The World War II exposition of the War Museum focuses on the battles in Estonia in 1941 and 1944 and the fate of Estonia and Estonians in the war. The axis of the exhibition is the story of three Estonian men who studied together at the Estonian Military Academy, but in the whirlwind of World War II, each ended up serving in a different foreign army.
The curator of the exhibition, historian Sandra Niinepuu, said that the biographies are fictional, but they give a true picture of Estonian men in World War II. "As a country, Estonia did not participate in World War II, but Estonians did. Young men had to go to battle under foreign flag and wearing foreign uniform - some in a hope to protect the homeland, some forcibly," said Niinepuu. "There were no good choices for Estonians in this war."
The permanent exhibition of World War II is accompanied by a new temporary exhibition of World War II weapons, where private collectors Aku Sorainen, Kristjan Bachman and Leo Tammiksaar have displayed almost all the handguns, machine guns and anti-tank weapons used in the battles on Estonian soil in 1944 from their collections; a large amount of pioneer equipment, trench art, rare flags and more. The exhibition will remain open until the spring of next year.
