The installation “Blossoming Monument” (Õitsev monument) embodied the idea of ritualised commemorating. Sixteen bird cherry saplings represented the train stations were Estonians were brought to before deportation: Haapsalu, Ülemiste, Keila, Paldiski, Risti, Kehra, Tapa, Rakvere, Jõhvi, Jõgeva, Tartu, Elva, Puka, Keeni, Võru, Veriora. The bird cherry trees were temporarily placed on the covered platform of Haapsalu train station and later, in the spring of 2019, we planted each of the trees in the vicinities of the sixteen train stations.
 
Since those deported in 1949 were mostly women, children and the elderly, survival in Siberia depended largely on the women, who bore the double burden of providing for their family as well as raising children. The deportees’ food supplies were also reliant on wild produce in Siberia, where nature could be harsh as well as bountiful. Plants that occurred naturally in Siberia were especially important since they supplied people with necessary nutrients. For example, deportees remember peonies that grew in great fields in some places and the stamens of which they would eat for their vitamins in the spring. And the bird cherries, which would be (and still are) used to make jam and flour.
 
The deportees’ memories of Siberia revolve around survival and acclimatisation. For this reason, living trees are suitable representations of these memories since they embody the spirit of healing and growing. “Blossoming Monument” (Õitsev monument) is dedicated to all those brave and strong women and mothers as well as to the continuation of life.
 
The deportation train left Haapsalu train station on 26 March 1949 with 1,179 people on board, of whom 551 were women and 352 children. The destinations were Chulymskaya, Khoroshaya and Chulym in Novosibirsk Oblast.


Our programme included hanging a sign bearing the name “Chulymskaya” on the Haapsalu train station building and planting a Novosibirsk bird cherry tree in front of the building.