A year on, fate of Saaremaa's dismantled war memorial still undecided
Nearly a year after the Väike-Linnape war memorial in Kuressaare was taken down to allow reburial of civilian war victims, Saaremaa's municipal government still hasn't decided whether or where to restore it, with the dolomite stones at risk of ending up as landfill fill.
A year ago, when the mass grave of fascism victims at Väike-Linnape, next to Kuressaare Castle, was reburied, the modernist memorial erected there in 1965 was dismantled as well. At the time, the Saaremaa municipal government said the plan was to move it to a military museum in the south of the island. Since then the municipal leadership has changed, and no decision has been made.
Municipal mayor Rainer Antsaar said the question came as a surprise to him, since it hadn't been discussed and no decision existed — though after being contacted by reporters, he suggested a decision could come as soon as next week.
Peeter Sai, head of dolomite firm Dolokivi, which stores the dismantled pieces in its yard, said the one-year storage agreement with the municipality expires in October. If no one wants the monument, the stone will be used as fill, he said. The memorial consists of roughly 22-23 pallets of dolomite slabs plus a separate seven-ton obelisk. Restoring it would require refilling it with silicate and using lifting equipment, making the process costly.
The local military museum has said it lacks room to take on the monument, given it already holds other memorials. Moving the pieces to Sõrve for storage was also ruled out, since the ground there risks subsidence under the monument's weight. The Museum of the Fight for Estonia's Freedom near Tallinn had also considered accepting it but dropped the idea over cost.
Saaremaa's crisis preparedness adviser Gunnar Havi struck a more cautious but hopeful tone, saying the monument certainly won't be turned into gravel, though restoring it fully could cost tens of thousands of euros. One option under consideration is displaying only the most valuable slabs and the obelisk.
According to the National Heritage Board, the Väike-Linnape memorial retains protected status — unlike a similar monument in Jõgeveste that has already been destroyed — because of its proximity to the protected fortifications of Kuressaare Castle. As a result, its dismantling was carried out by a certified conservator, with all parts numbered and stored for possible future display.
Last November, the remains of 199 civilians executed during the German occupation were reburied from the Väike-Linnape mass grave.
