Risti, Estonia

58.99666724.054167Koordinaten: 59 ° 0 ' N, 24 ° 3' O

Risti is a village (Estonian alevik ) in the Estonian Lääne. It is the capital of the homonymous country church Risti ( Risti vald ).

Description and History

The village has 532 inhabitants (as at 31 December 2011). It is located about thirty kilometers northeast of the town of Haapsalu. West of the town flows the river Vihterpalu ( Vihterpalu Jõgi ).

The name of the place ( in German " cross" or " crossroads " ) is derived from its location at the intersection of highways Tallinn - Haapsalu and Piirsalu - Lihula. Its history is closely connected to the post, which led from the Estonian capital Tallinn on Parnu to Kuressaare on the island of Saaremaa. End of 1855, the post office of Risti was inaugurated.

The present town Risti emerged in the early 20th century with the construction of the railway line from Keila to Haapsalu ( 1903-1905 ). He grew up in the early decades of strong. With the completion of the economically more significant narrow -gauge railway from Rapla to Virtsu 1931 Ferry Risti but then lost its strategic importance. The post office was closed in Risti on May 1, 1934 the station in 2004.

Memorial to the Deportees West Estonia

At the former station building with its two platforms is the monument was inaugurated in 1999 Raudteerööpad mäletavad ... ( " railroad rails remember ..."). It is dedicated to the victims of Soviet deportations from western Estonia, which were spent 1941-1949 in the interior of the Soviet Union. The Memorial was designed by the Estonian artist Viljar Ansko.

On a marble tablet multilingual inscription is attached

About 3,000 people from the region of Stalinism were deported to Siberia over the train track in time. In March 1949, the deportation train No. 97308 was compiled at the station of Risti. 210 men, 506 women and 311 children from western Estonia were then deported by the Soviet occupation authorities in cattle cars in the small town Tscherepanowo in the Novosibirsk Oblast.