History is always with us

History has a way of surprising you. And that’s exactly what happened to me when I visited the site of the Klooga concentration camp last week. I was told that many of the bodies of those who died at the Klooga concentration camp were, in fact, now buried there, directly below where we stood. That’s when it hit me – here I was standing over the bodies of Holocaust victims and up to this point the Holocaust has only been something I had learned about in history class! I never thought the first time I’d stand at the site of a former Nazi concentration camp would be in Estonia. I’d always thought of Germany and Poland when I thought about the Holocaust. But Estonia, while occupied by Nazi Germany, was not spared from the Holocaust, and Klooga (now a memorial commemorating those who died there) is evidence of its devastation.

Ambassador Levine speaking with exhibit curator Olev Liivik

I was travelling with Ambassador Levine and embassy staff to see the Klooga Memorial and we were joined there by experts from the Estonian History Museum who showed us the new permanent, outdoor exhibition “Klooga Camp and the Holocaust,” which was opened on September 16, 2013. The focus of the exhibition is the heinous liquidation of the camp in September 1944, when the Germans executed all the prisoners there before retreating from the advancing Soviet Army. The exhibition is made up of large, angled concrete blocks spread out across the camp area. A zig-zag trail leads the visitor from one block to the next and each concrete block has photos and descriptions of different aspects of the Klooga camp and its history, in Estonian, English and Russian.

I remember hearing from the exhibition’s curator Olev Liivik that the Klooga camp was actually considered one of the “good” camps, if there was such a thing. When I heard that, the only thing I could think of was how cold I was with four layers of clothes on, and how cold the prisoners must have been in January and February. It gave such a stark reminder of the brutality of the Nazis, no matter where in Nazi-held areas you happened to be.

For me, I needed a moment to take in the surroundings, knowing that the now forested areas were once execution sites. Although nothing remains of the camp, the exhibition serves to remind people that one of the largest mass murders in Estonian history occurred here. Though the topic is tragic, I was very impressed with the care and thoughtfulness that was put into this memorial. The designers and curators took great pains to preserve Klooga’s history as a reminder to us all of the importance of respecting religious and all kinds of diversity, and to standing up against prejudice, tyranny, and intolerance.

Blog post by PAS Intern Ayesha Hamza
Photos by PAS Cultural Assistant Tiiu Vitsut

I got to get inside an APC!

Last week I had the chance to visit the Headquarters of the Estonian Scouts Battalion and try out what it’s like to be inside one of their Armored Personnel Carrier– that’s APC in military! It was my first time ever on an army base – and there were a lot of military terms and ideas that were thrown around that were new to me, but all I could do was listen because no matter how much I didn’t understand, it was all so interesting!

I was part of a team visiting from the U.S. Embassy which included Ambassador Jeff Levine and APAO Alison Davis. The Scouts Battalion is the only all professional infantry battalion in the Estonian Defense Forces. It has a history dating back to 1918 and the Estonian War of Independence. The majority of its troops have been deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan, and it was re-established, after re-independence, in 2001.

Ambassador Levine with Major Andrus Merilo, Commander of the Scouts Battalion, and Captain Mart Sirel, Chief of Staff of the Scouts Battalion

After a briefing with the Commander of the Scouts Battalion, we got to see the soldier’s barracks. I don’t know what I was expecting when I saw them, but I thought that they would perhaps be bigger or that there would be less people in a room! But I suppose soldiers don’t have a lot of personal effects with them, and few items to carry help a unit to be all the more mobile.

And finally, the best part of the whole trip was the APCs! I doubt if I wasn’t interning with the U.S. Embassy I’d be able to jump in the back of one. But I am an intern with the Embassy, and I did get to jump in the back of the APC with APAO Alison Davis and Ambassador Levine. Amazing! Not as roomy as you might think (by the way). I also don’t know how soldiers, loaded down with tons of gear, can literally hop in like it’s no big deal. Lots and lots of practice I guess!

Ambassador Levine and APAO Alison Davis in an APC cabin 

Visiting the Scouts Battalion was a truly incredible experience! I hope to have many more of these moments during my time with the U.S. Embassy. Over and out.

