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Address by the President of Estonia at the Memorial Service in Commemoration of the Perished of the Estonia at St. Catherine's Church in Võru on September 28, 1995
28.09.1995

I have come to you to Võru to be with you commemorating the victims of the Estonia.

It was a tragedy which callously smote all the Estonian people, since most of us are in one way or another directly connected with the deceased. It was a tragedy that shocked Swedes and Finns, all the Baltic Sea countries. For a moment the whole world held its breath, but in the most painful way the tragedy befell the town of Võru.

A year has passed, but the 28th of September again conjures up that tempestuous sea, that enormous house on the waters which had only just seemed so safe and yet proved not to be. Each of us here is thinking to themselves, but we all are thinking about the thousand people who were brought face to face with death within an instant - and for most of them that remained their last instant of life.

Psychologists and shipbuilders, lawyers and politicians, engineers and technicians, teachers and writers, doctors and composers - they all have lived through the aftermath of that September night and tried to do all they could to make it easier for the mourners.

In misfortunes we perceive the world as indivisible and congruous, small and vulnerable, we feel the fragility of human existence. In misfortunes all people, every one in a country are equal, and alas, equally defenceless. At the moment of a misfortune the governments of nations big and small feel a similar responsibility for preserving the fragile human lives.

The losses oblige us to do everything to prevent their repetition. Our efforts must always and unswervingly be focused on the sanctity of human life, on its safety. No profit nor thrift will outweigh the value of human life. It is our duty to the quick and the dead to bear this in mind for ever and ever.


Today is a milder autumn day than a year ago.

There is something I think essential to stress on this day of mourning and which we should have our mind on from day to day, at work and at home. Our small country sees much too much indifference and slackness, cunning and violence.

A state is not needed for a state's sake. The purpose, rationale and justification for a state lies in the security of all its citizens and in their belief in the strength of their own arms. This feeling of confidence and security must reach every single home.

Then life will be sacred.

As I expressed my firm belief the other day at the opposite end of Estonia that the 700-year-old Paldiski, crushed by the totalitarian war machine, would again become a peaceful and pretty Estonian town, so I also believe that security and peace will enter into all Estonian homes. Working towards this is the job of us all, and it is this work that will unite people into a nation.

I would also like to think today about the work states have done for people to feel safe and secure at sea.

In this connection a circumstance has emerged which, in my last year's memorial speech, I referred to as pursuit of self-interest, including political self-interest. Sweeping that proud flesh aside, we can see genuine efforts amounting to heroic deeds and self-sacrifices.

The Finnish and Swedish rescue services did everything in their power last year. The people returned to life with their help will never forget it.

The tragic of the heavy loss of the Estonia has united the Baltic Sea states for such cooperation as has been rarely witnessed by this sea.

Time will heal the wounds; the agonized scream will become a memory; the dreadful pictures of the stormy night in our memory will make room for words uttered long ago, shared thoughts, the distant warmth of familiar touches and glances.

The sea has treated us severely.

But we are a maritime people, and we have no life without the sea.

We have to make our peace with the sea.

Remembering everybody and everything, we will look to the future. We'll look with faith, hope, love and confidence.

This autumn day shares our mourning.

I ask you to stand up and think about those who will always stay with us, who will be brought back to our memory by the eternal roar of the WAVES of the Baltic Sea.

 

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