Erika’s Story

Erika Elisabeth Koorem was the seventh child, born on the seventh day of the seventh month of 1925.

She was the youngest child of the large Koorem family – also can be spelled Korem.  She has an idyllic childhood on the island of Saaremaa just of the coast of Estonia. Her father was a carpenter and they lived in a cottage amongst the trees in the area near Kuressaare known as Loode. Erika’s childhood was spent playing in the oak forest and swimming in the nearby sea. It truly was the perfect place to be brought up.

Erika’s Family

• Father: Karl Adolf Koorem b: 4/8/1875 Arensburg (Kuressaare), Saaremaa ( Fought WW1, cabinet maker, carpenter, forester) d: 12/24/1929
• Mother: Miina Toomson b: 8/10/1881 Karla, Saaremaa lived Loygu (waitress)  d:1973 Kuressaare
• Brother: Bernard Koorem b:1911 (baker) d: 2006 Tallinn
• Brother Oscar Kooram b: 1914? (died in infancy)
• Brother: August Konrad Korem b1916? (seaman, welder) d: 1997 Barry, Wales
• Brother: Enn Koorem b1918 (customs inspector,electrical repair) d: 2006 Tallinn
• Sister: Theresa Marie Koorem b:1920 (factory worker) d:2006 Tallinn
• Brother: Paul Ferdinand Koorem b:1922 (tailor shop, road construction) lived Pitea, Sweden (twin of Alfred) d: 1992
• Brother: Alfred Rudolf Koorem b: 1922 (shop, sawmill worker) Lived Haapsulu, Estonia d: 2017

In those days Erika was known as ‘Ikky.’ As she grew her 5 brothers and 1 sister looked after her, but she was her mother’s girl – they had a very strong bond.

She attended the local school in Kuressaare until 1938 (at the age of 14) and because the family was poor (her father had died when she was three) and they could not afford to pay for school so she had to find work. After school she attended night classes studying typing and business related matters.

During the day she was employed as a child minder for a Baptist minister’s daughter who Erika referred to as the ‘little horror.’ (Unfortunately the minister was eventually hanged by the Russians). She also worked in the local café – the Port Artur Cafe in Loode, during holiday times. She knew the owners daughter (Lember) who eventually went to Sweden. During her time working in the Port Artur Café a drunk Russian soldier took a pot shot in her direction the narrowly missed her. Her brother Enn on hearing this came running to the café and took her home to safety.

This truly was a fairy-tale existence but like in all these types of stories something was just about to happen….  First the Russians (1939) and then the Germans (1942) invaded the country. I n 1944 the Russians again invaded the country.

In 1939 Erika was working at the telephone exchange at the Post Office in Kuressaare.  Her first job was office related duties but she was soon promoted to working on the telephone exchange.  During this time she learned Morse Code.

During the period when the Russians were in power. The Russian soldiers held guns to them to attempt to stop them speaking Estonian. She was also called into the head office in the post office and told to join the young communists. She refused and a red circle was put around her name. That mark signified that she would be on the next shipment of refugees to be deported to Siberia. Luckily for Erika the German army then invaded Estonia!

By 1942 with the Germans now in power Erika had a job in the office of a meat exporting company.  She had her own desk and had to write lists of animals to be sent to Germany. She stated that the bookkeeper that worked for the company was ‘weird.’ However she always got a good lunch and was able to take home meat for her mother. During this employment period Erika was able to exchange one of her mother’s cows for a new cow and two sheep!! (Later the family had the sheep taken away from them by the Russians).

In 1944 the Russians were again invading the country and the German army was losing hold of Estonia.  Erika heard that she was on a list naming those Estonians that were to be deported to the gulags of Siberia.

She had to act quickly.  She got some money from the company she was working for.  She said a tearful goodbye to her beloved mother and the rest of her family. The Russian tanks were already moving into the countryside. She tried to get on a small boat to Latvia but had to change at the last moment. She joined her friends and managed to get on a ship that was heading out into the Baltic. The ship had over a thousand people on it. There were sighs of relief as they moved away from the coast and the Russians. This relief was short-lived however as a Russian submarine fired a torpedo and the hull of the ship exploded in flames. Erika and her friends stood at the edge of the ship and stared down into the dark waters of the Baltic. She had no life jacket. Her boyfriend gallantly gave her his life jacket and they leaped over the edge into the cold, dark waters. She never saw him again. (She lost all her clothes and money).

Erika was a strong swimmer and she quickly swam away from the wreck. She swam and drifted for hours. All of a sudden a ship approached and she was pulled from the water. Her saviors were not Russians thankfully but Germans heading back towards Germany during the last year of World War II.

The ship stopped at Latvia and Erika disembarked. She then managed to get on another ship headed to Germany as the Russians were invading Latvia. The ship took her to Danzig (Gdansk) which is in Poland. She was put to work in a nurses home. However the Germans found out they were not nurses and they were sent to a camp. Erika was sent from the camp to a hospital as she was a diphtheria carrier. She was there from October of 1944 through January of 1945. By February/March of 1945 she got on a train attempting to get to the British army. The Russians attacked the train and it was on fire near Rostock. Erika states that she was “frozen with fear at the sight of the Russian tanks.”

An older woman helped Erika to get to Rostock which was being heavily bombed by the British. They traveled through Rostock during the bombing and hid out in cellars of bombed out houses. The night they were in Rostock it fell to the Russians. However they met Estonians and Latvians with food and then walked all the way to Lubeck hiding in the forest to escape capture. Erika states that they eat cheese but she would not allow any of their party to hunt for rabbits for food as she loved animals.