Blog post by PAS Intern Ayesha Hamza
Photos by PAS Cultural Assistant Tiiu Vitsut

Music Knows No Borders

Three concerts in two consecutive nights? That’s nothing special for the travelling musicians of Poetica Musica, a New York-based consortium of Soprano voice, flute and guitar! But what if I told you we had to cross an international border over a river that separates the European Union and Russia to make it happen with concerts in both Narva, Estonia, and Ivangorod, Russia? Sounds intriguing, doesn’t it?

Concert at Narva Nursing Home

Poetica Musica, played and sang in various locations in both Estonia and Russia on their most recent tour last week – and I had a front row seat to some of their best concerts! Prior to their performance in Narva, my colleague Tiiu Vitsut took the group – including Eleanor Valkenburg (soprano), Oren Fader (guitar), and Jessica Han (flute) – to play in Padise Manor, Tohisoo Manor, Paldiski High School, Tallinn Tondi Middle School, Tallinn Linnamäe Russian Lyceé, The International School of Estonia, and the Hopner House in Tallinn Old Town (in the Town Hall Square, no less!) where they performed songs and melodies by Aaron Copland, John Corigliano, Robert Beaser, and George Gershwin; as well as spirituals by J. Rosamund Johnson and Betty Jackson King; and Nuevo Tango pieces by the King of Tango Astor Piazzolla.

In Narva Castle 

Even though Narva greeted us with stormy weather and city-wide road construction, the positive emotions of the elderly tenants of Narva Nursing home made us forget about the elements and let the musicians’ inner sun shine bright. Once Oren announced Piazzolla’s Tango piece (and I translated it for the audience), a small grey-haired lady in a wheelchair asked at once, “Will they dance for us, too?”

Most people I bring to Narva only get to have their photo taken on the Estonian side of the river, with Ivangorod fortress in the background. Well, not Poetica Musica! Read on!

On the Estonian side of the river

Our next concert was held in the Refectory, which serves as a concert hall in Narva Castle, and it filled up quickly with Narva’s music lovers and connoisseurs. Altogether, about two hundred people attended and many shouted “bravo!” demanding an encore. What I really liked about these concerts is the instant feedback we got from the audience. A woman came up to us after the performance and said she loved Rober Beaser’s Mountain Songs, and told us about how they reminded her of Hutsul shepherds in the Carpathian Mountains, where she used spend a lot of time.

On the Russian side of the river (Narva Castle in the background) 

The next day, courtesy of Narva City Government’s Culture Department, we boarded a van and crossed the border into Russia. The first thing we saw upon entering town was a hand painted poster announcing the concert at the local Cultural Center! Later, as I walked around in town, I saw more of them.

My colleague Tatyana Kosmynina from the Public Affairs Section of the Consulate General in St. Petersburg took us to the Ivangorod fortress, a first for Poetica Musica and me as well. Similarly to the Narva Castle, it has a long and interesting history. This is where I took a snapshot of Eleanor, Oren, and Jessica with the Estonian caste in the background – a rare occasion for American (or any) performers.

Hand painted signs advertised the concerts

We were pleasantly surprised at least three times more that day. First, when a man at the hotel approached us and said he attended the concert in Narva the previous night. He lives in Narva but he liked the performance so much that he, too, crossed the border to hear Poetica Musica play once more on the Russian side of the River! In addition, after the concert, which was well attended, a local woman approached the musicians and said her daughter was on a high school exchange program in Minnesota and asked for a photo with them. She said she would send it to her daughter to show her how she, too, is getting familiar with American culture and that it would be the topic of their next Skype conversation.

Finally, the Cultural Center Director Zoya Pogodina graciously let the group keep one of the hand painted poster. As I helped them detach the poster, we saw that the artist had used old wallpaper. What a great way to recycle!

Poetica Musica in Ivangorod, Russia

I bid farewell to my new friends after I took this photo and crossed the border back into Estonia on foot, walking along the “Friendship Bridge.” Tatyana told me that the gang explored The Russian Museum and the Hermitage in St. Petersburg yesterday. They also gave their last concert in the Kochneva House concert hall.

The bridge connecting Narva with Ivangorod and Estonia with Russia is named “Friendship Bridge,” first and foremost because it connects people. Similarly, Poetica Musica is connecting and uniting people all over the world with their music. After all, music is a language that every single person in the world knows and, luckily, it knows no boundaries, nor borders.

Post and photos by Social Media Assistant, U.S. Embassy Tallinn.

What do a brain scientist, an MP and a standup comic have in common?

