Today, the final conference of the students' historical research papers competiition ''Estonian Home and Family on the 20th Century'' organised by the Körber Foundation and the Estonian History Teachers Society took place at the Tartu University History Museum. The competition awards were issued by the President of the Republic, and President Lennart Meri was the patron of the competition.

In his address, President of the Republic said that the Estonian State is the meaning of Estonian history. The Pesident also said that Estonian history can not be treated as a solitary palm island in the Pacific, because the history of Estonia is not isolated from the history of the rest of Europe. President of the Republic said that the high school students' active participation in the historical research competition certainly gives a hopeful picture of the future generation of the Estonian historians.

89 papers participated in the competition and competed in two age groups – secondary school and mainschool. In the mainschool group, the winner was ''Estonian Family and Home in the Memories of Grandmother Ellu and Grandchild Vaike'', composed by Krista and Piret Veevo from the Karksi-Nuia Secondary School. In the secondary school group, Indrek Tark from the Tallinn French Lycée won the competition with his paper ''New Estonian Home in Wooden House with Stone Staircase''.

The papers were evaluated by Anu Raudsepp and Eero Medijainen from the History Department of Tartu University, Anu Järs and Heiki Pärdi from the Estonian National Museum, and Piret Noorhani from the Estonian Literary Museum.

The authors of the best papers delivered presentations on the conference. The authors and supervisors of the best appers received awards from the Cultural Foundation of the President of the Republic, and the Ministry of Education and the Embassy of the Federal Republic of Germany in Estonia had issued book prizes. Also the German Ambassador to Estonia Gerhard Enver Schrömbgens and a repersentative of the Körber Foundation Gabriele Bucher-Dinç participated in the Conference.

The Körber Foundation in Hamburg first started the competition of students' historical research papers to the award of the Federal President of Germany in 1973. Similar competitions under the aegis of the Körber Foundation have been organised since then also in other countries of Europe. This year, the competition took place in Estonia for the first time.


Press Service of the Office of the President
Kadriorg, June 29, 2000

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