Ilmar, Olev, and Heino Mikiver are known in Estonian cultural history for their creative activity in the fields of poetry, dramaturgy, and art. Since their studies at the Tallinn Secondary School of Science, they remained friends and kindred spirits with Ilmar Laaban, who later became the first Estonian Surrealist poet. The Mikiver brothers’ letters to Ilmar Laaban from the years 1943–1999 made their way to the Estonian Cultural History Archives as a small part of Laaban’s personal collection. These letters provide interesting material for researchers of Estonian culture. Their written communication started during WWII, when the young men fled to Finland to escape German mobilisation, and continued until the last years of their lives. This article focuses on letters written from 1943 to 1944, when the brothers fought as volunteers in the Finnish Army against the Red Army. At that time, Laaban was already living in Sweden as a refugee.

The article provides insight into ten letters, in which the brothers tell stories about their escape from Estonia to Finland, share information on the destiny of their schoolmates, discuss fine arts, and dream about life in peacetime. In order to implement their future plans, the Mikiver brothers would have had to escape to Sweden like Laaban did. In Finland at that time, legal emigration to another Western country was restricted for Estonian refugees. Since field post letters were heavily censored, writing about this topic was risky. Heino Mikiver was especially skilful in hiding his real thoughts and his texts required deciphering. They were like a jolly game of hide-and-seek with the censor. Ilmar Mikiver, who was more determined to flee to Sweden than his brothers and needed Laaban’s advice, made use of the hand delivery system from Finland. That was operated through the editorial office of the Estonian newspaper Malevlane. Heinrich Mark, later the prime minister of the Estonian government-in-exile serving as acting president, worked as an editor at that paper. The letters reveal that Ilmar Mikiver managed to escape to Sweden by the beginning of 1944. Olev and Heino Mikiver continued their correspondence with Laaban from the Karelian front until 7 August 1944, when Estonian soldiers started returning to their homeland and the period of the Continuation War ended in the lives of the Mikiver brothers. They resumed their correspondence with Laaban in the post-war period, and their later letters also include reminiscences from the days of the Continuation War.