Free Estonian Word

DID YOU KNOW? September 2024 will mark the 80th anniversary of the Suurpõgenemine (mass flight to the West in 1944), when 80,000 Estonian citizens, including our parents and grandparents, were forced to flee ahead of the 2nd Russian occupation. To remain would have meant deportation to Siberia or certain death....

This year’s summit took place on Tuesday, the 5th of September and brought together representatives of governments, enterprises and civil society from over 70 countries. “The summit celebrates the two values Estonians hold deeply: freedom and embracing technology” said prime minister of Estonia Kaja Kallas in her opening speech. The...

By Mary Germain I attended the “Celebrating Estonian Folk Craft and Music” event in June 2023, hosted by the Estonian Cultural Society of Chicago and the NGO Estonian Folk Art and Craft Union, and sponsored by the Estonian American National Council, Estonian Relief Committee USA and cultural organizations in Estonia....

Cleveland area Estonians participated in the One World Day Festival on August 27 in the Cleveland Cultural Gardens. The Parade of Flags opened the event and thirteen Estonians represented our group. Overall, 56 ethnic groups were represented by a total of 1,500 marchers. The beautiful weather drew a crowd, estimated...

Most of us love a little sweetness now and then, and that's OK! I would like to encourage you to try some of the natural sweeteners available. In contrast, white sugar is simply that: 100% refined sugar. Natural sweeteners, however, contain minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, and enzymes. Natural sweeteners do not...

Siim Sööt, Honorary Consul of Estonia in Chicago This is the first of three articles that explore where people of Estonian ancestry live in the United States. This article focuses on the number of individuals of Estonian ancestry (hereafter called US Estonians) and the recent change in that number. The...

The always beautiful and head-turning actress, who has for 30 years brought theatergoers into the Estonian Drama Theater, now brings the stories of her life to the audience quite openly and freely. The evening's program is not bound by any text or remarks written by the playwright, which the actress...

Karl Altau / JBANC On August 1, 2023, the Joint Baltic American National Committee (JBANC) hosted a visit and briefing in the United States Congress for rising high-school seniors from Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. The three dozen students had completed a three-week program in Maine under the auspices of the...

There is an expression: turning swords into ploughshares, restoring despair to hope, war to peace, and putting an end to the chaos that has now taken over our major cities, where thousands are cowering behind closed curtains, while mobs are massing in the streets, looting, trashing, and burning what we...

The Siemens Art Program congratulates Louisa Staples and Marcel Johannes Kits, who won their audition at Magnus Haus in Berlin and will perform as soloists in the fall of 2023 in New York's Carnegie Hall. Both are fellows of Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben. The jury says:Louisa Staples convinces with her sensual...