Monthly Archives: June 2025

The third World Lithuanian Writers’ Congress took place in Vilnius at the beginning of June. This year, almost thirty writers from Ireland, Australia, Belarus, Belgium, Spain, Italy, the USA, the United Kingdom, Poland, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, Norway, France and Germany participated in the event.

Nonprofit organization Baltic Heritage Network’s summer school “Diaspora Estonian cultural heritage abroad. XII. How to tell the Diaspora Estonian story?” took place from June 16th-19th in Tallinn, Viinistu, and Rakvere. On the first day of the summer school, everyone gathered at St. Nicholas’ Church and Museum in Tallinn, where Tiiu Reimo introduced the exhibition “Estonian Book 500.” Next, we met with employees of Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom, who presented a collection campaign and thematic exhibition on the topic of the Great Escape. A meeting with author Elin Toona brought the day to a close, where her memoir “Into Exile. A Life Story of War and Peace” was discussed.

The summer edition of the Baltic Heritage Network quarterly newsletter is now available. In these pages, you will find information about our past and future events, new publications, and what is happening across the globe within the diaspora research and archive communities.

1 July 2025 10:00–16:00Tallinn Creative Hub, KultuurikatelKursi 3, Tallinn

On June 11, the book Growing up Different by Eglė Garrick, a first-generation Lithuanian born in Australia, was presented at the National Library of Lithuania.

Dear Member of the Baltic Heritage Network, You are welcome to attend the Baltic Heritage Network annual general meeting on Tuesday, June 17th, 2025 at 16.30-17.30 at the Viinistu Art Hotel (https://www.viinistu.ee), Estonia.

From March until June 2025, an exhibit “To Estonia, With Love: An Intergenerational Travelogue” was displayed at VEMU, in Toronto. It was the story of three generations of Estonian-Canadian women— Helen Rammo (née Haljaste), Marina Intson (née Rammo), and Camille Intson—tracing their ancestors’ footsteps from Estonia to Canada and back again in the aftermath of the 1940-1991 Soviet occupation.

On July 1st at 18.00, there will be screening of the film “The Paradox of Seabrook Farms – Shattered Dreams, Restored Hopes” which tells the story of Seabrook Farms, whose multicultural workforce in the 1950s included many Estonians who fled the Soviet occupation.

The European premiere of Helga Merits’ documentary “The Paradox of Seabrook Farm: Broken Dreams, Restored Hopes” will take place on June 29 at 6:00 PM at the “Artis” cinema in Tallinn.

Spring, and now the transition into summer, has been a busy and fruitful time for EstoCast, the podcast produced by VEMU Estonian Museum Canada, its project Estonian Music Week, and Estonian Life newspaper. Our listener base has steadily grown, and we now have a steady base of returning listeners – this listener base continues to expand, and we expect to see even more growth in season 4. We’ve brought interesting, captivating, and educational interviews to the public, including discussions with people in the arts sector, language studies, and beyond.