Estonian Teenager’s Act of Defiance Against Soviet Rule

In 1946 Tallinn, 14-year-old Aili Jürgenson and her friend Ageeda decided to topple a newly erected Soviet monument—a wooden pyramid with a pentagon on top—located near a school Aili attended. The girls carried out their act of defiance on the evening of May 8th, but the monument was quickly restored by authorities, reportedly built in the Patarei Prison wood workshop.

The act didn’t go unnoticed. On May 16th, Aili was arrested on her way home from school and subjected to interrogations, including encounters with the notorious interrogator, Edel Jakobson. Despite the harsh conditions—cold cells, minimal food, and shared sleeping space on the floor—Aili maintained a resilient spirit, describing the experience as more of an adventure than a trauma.

She was sentenced to eight years of imprisonment and spent time in Patarei Prison, Koluvere camp, and various labor camps in Russia, including Abey and Inta. After serving her sentence and enduring 17 years of exile with her husband Ülo Jõgi, a member of the “Erna” resistance group, Aili finally returned home 25 years later. Despite the hardships, she recalled her parents’ unwavering faith in her survival, with her father famously saying, “If you girls made it back from Patarei, you’ll make it back from anywhere!”