Reflection of a dark epoch

– Project name – ”From ai to åi” – reflects the connections between the coastal populations in Estonia and Gotland. ”Ai” means island in Estonian Swedish and ”åi” is the Gutnish word for island, explains the project leader Christopher Thiele, who was born in Gotland and has ancestors from the Estonian Swedish settlements.

The project includes around 200 buried Estonian Swedes who came to Gotland during the 20th century. The descriptions that are partly found in the brochure, and in much more extensive form in the database, largely illuminate a dark epoch in European history. Many of the human destinies that emerge give us a deeper understanding of this epoch – with stories that have been forgotten or suppressed.

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