75 years ago, by 1944, the tide had turned and the end of the WWII was approaching. In August and September, the German army was forced to retreat from several occupied countries. On 19 September 1944, at the Klooga concentration camp in Northern Estonia an unprecedented massacre took place when the SS troops leaving Estonia brutally executed about 2000 Jewish prisoners in a single day. It was one of the first Holocaust murder sites to be photographed and documented.
Today this event is mainly commemorated through preserving and presenting the evidence in museums and memorials including Yad Vashem and the Klooga site, but it deserves a wider and more comprehensive approach. The conference aims to study and disseminate information about this tragic event in the discourse of WWII in Estonia and abroad. The conference takes place on the premises of the former Patarei prison – a site that was the beginning of the end for hundreds of victims of the Holocaust. Conference is organised by the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory, Yad Vashem, Mémorial de la Shoah. Funded by International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, Estonian Ministry of Culture.
18th September 2019, Patarei Prison
The conference is followed by a memorial service at Klooga the following day, 19th September 2019 at 13.00.