On September 25, 2013, I teamed up with a brain scientist, a member of parliament, an architect, a standup comic, a prison official and a few others to talk about “borders” in Estonian society and how we can bridge them. Despite the speakers’ varied backgrounds, they all had a fresh perspective to share that stemmed from their own discipline and life experience. And our standup comic host, Stewart Johnson, kept us laughing all the way through!

Member of Parliament Liisa Pakosta questions assumptions

The event was the first in a series of seminars that is being put on by Estonia’s U.S. government exchange alumni NGO with fresh perspectives on social, cross-cultural, and cross-disciplinary issues. These alumni have participated in U.S. State Department funded exchanges such as Fulbright and the International Visitors Leadership Program (IVLP) and are now teaming up to stimulate discussion in Estonian society on hot topics. The whole event felt like a TED Talk with short, intense presentations, lots of audience participation and cameras everywhere to capture the action.

Audience members kept the Q&A sessions lively 

The seminar kicked off with Jaan Aru (a neurosciences researcher at Tartu University) who proposed we cut open someone’s skull to examine where consciousness begins. Despite no volunteers from the audience he went on to talk about what is known and unknown about the human brain. He was followed by IVLP alumnus and Member of Parliament Liisa Pakosta who questioned our ideas of whether maternity leave and bans on youth labor are really the best thing for families and children. In the last talk of the morning, Fulbright Student alumnus and architect Ivan Sergejev discussed how buildings and built spaces create or bridge boundaries between people.

Neuroscientist Jaan Aru asks where consciousness begins 

The afternoon kicked off with IVLP alumnus and director of the Tartu Center for Creative Industries Raul Oreskin, who talked about the butterfly effect and how Estonian society can change as a result of small but impactful inputs. Mathematician Kristjan Korjus challenged the audience’s ideas about god, the brain and mathematics. And finally, Prison Department official and Humphrey Fellowship program alumnus Anne-Marika Maschorov talked about her work crossing borders and breaking stereotypes as a woman professional working in correction.

I was impressed with the range of topics and passion that our speakers brought to the dais, but the audience’s (mostly university students) enthusiasm was also contagious. By the end of the day, people were pretty exhausted, yet we’d all learned a whole lot more about our world, Estonia and the borders that we can overcome together. To learn more about the U.S. Embassy’s exchange programs and how you can apply, visit our website.


Blog post by Assistant Public Affairs Officer Alison Davis

American Documentary Takes Prize at Nature Film Festival

During Autumn, Matsalu National Park is a special kind of place. Moose roam around, wildlife is abundant and bird migrations are underway with crane calls and the chatter of gathering flocks in the Matsalu bay and reed beds. The air is full of the golden glow of birch trees preparing for the long winter.

Photo by Ago Ruus, Matsalu Nature Film Festivals, www.matsalufilm.ee

But last week it wasn’t only Mother Nature who was putting on a great show in Matsalu, the park also hosted the Matsalu International Nature Film Festival, in its 11th annual installment. For more than 10 years the park has also been a special place for nature documentary film makers and enthusiasts and this year was no exception! More than 280 entries came from 60 countries, of which 30 films were accepted for competition in two categories: Nature and Man and nature. This event has clearly arrived on the international map of film festivals. More than 10 films from the United States from a diverse group of American film makers made it into the program and we are proud to congratulate one American filmmaker, Director Sandy Patch, who won 1st prize in the category of Man and Nature. His movie “The Last Ice Merchant” was praised by the jury for showing the global implications of a changing world in a simple and humane way.

I really enjoyed being on hand for the launch of this year’s festival which featured performances by local musicians and a screening of a documentary on the life of Jacques Cousteau. To attend the opening night we travelled to the small western Estonian town of Lihula which is located on the edge of Matsalu National Park with a population of approximately 2500 and a history dating back to 1211. Films were also screened in Haapsalu, and the best documentaries were screened on the national broadcast TV channel, ETV, much to the delight of many nature fans in Estonia.

Film festivals are not only about the movies – the program also featured many workshops, educational programs and also an Earth Day exhibition on loan from the U.S. Embassy at the Lihula Library. On the first day of the festival, school kids gathered for the screening of a documentary about the lives of owls, followed by an owl-drawing workshop. The children’s whimsical owl drawings were then exhibited at screening venues in Lihula.

