Tallinn – Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom (Marking Time….)

This is a birch bark notebook which “Viktor” crossed out days whilst in exile. The 20 September 1942 was the last time that he crossed a day out, as he sadly died of TB three days later. That’s all the museum says, a hopeless lack of information and half a story.

However, a bit of research shows that there’s far more information known that the museum tells visitors. This belonged to Viktor Köster, born on 13 April 1921, who was deported in June 1941 with his mother Hildegard Köster to Ust-Churulka, Novosibirsk Oblast. This is located around half-way between Tallinn and St. Petersburg, relatively near to the Estonian border with Russia. Viktor died of tuberculosis on 23 September 1942 and his mother died of the same disease one year later, on 26 September 1943. Viktor’s father was arrested in 1941 and sentenced to death on 28 February 1942, with the killing taking place on 1 April 1942.