The exhibition “Sisters” (Õed) was dedicated to those deported Estonians, who decided to remain in Siberia after liberation. There were many reasons why Estonians did not return: falling in love, places to live and secure jobs and also the feeling that there was no one and nothing awaiting them back in Estonia. There were also those who did return but were unable to acclimatise to life in Soviet Estonia and soon returned to Siberia. Unlike those Estonians who emigrated to Siberia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for financial or religious reasons, the deportees who stayed there do not form cohesive communities and their descendants speak Russian. After the collapse of the Soviet Union there has also been less contact with Estonia. Nevertheless, the deportees living in Siberia count themselves as Estonian and are eager for contact with Estonia. Sisters Maria (b. 1932) and Salme (b. 1938), both deportees, live in Sayanogorsk. After being liberated, their three siblings returned to Estonia at the end of the 1950s, whereas Maria and Salme chose to stay in the rapidly expanding industrial city due to their work and friends. Sayanogorsk is known foremost for the Sayano-Shushenskaya hydro-electric dam and the Khakas Aluminium Smelter – these are the largest of their kind in the whole of Russia. Both sisters worked at the hydro-electric dam, construction of which was started in 1963 and completed in 2000. There is a strong mix of Estonian and Russian culture in the routines and speech of the two sisters. When speaking about their childhood memories they use Estonian, whereas later events and the present day is conveyed using Russian. Visits to Estonia are commemorated by old books, magazines and other memorabilia. The exhibition offers a window into the lives of the sisters, where a pride for their hometown and an acclimatisation to the Russian cultural space meets a very specific patriotic connection to Estonia, distant and a little mystical. The deportation train left Elva train station on 27 March 1949 with 725 people on board, of whom 366 were women and 207 children. They reached their destination of Kormilovka train station in Omsk Oblast on 7 April. Our programme included hanging a sign bearing the name “Kormilovka” on the Elva train station building and planting a Novosibirsk bird cherry tree next to the building.