Erika split up with the group near Lubeck and went into no-mans-land moving from hiding-place to hiding place. Planes were circling overhead. She met some Estonian girls as she arrived in Lubeck. There was no shooting going on in Lubeck. They slept in an old bus. They met some British soldiers who gave the girls some food – Erika’s first taste of baked beans!

At the end of the war in 1945 Erika was sent to an Estonian displaced persons camp outside Lubeck. She got food and clothes and a job in a restaurant in Lubeck which catered to displaced foreigners. She then got a job in a hotel by the sea. She liked to dance and attended every dance she could. She stated that she was “surprised by how much of Germany the British gave to the Russians.”  During this time Erika attempted to become an actor in Rada?

As a displaced person she got asked if she wanted to go to England, Australia or the US.  She wanted to go to Australia or the US but the wait was too long and so she asked to go to England.

In 1947/48 she was sent to England and spent a day in London and was then sent to a DP camp by the sea near Bristol.  She was there for two weeks before being sent on to Dundee in Scotland to work the looms at a jute factory. For six months she lived in a big home in Broughty Ferry with other girls. She met more people and moved into a private house – 121 King Street Broughty Ferry.  The owners of the home wanted to adopt Erika. She said “no” as she only wanted to be her ‘mothers daughter.’  She did not enjoy working in the jute factory as the noise and dust gave her a sore stomach.

Erika enjoyed her new found freedom and it was obvious that she had a very strong spirit.  Her greatest love was dancing. In those days there was a boat that sailed from Dundee to Perth taking people to the City Hall in Perth where the dancing was really hot.  During one of these trips Erika’s good looks and dancing skills were noticed by a handsome musician in the band.  The musician’s name was Jim Peggie.

Erika was then assigned work at Hillside Homes in Perth as a nursing assistant.

Erika got to know Jim (who lived in Alva) and they eventually married and settled in Perth.  Life was good but she missed her family.Estonia was now part of the Soviet block hidden behind the Iron Curtain.  Her frequent letters to her mother were returned unopened by the Soviet government.

Erika and Jim got married in 1953 in Perth. They settled down in Perth living in Rannoch Road. They had a family, three bundles of joy called David, James and Eric! During this time she hooked up with another Estonian, Lya Miki Nool / Miller (her best friend) at Hillside Homes and their playfulness and antics made life fun around the hospital.

In 1954 Jim and Erika got a flat in Inchaffrey Street.  Erika stopped work in 1954 when David was born but returned to Hillside Homes after Eric went to school.  In 1957 James was born. In 1958 they moved to 141 Brahn Terrace in Letham, Perth.  In 1959 Eric was born.

In 1960 Erika was ill and spent six weeks in the TB ward of Bridge of Earn Hospital and was allowed no visitors. She could not breath at night with the worry. (She presumably caught it from the Bells who lived next door in Letham, Perth). After Erika got out of hospital they started saving money to build a house.

During 1963/64 Jim built the house they were to live the remainder of their lives in at 5 Hillend Road in Perth.

By 1989 both Jim and Erika retired.

Eventually her sons grew up and moved away from home to pursue their education and career goals. They provided Erika with much loved daughters-in-law and grandchildren. By then Erika finally had time to become involved in many activities. She had dreams of becoming a fashion designer and always made her own clothes. If you saw a woman walking down the High Street of Perth in a bright outfit with enormous flowers on it then it would have been Erika. She always stood out!

Erika also liked to oil paint and was a member of Perth Art Association. She was a keen swimmer and yoga enthusiast. If you saw someone doing head stands at the Perth Swimming Baths then it would have been Erika. And of course she loved to dance.

Her love of animals and all life forms is legendary. Any dog that was reincarnated to be her pet had won the doggie lottery! On a weekly basis she traveled to Tescos to pick up a dozen loafs of bread. These loafs were for the birds. They did not get plain bread, but it was also buttered so they got their essential oils. Her children were trained at an early age to collect the flies that entered into her house and gently deposit them outside. If she saw someone injuring or harming an insect or animal they would quickly get a tongue lashing.

During the 1970’s Erika’s mother died. It was a very sad time for her as she had never got to see her again.  In 1991 the Estonians were liberated and Erika was finally able to communicate with her family and eventually make frequent visits to the country and her brothers and sister.

1999 was another sad time for Erika when her husband Jim died. He was sorely missed by the family. In the years after his death she continued to swim and dance and also travel to countries where the sun did indeed shine. She loved to work in her garden – perhaps building her own little Saaremaa in Scotland.

Erika had a happy life and had an effect on everyone that she came into contact with. She was on her own spiritual path believing in one God for all. She was thoughtful, nurturing and kind to all people and life forms. She also had a mischievous sense of humor and loved to laugh and play tricks. She was quite simply fun to be around.

For those of us that knew her we give joy for her life and the precious times we spent with her. We are truly proud to have known her. And we hope that wherever she is now that the sun is shining for her.

In memory of our mother – Dr. David Peggie, James Peggie and Eric Peggie – 2008

Erika Elisabeth Koorem b: 7 July 1925 Kuressaare, Estonia. d: 26 August 2007 Perth, Scotland

Her remains were interred in Kudjape Cemetery, Kuressaare in 2009.