EST: Läänemaal Puise rannas avati septembris 2020 mälestusmärk kõigile neile, kes 1944. aastal üle mere Rootsi põgenesid.
Sügisel 1944 läksid Läänemaalt Puise rannast lähenevate punavägede eest Rootsi poole teele kümned tuhanded inimesed. Paljud neist ei jõudnud kohale.
"Hinnanguliselt on jäänud merre 5000 inimest selle minemise käigus," ütles Eesti Memento Liidu juht Arnold Aljaste. "Kõik, mis vähegi ujus, see merele läks. Ja need olid ikkagi merekindlad paadid, need käisid ka edasi-tagasi ja tehti väga palju reise. Siin olid mootorrattad, autod, lapsevankrid - rand oli ummistatud nendest," lisas ta.
Mälestusmärgi suurpõgenemise meenutuseks lõi Aivar Simson. Selle idee autor on Heidi Ivask, kes ema süles koos sadade teiste põgenikega Puise rannas paati ootas. Mälestusmärk pandi püsti memento liidu eestvedamisel.
ENG: In September 2020, a memorial was unveiled on Puise Beach in Läänemaa to honor all those who fled across the sea to Sweden in 1944.
In the autumn of 1944, tens of thousands of people set out from Puise Beach in Läänemaa towards Sweden to escape the advancing Soviet forces. Many of them never made it.
“An estimated 5,000 people were lost to the sea during this escape,” said Arnold Aljaste, head of the Estonian Memento Union. “Everything that could possibly float was sent to sea. And these were still seaworthy boats – they even made return trips and many journeys were undertaken. There were motorcycles, cars, baby carriages – the shore was jammed with them,” he added.
The memorial commemorating the Great Escape was created by Aivar Simson. The idea came from Heidi Ivask, who, as an infant in her mother’s arms, waited for a boat on Puise Beach together with hundreds of other refugees. The memorial was erected under the initiative of the Memento Union.