Tallinn Trip – Estonian History Museum (1942 Grave Marker)

This wooden cross was found by the grave of Jahfim Mitrovski, a member of a local Romani family, in Harku Forest near Tallinn. 243 Romani were executed in the Harku Concentration Camp in 1942, a third of them being members of the Mitrvoski family. The Romani population in Estonia hadn’t been large before the outbreak of the Second World War, around 1,000 people and they already faced discrimination and social marginalisation. Matters got much worse after the Germans occupied the country, member of the Romani population had to register with the authorities and were often sent to do forced labour. Given the relatively small population size, there was limited opportunity for resistance and it’s thought that over half of the community perished during the conflict. I can’t find out anything more about Jahfim Mitrovski, so perhaps all that remains is this grave marker displayed in the museum as a silent testimony to the suffering that the Romani people experienced.