AESL is inviting everybody to collect and share stories related to the current donations drive to build a Memorial in Parnu for Estonians who had to escape and leave our ancestors homeland.
In the Mass Flight of 1944, about 30,000 escaped to Sweden and about 33,000 to Germany, as states Estonian War Museum. The Eesti Archive in Australia (EAA, under AESL) shares that about 6,000 Estonians ended up in Australia. EAA‘s digital exhibition raises the question – do you know how you ended up in Australia?
There are not so many among us any more who can share the story. Please reach out to them so we can make our Australia’s collection – From 1944 to 2024. Here are some questions you can ask:
- Mis oli elu eestis, mis jai maha? / What was life like in Estonia and what was left behind?
- Kuidas läks põgenemine? / How did the escape go?
- Kuidas algas uus elu Austraalias? / How did the new life in Australia begin?
On Sunday the 5th of May 2024, Sirje Jõgi-Rivers asked Saima Riner, aged 92, for her story:
Saima lived with her mother, father, and sister Maila in Nõmme, at 2 Metsa Street (previously Kahro House), where the Nõmme House Owners’ Bank, directed by her father Karl Aleksander Nõmmisto, was located.
Her mother, Emma Elisabeth, supported her husband’s social activities, such as the Children’s Protection Association and the Tennis Club.
Both parents were born in 1902 and were on the deportation list in 1940, but managed to escape deportation with the help of good people. On September 21, 1944, with the help of friends, the family made their way to Tallinn harbor, where they were allowed onto the last convoy of ships without written permits.


“Among the convoy was the ship Moero, marked with a red cross, which was torpedoed and sank within fifteen minutes. Also in the convoy was Lapland, an old cargo ship converted to transport people, from which we departed our homeland. The last image of the harbor, like a sea of fire, left the feeling that the whole of Tallinn was burning. When Moero sank, our Lapland also stopped to save whoever could be saved. As a 12-year-old girl, that image was very shocking to me, those poor half-drowned people, some so young…
The ship reached Danzig, then under German occupation, from where we were sent by train to a transit camp near Berlin, then directed to where labor was needed. Our family was sent to Thuringia, near Jena, where my father was assigned to make optical lenses in a factory.
After the end of the war, when the division of lands came, Thuringia went to the Russians, and we had to flee again. This time we were helped by Americans with their large trucks and then by train in cattle wagons. Later, the DPs, displaced persons, were gathered into camps from where, about four years later, Western countries organised workforces for themselves.”
On April 3, 1949, the ship arrived in Australia at Fremantle, and on April 7, Melbourne. The Estonian Assistance Committee in Australia guaranteed that the family would not be a burden on the Australian state but would find work themselves, so they did not come with work contracts but with a “landing permit”.
In the premises of the Swedish Church in Melbourne, an Estonian congregation operated, pastor Stockholm invited the then 17-year-old Saima to the congregation. Saima became the church organist, a position she held for over 50 years. A new life in a new country had begun.
Today, Saima has two sons, four grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren in Australia. Her sister Maila has a total of 9 great-grandchildren. Their parents are buried in Falkner Cemetery.
In addition to the burning of Tallinn harbor and the rescue of the wounded from Moero at sea, the departure from her Nõmme home is forever in her mind – leaving behind her grandmother and dog Bella, as well as other relatives, and all the joys and sorrows of childhood with the Nõmme pine forest.

Saima elas ema, isa, ja õe Mailaga Nõmmes, Metsa tanav 2, eelnevalt Kahro Majas, kuna samas asus Nõmme Majaomanike Pank mille direktor isa Karl Aleksander Nõmmisto oli.
Ema Emma Elisabeth kodune toetades abikaasa positsioonist tulenevaid seltskondlikke ettevõtmisi nagu Lastekaitse Ühing, Tennisklubi jne.
Mõlemad olid sündinud aastal 1902, olid aastal 1940 küüditamise nimekirjas kuid pääsesid heade inimeste abil küüditamise eest varjule. 21. Sept. 1944 sai perekond sõprade abiga Tallinna sadamasse, kus viimase konvoi laevadele inimesi lasti ilma kirjalike lubadeta.


“Selles konvois olid ka punaseristi laev Moero, mis tee peal torpeedoga hävitati ja mis põhja läks veerand tunni jooksul. Samuti oli konvois Lapland, vana kaubalaev ümber tehtud inimeste vedamiseks, kus ka meie oma sünnimaalt lahkusime. Viimane mälupilt sadama poole — see oli nagu tulemeri, jättis tunde, nagu terve Tallinn oleks põlenud. Kui Moero põhja läks, jäi ka meie Lapland seisma, et päästa keda veel päästa sai. See pilt minul kui 12 aastasel tüdrukul oli väga vapustav, need vaesed pool uppunud inimesed, mõned noorukesed ….
Laev jõudis Danzigi, tookordne sakslaste okupeeritud ala, kust meid rongiga edasi saadeti Berliini ligidale läbikäigu laagrisse, kust siis suunati sinna, kus tööjõudu vaja. Meie pere saadeti Thüringeni, Jena ligidal, kus isa vabrikus pikksilmaklaase määrati.
Pärast sõja lõppu kui maade jagamine tuli, sai Thüringen venelastele ja meie pidime uuesti põgenema. Seekord aitasid meid ameeriklased oma suurte veoautodega ja edasi rongiga loomavagunites. Siis koondati ka DP’d, displaced persons, laagritesse kust siis umbes neli aastat hiljem lääneriigid endale tööjõudu organiseeris.”
3. aprillil 1949 jõudis laev Austraaliasse Freemantle’sse ja 7. aprillil Melbourne’i. Eesti Abistamise Komitee Austraalias garanteeris et pere jai ja Austraalia riigile koormaks vaid leiab ise töö, nii ei tulnud mitte töölepinguga vaid perel oli “landing permit”.
Melbourne’i Rootsi Kiriku ruumides tegutses eesti kogudus, mille pastor Stockholm soovis 17 aastane Saimat kogudusse. Saimast sai koguduse organist, mis ametit ta pidas üle 50 aastat. Uus elu uuel maal oli alanud.
Tänaseks on Saimal Austraalias kaks poega, neli lapselast ja kaks lapse-lapse- last. Õde Mailal on kokku 9 lapse-lapse- last. Vanemad on maetud Falkneri kalmistule.
Lisaks Tallinna sadama põlemisele ning Moero vigaste päästmisele merest, on silme ees alatiseks ka Nõmme kodust lahkumine – jäid maha vanaema ja koer, ning teisi sugulasi, ja kõik lapsepõlve rõõmud ja mured koos Nõmme männimetsaga.

This story was collected as part of a campaign in support of the Mass Flight Memorial – a worldwide Estonian diaspora project. AESL are seeking donations until 31 July 2024 to make this monument a reality. Please consider making your donation today. If you, or someone you know, have a story to share about the mass flight experience, please write to us at news@eesti.org.au