Memorial to the Victims of the Kaleva Shootdown

Memorial for the nine victims of the 1940 Kaleva shootdown – the Finnish passenger aircraft was downed by Soviet planes over the Gulf of Finland days before the Soviet occupation of Estonia.

This memorial commemorates the nine victims of the shootdown of the Kaleva – a Finnish Junkers Ju 52 passenger aircraft shot down on June 14, 1940 by Soviet naval aviation over the Gulf of Finland. The attack occurred while Estonia was under intense Soviet pressure and just days before its official occupation. Among those killed were diplomats from several Western nations. The wreck was only discovered in 2024 near the Estonian island of Keri at a depth of 71-76 metres – a sobering piece of history from the eve of Soviet occupation.