Dear mourners,
My dear Estonian people,

This is not a day for words. Great misfortunes and great triumphs have one thing in common: they unite people. They unite people into a community which then manifests that they can be worthy of either a triumph or a misfortune if they share it with their neighbour.

The Prime Minister Carlsson said that the Swedish people would commemorate all those who lost their lives in our mutual sea a year ago with a minute of silence at 1 p.m. Estonian time today, and asked whether Estonians would join in that minute of silence. I told him they would, for this is our common fate, our common sea, our common pain. And pain shared is pain lessened. Shared pain is what makes us cleaner, stronger, and humbler, and better, and closer.

At 1 p.m. today the churchbells of Estonia will toll, and those who can keep silent will do so. Then those who rest in peace deep in the bosom of the Baltic Sea will talk to those who are silent on the shores of the Baltic.

Stand firm, Estonian people!

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