Hi...back again.

In my first post I mentioned briefly the circumstances that led to Walter, Lilian, Helve and Edla making the journey to Australia. The full story is much more complex than those few words indicated and I thought it might be of interest to you if I were to recount the story more fully. I think it helps those of us who have had the privilege of being born and raised in Australia in this particular period of history to understand what it means to be an asylum seeker displaced by war. Perhaps we could better understand and empathise with those, who in these times, are striving to enter our country in their search for safety and peace. Perhaps too it will give you some understanding of why this year in Estonia is so important to Helve and family in understanding their roots.

During the period of the Second World War Estonia found itself subject to a virtual "tug of war" between the great powers of the Soviet Union and Hitlers Germany. The Red Army occupied Estonia on the 17th June 1940 and declared it to be part of the Soviet Union. By 1941 the Soviets in Estonia were under severe attack from the German army. Many Estonian men assisted the Germans hoping, mistakenly as it turned out, that the Germans would help to drive Russia out and return Estonia to self rule again. By Dec 1941 the German Army did in fact drive the Soviets back over the boarder, but it soon became clear that they also wished to occupy Estonia under the German flag. By 1944, with the German Army facing defeat all over Europe the Soviets again invaded Estonia entering the capital Tallinn on 22 Sept 1944. Many Estonian men were conscripted into both these armies over that tumultuous time, and when it became plain that neither power was going to restore their independence most men formed into various resistance groups working underground to try and thwart the advances of the occupying Soviet army.
This is Walters story. Early, he like others fought alongside the Germans to liberate his beloved country from Russian domination. Soon, disillusioned with German intentions, he became a key figure in the Estonian resistance. As a soldier, paratrooper and wireless operator, he gathered information and recruited men into the resistance. This put a very high price on his head and it was clear that if he remained in Estonia death most surely awaited him. In addition and in spite of the turmoil, Walter had met Lilian on one of his missions that took him to Helsinki and they had married. Lilian's family were Estonians living and working in Helsinki where her father managed a large textile works, the building of which stands to this day. Soon after Lilian and Walter married,Lilians parents separated and her father married again. This second marriage set in train events that would surface again some 60 years later, but that is a story for a later post. Even after marriage Walter continued to serve in the resistance. Lilian was mostly on her own and soon after the birth of her first child, Helve, Helsinki came under heavy bombing attack forcing this young mum and her baby to flee to Stockholm in Sweden for safety. They went on their own as Walters whereabouts were not known, nor did Lilian know if she would ever see her man again, such were the times. The legacy they took with them to Stockholm was Lilian's second pregnancy and it was while they were alone in Sweden that their second daughter, Edla was born.
Meantime things were getting harder in the resistance and the time had come for Walter to leave his fatherland if he had any hopes of seeing his young family again. Against the odds Walter managed to avoid the Russian patrols and escape into Finland. This was not the only time he had accomplished this escape. On one previous occasion, Walter and his close friend, who was later killed in a raid behind enemy lines, managed to commandeer a canoe and row the 80 nautical miles of Baltic Sea that separated Estonia from Finland. This incredible journey, achieved under the cover of darkness, and in spite of the presence of numerous Russian navy patrols, was indicative of the courage of these men and their love of their country. This time we do not know how Walter managed to get to Finland, but we do know that one day, without prior notice, he walked in the door of the little apartment in Stockholm to rejoin his family and to meet his daughters for the first time. It is hard to imagine the relief that Lilian experienced after her long wait without any news of his wellbeing.
With heavy hearts, Walter and Lilian knew there could be no going back to their beloved little country, Estonia, yet no clear view of what the future held. They were refugees.

Soon after Walter rejoined the family, with the war in Europe now over, the Soviet Union began to pressurise Sweden to send Estonian citizens back to Estonia. Sweden, being neutral, was unable to refuse this request, but understood that many of the Estonians sheltering in their country could not return safely to Estonia. The Swedish government decided to 'turn a blind eye' to any Estonian who decided to leave Sweden for another country. Many applied to USA and Canada and Walter also did the same. Unfortunately by the time of their application, the USA and Canada's quota of refugees was full so they were refused. They were then offered the chance to go to Argentina. It was then they received contact from an uncle of Walter's who had escaped earlier in a small yacht and finally reached South Africa. He had established a small business and urged Walter and Lilian to come and join him in South Africa. So, some four years after Lilian arrived alone in Stockholm, this little, heavy hearted, displaced family boarded a cargo boat and made the long and difficult voyage to Capetown.
Any hope that South Africa would be a place where they could find peace and security soon began to diminish. Walter worked with his uncle and the children began their schooling but all was not well. Around three years into their time in Cape Town the South African Government brought in apartheid. Walter and Lilian were active Christians and refused to accept that any one race was more important than another. They found the new regulations relating to the black community to be completely unacceptable to them, and realised that this was no place to raise their little family. Once again they had to move. This time they heard from Estonian friends that had immigrated to Australia and were living in Thirlmia  just south of Sydney. No ships were transiting between South Africa and Australia at that time but finally they caught another tramp steamer which took them to the then country of Ceylon. After an anxious wait in Ceylon they managed to get a passage on a ship bound for Sydney.
Finally, in August 1951 Walter, Lilian, Helve and Edla arrived in the country that was to become their home. Helve was just about to have her eighth birthday.
What happened in the ensuing years in Australia is not the subject of this post, suffice to say that it was , of course, how I came, many years later, to meet this lovely young lady with the foreign name, and the rest is history.