This year, the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory plans to open an international memorial museum to the victims of communism at Patarei Prison with state support. Recently, the French Embassy wrote to the Ministry of Justice, suggesting the museum's name should encompass all victims of totalitarian regimes held in the prison, including those of Nazi rule.

The memorial museum is planned to occupy nearly 5,000 square meters in the eastern part of the Patarei complex. This would include a separate area dedicated to Holocaust victims.

During the German occupation, 79 train convoys of Jews were deported from the Drancy transit camp in France. Of these, only Convoy No. 73 was sent to the Baltic states in 1944. There were 878 people on board; two-thirds were taken to Kaunas, while the remaining nearly 300 were brought to Tallinn, to what was then the Central Prison. They were forced to perform hard labor and live in inhumane conditions, the French Embassy wrote in its letter.

According to Valge, the Jews were held in Patarei for some time and were then likely taken to one of Estonia's extermination camps to be killed. In 2010, a memorial to Convoy 73 was unveiled near the former prison's main entrance.

The French Embassy said the museum's name should reflect the site's history as a whole, not only that of the Soviet communist regime. In its letter, the embassy representative noted that excluding Jewish victims would contradict the core purpose of the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory, whose mission is to preserve and convey history.

The institute declined to comment, with Research Director Toomas Hiio saying it is still too early.

According to Alla Jakobson, a board member of the Estonian Jewish Community, no decision has yet been made on changing the museum's name, as the issue is still in its early stages. However, Jakobson said she is confident the museum will be given an appropriate name that commemorates all victims of totalitarian regimes without offending anyone.

Valge: It is not the French government's place to interfere

Valge pointed out that there were far more victims of communism in Estonia and that the occupation lasted 50 years, compared to three years of Nazi rule.

"Even looking at it proportionally, I think focusing on the victims of communism would be more appropriate — not in any way to downplay the victims of the Nazi regime," Valge said.

"Due to the specific nature of our history, our proportions are different from those of countries like France — they may not understand it that way. I don't think there is any point in standardizing things so that all museums in all countries are the same. You still have to look at each country's history, which in our case is very different from France, where there were no victims of a communist regime," Valge said.

In his view, it was not France's place to voice an opinion on whom or how another country should commemorate, and he considered it neither polite nor tactful. He again emphasized that he does not in any way diminish the suffering of Holocaust victims.

"I don't believe Estonians would ever say something like that to the French — it wouldn't even occur to us to offer such advice," Valge said.

He suggested, however, that perhaps a Holocaust museum could be established elsewhere in Estonia.

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