"As a 14-year old child, I was just a number." "Quotas had been given." "No, I did not cry, because it was so unreal." "You see, when you get up in the morning to got to school, you have a piano exam that day, and end up in a cage like an animal, you have to say that it's bizarre." "There was one person who screamed horribly throughout the whole journey." "It was this woman, who had been picked up, and she didn't know what had become of her four small children." "Her constant wailing the whole way, it was absolutely chilling." "[Victims of Communism in Tartu prison, July 8, 1941]" "I have to tell you that I was born free." "I know what our country looked like as a free republic." "I remember how the people looked, how the city looked, how the smell of vanilla ice cream drifted over all of Pirita." "I started to conduct when I returned home from Siberia." "So I, like others, went off to the forest in the early spring of 1945." "I got an axe and a large revolver and went to live in the forest." "I built myself a bunker to live in." "Then I met other forest brothers and lived together with them." "No one listened to us." "No one cared about us." "We were being murdered." "The whole Estonian nation suffered under Communist terror." "The Iron Curtain had cruelly shut, and there was no escape." "And so, life went on." "We had no hope." "We had absolutely no hope, except to survive as long as possible." "We, the last one who remained in the forest, had this understanding:" "as long as we were alive, had a weapon in hand, and Estonian soil under out feet, we would not surrender." "Singing people!" "In whose honor are they singing?" "National unity!" "Our strength!" "And our great father..." "Stalin!" "The Song Festival, for us, is not only a musical event where we hear our best songs." "The Song Festival was, and still is, primarily an opportunity to experience that we are Estonians." "We have a strong culture." "We are one nation." "We are so few in number that we must emphasize that we exist." "[You can't make bread out of phosphorite]" "Politically, it was time to make decisive moves." "Something new had to be brought in." "Then we came upon the idea that from a legal point of view all of Estonia's hardships were the result of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact." "On this basis, we decided it was time to take action." "We have to honestly and publicly reveal the history of our people." "Many things must be reevaluated in the process." "All crimes..." "All criminal acts against humanity need to be very strongly condemned." "Stalin's butchers, many of whom are now drawing government pensions, must be put on trial." "A good example of how courage can grow is Hirvepark." "It's very important that someone stands up to get things rolling." "Let's get going!" "Let us light the torch of patriotism!" "[Let's salvage what is left!" "]" "Ivo Linna and his band sang Alo Mattiisen's patriotic songs." "But the powers in the Communist Party were afraid because these songs ignited the passions of the people." "So Ivo Linna told the crowd, "We're not allowed to sing here any longer, so let's all go to the song festival grounds and continue to sing there."" "In the end, there were probably a 100,000 people there." "I was so inspired by those nights, that as soon as I woke up the next morning and had my coffee," "I sat right down and wrote the "Singing Revolution" article to convey this energy, this mood." "Until now, revolutions have been filled with destruction, burning, killing, and hate, but we started our revolution with a smile and a song." "[Resistance is futile, come join us]" "What I have in mind is a political mass organization connected within the Party." "An organization side by side with the party which would carry out Perestroika." "They are separatists, they propagate a multi-party system and pit Soviet peoples against each other." "[Two official languages is the way!" "]" "We wanted to organize not only a large celebration, but also to offer a public forum to express political views." "We felt that the best place to gather was the song festival grounds, because of its symbolic power." "[The Russian bear's appetite knows no bounds]" "I had to instil in our people a belief in our future, in victory, but I also had to touch this bitterness inside people, that would bring tears to their eyes." "So I worked very, very hard on my speech" "It was then I constructed this slogan:" ""One day, no matter what, we will win."" "One day, no matter what, we will win!" "After that day, if I omitted that phrase from my speech, the people started shouting:" ""Heinz, say it!"" "It was not only an expression of the will and mood of the people but it showed the Moscow central power very clearly that to use direct force would be very, very risky." "He reminded me of the recent amendment to the Soviet constitution whereby a 10 year sentence awaited a person who willfully violated the constitution." "He strongly stressed that our actions were a willful violation, and that I should take this into account." "Don't make a fuss." "Understand?" "I can assure you that the events of November 29th were done out of good intentions to change our life, to make it better." "But you must be an example of responsibility, of respect for the law." "I'm ready to listen and discuss everything." "One condition, though - we have to search for out answers only in the framework of socialism." "Every nation, even a small one, has the irrefutable right to national self-determination." "[Congress of Estonia 11-12 March, 1990]" "In the name of the Citizens Committee," "I welcome you to this remarkable event." "It's the first day of our free future." "Why are you here?" "To protect the nation's unity." "Protect against whom?" " Against whom?" "The government should speak to us Russians and handle things properly." "Estonians are very sly people." "Face to face they're so nice to you, but they stab you in the back when you turn around." "That's what Estonians are like." "We weren't too concerned about Interfront." "They waved their red flags, shouted degrading things about Estonians, and that was that." "Then there was a clash because nobody arrived to talk to the people or listen to their requests." "Then there were a couple of hot heads who started to shake the gates." "The Supreme Council and the Estonian Republic's government are calling the people to protect the government building in Toompea." "Interfront gangs have surrounded Toompea Castle and are attacking it." "I repeat" " Toompea is under attack." "Estonia!" "Estonia!" "Estonia!" "Estonia!" "Freedom!" "Freedom!" "Freedom!" "Freedom!" "Out!" "Out!" "Out!" "Out!" "Dear people, thank you." "We were sure that if you came to our aid, that you would do it just the way you did." "With your intelligence, your songs, your heart." "That is when we are at our strongest." "Thank you." "Thank you." "Thank you." "We arrived at the tower, knowing that the tanks were on their way." "The only thing that kept my spirits up was the thought that beside me was a trustworthy colleague." "But that's all we had - we weren't given any specific instructions." "We speculated: if an attack were to come, what would the timing be?" "Classic tactics foresee an offensive beginning between 4:00 and 6:00 a.m." "Dear Supreme Council members, who is in favor of the Supreme Council's resolution on the independence of the Estonian Republic?" "Please vote now." "We saw Parliament vote for the declaration, which brought us great joy because now we were representing an independent republic." "The fence around the tower had just been mowed down by a military vehicle, which now stood before the main entrance to the tower" "We saw our own people, and this gave us strength." "We played our trump card, because the commander threatened to take the tower, no matter what." "Our trump card was the tower's Freon fire-extinguishing system." "With the push of a button, in a few seconds, the system would fill the tower with Freon gas, which displaces all the oxygen, and nobody inside will escape with their lives." "At that moment, we weren't aware of what was happening." "We just didn't know." "And since we were absolutely certain that everything was okay, we rode downstairs and stepped outside." "We heard a boy's voice shout out from the crowd," ""Those are the two cops who were up there!"" "As we walked out of the tower, the whole crowd erupted in applause." "It was beautiful, truly beautiful." "Free Estonia!" "Free Estonia!" " Good bye." " Bye."