1944, the Estonian exile

In the autumn of 1944, faced with the return of the Red Army, tens of thousands of Estonians crossed the Baltic on fishing boats towards Sweden and Germany. Almost the whole literature of the country left with them. In exile these authors founded publishing houses, reviews and prizes in order to keep publishing in Estonian while the language was under watch at home: Bernard Kangro would run a free Estonian press from Lund for forty-five years. Marie Under, a major poet, never returned.

works 12

• PoetrySonetidMarie Under · 1917not translated into EnglishSonnets from 1917 in which a woman's voice speaks of desire without a veil, to the enthusiasm of young readers and the irritation of others.Literature
• NovelVehklemõisa aednikPedro Krusten · 1936not translated into EnglishA manor gardener loyal to his masters, and sons who no longer are, on the eve of the Great War.Literature
• NovelTuli ja raudKarl Ristikivi · 1938not translated into EnglishA farm boy who comes to the town for a while, and spends his whole life there as a worker.Literature
• NovelSoolased tuuledEvald Mänd · 1944not translated into EnglishSeafarers from Hiiumaa, and a family that hands down its farm and its boats.Literature
• PoetryThe End of the Anchor Chain is the Beginning of a SongAnkruketi lõpp on laulu algusIlmar Laaban · 1946Poems of the Swedish exile, in which images break free of all logic.Literature
• PoetryNägu koduaknasKalju Lepik · 1946not translated into EnglishFirst poems of the Swedish exile, turned towards the childhood home and the lost country.Literature
• NovelGraves Without CrossesRistideta hauadArved Viirlaid · 1952Resistance fighters sheltering in the Estonian forests, in the autumn of the second Soviet occupation.Literature
• NovelJanuValev Uibopuu · 1957not translated into EnglishA teenage girl immobilised by illness, and a year lived with senses sharpened to the extreme.Literature
• Short storiesAruanneIlmar Jaks · 1958not translated into EnglishStories of Estonian soldiers on the Finnish front, and others on the human condition.Literature
• NovelEmajõgiBernard Kangro · 1961not translated into EnglishStudents in Tartu, in the late thirties, faced with two deaths they do not understand.Literature
• NovelPeetri kiriku kelladIvar Grünthal · 1962not translated into EnglishA novel in verse about a youth in Tartu before the war, written in exile.Literature
• PoetryThe Baltic ElegiesIvar Ivask · 1987Poems on the fate of the Baltic countries, written in English by an Estonian poet in exile.Literature