At Los Nordicos last week we had the privilege to listen to an interesting lecture by historian Bengt Kummel, PhD, from Finland. The topic was “The dramatic circumstances around the transfer of Estonian Swedes to Sweden in 1944”. Dr. Kummel started by giving some historic data on the Swedish population of Estonia, a linguistic minority residing in the coastal areas and islands of what today is western and northern Estonia.
The first settlement of Estonian Swedes in these surroundings dates back to the 13th and 14th centuries, when their Swedish-speaking ancestors arrived in Estonia from Sweden and Finland (which was part of Sweden for 600 years until 1809). The first written evidence of Swedes in Estonia comes from 1294. During the 13th through 15th centuries, many Swedes arrived in coastal Estonia from Swedish-speaking parts of Finland. In 1561 Sweden established the Dominion of Swedish Estonia, which it would hold until 1710 (formally until 1721, when the territory was ceded to Russia under the Treaty of Nystad.). The Estonia Swedes prospered during this period. Swedish, along with German and Estonian, was an official language.
Following the Great Northern war (1700-1721) the Dominion of Swedish Estonia was lost to Russia, and the conditions worsened for the Estonian Swedes. A great part of the lands they had settled were confiscated from the church and given to local nobility. At certain times during the Russian period, groups of Estonian Swedes were forced to leave the country for other parts of the Russian empire. In 1781, empress Catherine II forced the Swedes of Dagö (Hiiumaa) to move to Ukraine where they established the community of Gammelsvenskby.
After the First World War and the Russian Revolution, the independent Republic of Estonia was created in 1918 and conditions improved for the Estonian Swedes. The ethnic minority groups were granted control over their language and education. A Swedish political organization, Svenska Folkförbundet, was formed.
Then came the Second World War. In 1939, the Soviet Union forced Estonia to sign a treaty concerning military bases. Many of the islands on which Estonian Swedes lived were confiscated,
and the inhabitants were forced to leave their homes. In 1940, Estonia was occupied by the Soviet Union. Estonian Swedish men were forced to join the Red Army, and with the German Occupation in 1941 conscripted into German armed forces. The second Soviet occupation was completed with the capturing of Tallinn by units of the Red Army in autumn 1944. Approximately 70.000 Estonians were forced to leave their homeland. The Swedish Estonian had begun planning their dramatic transfer to Sweden, with the help of the Committee for the Estonian Swedes created by the Swedish authorities. In autumn 1943 the German authorities gave permission to transfer 780 old and sick Estonian Swedes to Sweden. After lengthy negotiations with the German authorities in Berlin and Estonia, permission was given to transfer the rest of the Estonian Swedes. The Estonian schooner Juhan made nine journeys to Sweden from Estonian Swedish communities. The last transport took place on 18th September 1944 with a smaller vessel, Triina from Tallinn. A total of 3.335 Estonian Swedes came over by these transports. About the same amount risked their lives on smaller boats, making the total amount of refugees to about 7000.
Those Estonian Swedes who remained in Estonia faced difficult times. Many were deported to Siberia, where most of them died. Their villages were transformed to military bases. After the Soviet occupation the Swedish culture in Estonia was practically extinct.
When Estonia gained independence in 1991, many Swedish Estonians returned to their homeland, and organisations were founded to preserve the Swedish cultural heritage in Estonia.