Historical Summer Reading for the Month of June

Now that summer is upon us, here are two books that fit in nicely for historical readings in the month of June...

The first book is Tüdruk püssiga. Lugu väikesest metsavennast, by author Marius Marcinkevičius and illustrator Lina Itagaki, translated into Estonian by Tiina Kattel (Draakon & Kuu OÜ; 2026; ISBN: 9789949574865), inspired by the real-life World War II-era mass deportations in the Baltic states. On June 14th, 1941, the Soviet Union orchestrated massive, coordinated deportations across the Baltic states, forcibly removing over 10,000 Estonians to Siberia and Kazakhstan. The operation targeted the national, political, and cultural elite, as well as the families of independent Estonia, in an effort to eliminate resistance to the occupying regime. At the same time, in addition to Estonia, in Lithuania approximately 17,500 people were deported. In Latvia, 15,424 people were deported, including over 2,400 children under the age of ten. As happened to the little girl (Magda) in the story, families were split apart with no one knowing who would survive; one’s home was occupied by strangers, and in the post-war era terrible battles were fought between occupiers and Forest Brothers.