Gunnar Ellam

Mr. Ellam’s father, who had been conscripted to the German army, became Soviet army’s POW in Velikiye Luki during WWII. He was subsequently sent to a prison camp in Siberia. The Ellam family home was destroyed on 25 March 1944 by the Soviet Air Force during the air raid on Tallinn. In 1944, Gunnar Ellam evacuated with his stepmother to Germany and later to Switzerland. At the end of WWII, Mr. Ellam and his family lived in a displaced persons camp in Bayern, where he graduated from high school and subsequently emigrated to the United States in 1950. Gunnar Ellam gives an overview of his childhood in Estonia and his escape to the United States via Germany. He also discusses his education and life in the United States.