This is an anthology of life stories collected from 20th-century Estonians describing the travails of ordinary people under numerous regimes from an authentic perspective where time is placed in the context of life-spans, and subjects grounded in personal experience. Most of the life stories demonstrate sufferings under foreign (Russian) oppression. The product of a large-scale national project to record history through collection of autobiographical accounts.

Edited and translated by: Tiina Kirss