown.\u202f<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">One of the goals of \u201cFree Winds\u201d is to advance J\u00fcri Vendla\u2019s research presented in <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Unustatud merereisid: Eestlaste hulljulged p\u00f5genemisreisid \u00fcle Atlandi 1940. aastate teisel poolel (Forgotten Sea Journeys: The daring escapes of Estonians across the Atlantic in the late 1940s)<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">. \u201cFree Winds\u201d is based on <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Unustatud Merereisid<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">, the only comprehensive account of the Estonian Viking ships. When his book was published in 2010, Mr. Vendla noted that Soviet censorship had suppressed knowledge of this period of Estonian history and that further research was warranted. By making these stories widely available online for the first time, the exhibition hopes to attract new information to warrant publication of an updated version of <\/span><i><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Unustatud merereisid<\/span><\/i><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> in English.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Lisa Trei, a graduate student at Tallinn University, developed and curated \u201cFree Winds\u201d through a partnership with Vabamu, where she was a <a href=\"https:\/\/vabamu.ee\/en\/news\/lisa-trei-receives-fulbright-to-partner-with-vabamu-museum\/\">Fulbright Specialist<\/a> in spring 2024 and is currently a consultant. Ms. Trei previously worked at Stanford University, which has a longstanding <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">relationship<\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\"> with Vabamu through the Estonian and Baltic Studies Program at Stanford Libraries. The exhibition is hosted on Vabamu\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/nova.vabamu.ee\/en\/\">NoVa (Noorte Vabamu)<\/a> educational platform, <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">which is directed by Ede Schank Tamkivi, who served as a key partner on the exhibition.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The Cultural Endowment of Estonia and the Estonian American National Council generously provided seed funding for \u201cFree Winds.\u201d Franka and Anni Vakkum designed the exhibition and Inga Sokman at Civitta digitally developed the site. The Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs arranged for <\/span><span data-contrast=\"none\">Maja Soom\u00e4gi, a graduate student at the University of Glasgow, <\/span><span data-contrast=\"auto\">to serve as a 2024 summer intern at Vabamu. As a result, <strong>\u201cFree Winds,\u201d currently in Estonian and English, will soon be available in Swedish.<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n            <\/div>\n        <\/div>\n    ","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"featured_media":12515,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","exhibitions-category":[53],"class_list":["post-12514","exhibitions","type-exhibitions","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","exhibitions-category-vabamu-exhibitions-abroad"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Online exhibition &quot;Free Winds&quot; - Vabamu<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/vabamu.ee\/en\/exhibitions\/online-exhibition-free-winds\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Online exhibition &quot;Free Winds&quot; - 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