“Siberian children” are a generation for whom deportation and Siberia are especially significant. The children who were deported or were born in Siberia, are the only people still living to have personal memories of the deportations. Their position is one of contradictions, though: while they have many beautiful childhood memories from Siberia, they are aware of the challenges their parents faced. Of the 20,723 people deported in March 1949, 6,147 were children.

In a moving tram, Triin Kerge filmed portraits of six women, who had travelled with the group SLED to Siberia to rediscover the villages of their childhoods. The women are silent and gaze at the camera while the tram continues along its preordained route. The sound design is composed by Estonian musical collective Eeter (Marja-Liisa Plats, Anna Hints, Ann Reimann) from the songs sung in Siberia. For more information see Triin Kerge’s master’s thesis “Siberian Children and a Longing for Landscapes”.

The deportation train left Tartu on 27 March 1949 with 955 people, of whom 479 were women and 221 children. The people were put on the trains in less conspicuous places and in Tartu this was done by the Emajõgi River at the port railway station. The destination of the train was the Omsk train station in Omsk Oblast.

Our programme included hanging a sign bearing the name “Omsk” on the Tartu train station building, which was subsequently stolen. We also planted a Novosibirsk bird cherry tree in a park near Sõpruse Bridge.