Estonia

During this year’s Estonian award ceremony one of the participants stated: “My research for this competition made me understand how lucky current generations are to be living in a free country.” The topic of this year’s round was “Estonia during World War II" and the ceremony was held on 8 May 2015 in the Hall of Ministry of Education and Research in Tartu.

Twenty-five students from middle school and 32 high school students took part in the 16th Estonian competition round. The competition was initiated and organised by the Estonian History and Civics Teachers' Association under the auspices of the President of the Republic of Estonia, Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves. The organisers assumed that the complexity of the topic might be the reason for the slight reduction in numbers of participating students compared to the pervious round which dealt with a more open topic, namely “Heritage is Inheritance“. However, “World War II“ was chosen to be the topic for the academic year 2014/2015 primarly due to the interest in students’ roots which made family-related researches dominant.

Thematically, the contributions ranged from various contents: Some students contemplated Estonian men’s choices between the German and the Soviet army while others dealt with the everyday life of women and children during the war, the crimes against humanity or emigration to the west by the end of the war. Some entries related to current issues such as the usage of events during World War II in modern newspapers or in different history text books. The impact of World War II on buildings and architecture was also subject of research as well as the role of the cinema during the war. Evaluators said that the pieces of research were very variegated and even experienced history researchers within the jury explored new findings within some of the works.

The Estonian jury 2014/2015 consisted of the following experts: Eero Medijainen (University of Tartu), Anu Järs (Estonian National Museum), Anu Raudsepp (University of Tartu) and Meelis Maripuu (Estonian Institute of Historical Memory).

The following middle school students were awarded:

• Mirjam Leesalu (Võru Kreutzwald’s Gymnasium, tutor: Raili Leesalu): “My grandparents in the midst of the Second World War”

• Aliise Tipner and Khirsten Terese Murumägi (Kadrina Secondary School, tutor: Evelin Tiiter): “Life during the Second World War based on the memories of previous students’ from Kadrina Primary School”

• Tambet Järve (Tallinn English College, tutor: Kai Aus): “My relatives in the migration waves of 1939-1944”

The best among the high school students were:

• Sigrid Kivilo (Vastseliina Gymnasium, tutors: Terje Mägi and Küllike Nagel): “Educational life in Vastseliina rural schools during Second World War“

• Kätlin Unt (Otepää Gymnasium, tutor: Kaja Raud): “Life conditions in Estonia during Second World War based on Valgjärve village“

• Karl-Richard Sänna (Võru Kreutzwald’s Gymnasium, tutor: Kaja Kenk) “German occupation in Võru town in 1941: from army government to civil government“