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From running a dairy co-operative to a new life in Australia – Hillar’s Story

This story was collected as part of a campaign in support of the Mass Flight Memorial. If you have a story to share about your family’s mass flight experience, please write to us at news@eesti.org.au

Submitted by: Hillar Ling, son of Daniel and Leili Ling, grandson of Hermine Siimoja

Hermine Siimoja (1901-1983) and her husband Juhan (1902-1942) were accredited dairy managers both having completed their trade qualifications in 1926 at the Õisu dairy school in southern Estonia. At the outbreak of WW2 they were managing the dairy co operative in Muhu, making both cheese and butter, some of which was exported to England.

Juhan was an extremely proud Estonian who organised community events and dinners, including Jaani Day celebrations. In 1941 during the Russian occupation Juhan, his wife and two children, Leili and Ülo were taken from the dairy and loaded on a boat moored in Kuressaare, to be transported to Tallinn from where they were to be put on a train bound for Siberia. Two days later when it became apparent that the dairy would not be able to operate, incredibly Hermine and her two children were returned to the dairy where Hermine was now the sole dairy manager. She continued making butter and cheese during both the Russian and subsequent German occupation. Juhan was deported and died in captivity.

During the German occupation period the Meierei (dairy) office was used by the German military police, about six of them. Hermine (aka Memmi) was asked several times who was responsible for the deportations. She refused to answer and forbade her children from doing so saying: “Have there not been enough corpses that we need to add to their number?”

In September 1944 when it became apparent that the Russians were going to retake the area again the German soldiers offered to evacuate Hermine, Leili and Ülo to Germany. A suitcase was packed, along with butter, a cheese wheel, and some bread. The Germans soldiers stopped a car on the road and the driver was directed to take Hermine, Leili and Ülo to the Roomassaare boat area in Saaremaa.

The boat from Saaremaa had several hundred people on board. On arrival in Dansk, Germany they were placed in unguarded camps. Hermine had no way of providing for her children, so she let her 16-year-old daughter and 15-year-old son be relocated. Hermine went to southern Germany ending up finally in Hanau, working as a house maid. Leili was sent to Türingen to work as a farm helper. After the war ended, all the camps posted signs of names of people in various other camps. Leili found her way to the Displaced Persons camp in Hanau where she was reunited with her mother, Hermine, and brother Ülo.

In early 1946 the Estonian men that had been conscripted into the German army started arriving at the camp. Many from Muhu arrived, including a young Daniel Ling. The collection of Muhu people stayed together, a common bond they had was their Muhu background. In June 1947 Leili and Daniel married and a new chapter of their lives began. Leili and Daniel were a couple and Leili’s brother, and mother were both classified separately as the post-war migration from the German Displaced Persons camps began. They were all destined to migrate to Australia. Ülo was on the second migrant ship to Australia disembarking in Fremantle. Hermine, Leili, and Daniel followed later. One of the prerequisites for migration to Australia was that the immigrant or refugee had to be under the age of forty-five. Hermine was born in 1901 but her application and subsequent Australian records show her (altered) birth year as 1906. She became five years younger.

Daniel, Leili, and Hermine, Hanau DP camp 1946
Daniel, Leili, and Ulo, DP camp 1947

On the 6th September 1948 they were on the Worster Victory as it passed under the Sydney Harbour Bridge and they stepped ashore in their new homeland. They were initially taken to the Bathurst camp for newly assigned migrants. They had two years of indentured work ahead of them. Daniel worked as a laborer for what is now known as Sydney Water living at Regents Park in a “tent city”. Leili worked and lived in the home of a prominent Kings Counsel. Hermine went to work in Gordon (Sydney) as a housekeeper.

Hermine and her grandson, Hillar. A bouquet of flowers was given to Hermine at the 1964 school speech night as a token of thanks for her work at the school.
Daniel and Leili Ling, 2007

After their period of indentured work Daniel, Leili, and Hermine settled on five acres of land in Plumpton on the western outskirts of Sydney. Leili’s employer lent them 500 pounds (without security) to enable them to build their Australian home. This represented three and half years of Leili’s former wage. The loan was repaid after two years. In the early 1950’s on their five acres they tried to commercially grow potatoes and tomatoes. The returns were more an adjunct rather than the prime source of income.

On leaving the Water Board Daniel progressed from being a builder’s laborer, to a carpenter, site foreman and then running his own building company. Leili supported her husband’s business whilst raising their three sons. Hermine found work as the school cleaner at the local primary school, a role she enjoyed for about twenty years before her retirement.

Hermine was an active member of the Sydney Estonian Ladies Guild. She passed away eight years before Estonia regained its independence, a hope she carried with her throughout her life. Daniel and Leili had seventy years of marriage, Daniel passing away in 2018, Leili two years later. They were able to return to Estonia many times, enjoying reuniting with both the family and friends they had to leave behind in the aftermath of the war.

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