A new temporary exhibition has been opened in the Estonian War Museum, where private collectors Aku Sorainen, Kristjan Bachman and Leo Tammiksaar have displayed almost all the handguns, machine guns and anti-tank weapons used in the battles on Estonian soil in 1944 as well as large amount of pioneer equipment, trench art, rare flags and more.
About 250 weapons and other items from Aku Sorainen's collection are on display, Kristjan Bachman exhibits nearly 350 mines and other pioneer equipment. In addition, the exhibition features rare flags that have never been exhibited together before: the flag of the 354th Rifle Regiment of the Estonian Rifle Corps from the collection of Sorainen and the flag of the 1st Grenadier Regiment of the Estonian SS Legion from the collection of Leo Tammiksaar. Uniforms that were worn by the warring parties in Estonia in 1944 are also exhibited.
Aku Sorainen, one of the curators of the exhibition, said that the exhibition is intended to comemorate the 80th anniversary of the bloody battles of 1944 on Estonian soil. "Never before have so many Soviet and German weapons been on display at one exhibition at the same time," he said, adding: "There are also real rarities here, for example, a submachine gun the likes of which were distributed to members of the Erna intelligence group."
The World War II weapons exhibition complements the new World War II permanent exhibition opened on the first floor of the War Museum, which provides an overview of Estonia and Estonians in World War II.