It’s great that I get to attend film festival’s like Matsalu as part of my job, but our partnership with Matsalu International Nature Film Festival speaks to something bigger: treasuring nature and our environment – something we all care deeply about. I hope to see you at the festival in 2014!

Post by Jane Susi, Cultural/Educational Assistant

Giants, dragons and towers!

Did you know that there’s a dragon in Tallinn?

You can find it in Nõmme, the “village within the city,” where I joined Ambassador Levine for a tour with District Elder Erki Korp on Monday. Nõmme is one of the eight administrative districts of Tallinn, located at the south-western edge of the city. Although it is located in Estonia’s largest city, Nõmme feels far removed from the high rise metropolis and is known for its small town ambiance. And we definitely got a taste of this on our visit!

Our small group started our tour at the district offices, where we met the administrative staff and quickly moved on to the grounds of Nikolai von Glehn’s stone castle. Von Glehn was a Tsarist-era Baltic-German landowner whose Gaudi-like, eccentric style has left its mark. During his time in Nõmme, he built a fanciful castle, observatory tower and several larger than life statues, including a dragon and a towering colossus of the Estonian epic character Kalevipoeg. Most of these were damaged or demolished during war times, but they have been faithfully rebuilt since then. In fact the castle is now owned by the capital’s own Tallinn University of Technology, whose male chorus raised funds to rebuild and restore it to its former glory.

Von Glehn's Castle

Kalevipoeg

I really enjoyed my visit to Nõmme and learning about its history and architecture. It was especially interesting to learn that, though von Glehn left Nõmme in 1918, his descendants, most of whom now live in Brazil, are still in touch with the town and that many of them planned to visit this very week! I hope they enjoy seeing not only all that their ancestor accomplished during his lifetime, but also what a pleasant, prosperous and green place Nõmme has become.

Burning garbage is one way to go green? No way!

Yesterday, I got yet another amazing opportunity to leave the office and learn something completely new. The Ambassador and I embarked on a trip to Iru Power Plant to tour the brand new Waste to Energy facility, which is in its first year of operation. This addition to the plant incinerates about 220,000 tons of Estonian waste annually, eliminating the need for landfills and providing all of Tallinn and the neighboring Maarda municipality with thermal energy.

Now, I have traveled to parts of the world on numerous occasions where I have seen my fair share of trash on fire, but nothing would prepare me for the scope of the operations here, especially the fact that it is environmentally friendly.

About 80 garbage trucks arrive at the Iru facility daily, bringing with them 700 tons of garbage. The trucks go through radiation detection and a weight bridge before dumping the garbage in the tipping hall. From there, the trash is moved to the waste bunker where it is picked up by cranes, a large scale version of a claw machine but instead of grabbing a toy, these engineers are grabbing a ton of trash and depositing it into the boiler. In the boiler, the trash is heated to 1200 degrees Celsius. The plant can incinerate 27.5 tons of trash per hour. The heat released from waste combustion produces overheated steam which is then guided to a steam turbine to produce electricity. The leftover heat is guided to the district heating network through heat exchanges. After this, the flue gases are cleaned using a semi-dry cleaning process and an environmental impact assessment has shown that the WtE unit to have no impact on the pollution level in the vicinity of the power plant.

After walking through this huge factory and seeing some really interesting sites (like 20 tons of garbage on fire!), we walked to the chimney. The chimney is a 200m tall tower which stores energy, and the day was sunny and perfect so we got a chance to hop in the Willy Wonka style elevator and ride to the top! We saw amazing views of Tallinn and learned about the 60m cooling tower we saw below us, though it looked tiny from our vantage point.

This new addition to the plant completely changes the waste management system in Estonia, as there is no longer a need to put trash into landfills; instead it is being used to provide people with heat and electricity. There are some metals that don’t burn, and those are also reused as they get sold off to a company that deals in scrap metal. Estonia produces about 500,000 tons of waste annually, but after half of that gets sorted for recycling, the Iru power plant deals with the leftover miscellaneous garbage.

After a great afternoon in the factory, I can conclude that the Iru Waste to Energy unit is a new solution for Estonia, both in terms of energy production and waste handling, as well as being an important environmental project. It is great to see the people of Estonia exploring alternative energy sources so they can save precious nonrenewable resources.

Post and photos by Public Affairs Intern Aalia Udawala