Tourist finds WWII refugee's message in a bottle
 

A bottle found on a Swedish beach contains a plea for help from an Estonian refugee written 60 years ago, a Swedish newspaper reports.

The regional daily Soedermanlands Nyheter reports the yellowed paper, dated 1943, and its bottle were found on a beach in south-eastern Sweden by a Swiss tourist.

In the message, Estonian refugee Maja Westerman asks in broken English if World War II has finished yet.

The newspaper published a Swedish translation of the text.

"Dear friend, we live on an island. We came here a year ago... the lighthouse keeper's family is very kind... is the war finished ... we wait for peace and friendship," Ms Westerman wrote.

Her note says she was on Gotska Sandoen island.

Refugees from the Baltic states fled to Sweden during the 1939-1945 war, as their countries were occupied by the Nazis and the Soviets.

Many sought refuge on the island of Gotska Sandoen in the middle of the Baltic, some 100 kilometres off the Swedish coast.

The message's finder, Thorsten Schwarz, says he would now try to track down Ms Westerman - using the Internet.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/s910721.htm

Wow... 60 years and just now found. Thats simply amazing. I am kind of curious what happened to them. Not something you find every day...........

I thought they only did that in movies...

Yeah, I wonder what happened too

Very cool he should be able to track down the ladys family, i doubt she is still alive i don't believe the life expectancy in estonia is all that high.

I'd like to hear more about this story though although the resoloution probobally won't be as highly publisized as the media likes to leave us hanging never resolve something, as that doesn't make us keep watching.