Birch bark letters from Siberia were written by people deported to Soviet Gulag labor camps. Often they had only birch bark for writing letters, especially during the World War II when paper was scarce everywhere. In 2023 Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland and Ukraine, submitted a joint application to include birch bark letters from Siberia (1945–1965) in the UNESCO "Memory of the World" Register. The application presents 148 items, including letters and other documents on birch bark.Letters on birch bark written by Ukrainian political prisoners from Siberia will be included in the UNESCO heritage list – Ministry of CultureBaltics, Poland, Ukraine submit gulag birch bark letters to UNESCO register
The preparations for this submission were started in 2015 by representatives of the three Baltic States.
Estonia In Estonia, they are kept in the Vabamu Museum of Occupations and Freedom and in the Estonian History Museum.
Latvia In 2009, the collection "Letters written in Siberia on birch bark" () was included in the Latvian national register of the UNESCO Memory of the World Programme. It consists of 45 letters written in prisons and camps between 1941 and 1965.Latvijas nacionālais reģistrs
They are kept in eleven museums in Latvia, including the Tukums Museum, Aizkraukle History and Art Museum, , Museum of the Occupation of Latvia, Madona Local Lore and Art Museum (), Riga Museum of Literature and Music (Rakstniecības un mūzikas muzejs), , Latvian Museum of National History.https://www.unesco.org/archives/multimedia/document-2623UNESCO programma „Pasaules atmiņa” Latvijas nacionālais reģistrsDurbes pilī atklāj izstādi “Sibīrijas vēstules”, Museum of the Occupation of Latvia
Agrita Ozola, head of the ,Agrita Ozola, profile at literatura.lv published the book (Siberian Letters).Agrita Ozola, Sibīrijas vēstules, 2023, Agritas Ozolas grāmata “Sibīrijas vēstules”
Lithuania On May 21, 2015, together with other objects, birch bark letters kept in the Museum of Occupations and Freedom Fights were entered into the Lithuania's national register of the Memory of the World.http://genocid.lt/muziejus/en/807/c/Dokumentai ant beržo tošies – į UNESCO Pasaulio paveldo registrąTremtinių laiškai: ant beržo tošies, popieriaus skiautės – ne visi išsaugoti, bet išlaikyti širdyse Other places in Lithuania that preserve birch bark letters are the Martynas Mažvydas National Library of Lithuania, the Directorate of the State Kernavė Cultural Reserve, the "Sėla", a branch of the Gargždai Region Museum, the Special Archives of Lithuania, the , Salomėja Nėris Memorial Museum, branch of the Maironis Lithuanian Literature Museum, Šiauliai "Aušra" Museum, Wroblewski Library of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, and Kaunas Ninth Fort Museum.Į UNESCO registrą „Pasaulio atmintis“ pateikta 5 šalių paraiška įtraukti ant beržo tošies Sibire rašytus laiškusPanevėžio kraštotyros muziejaus dokumentas – pakeliui į UNESCO, January 13, 2016Edita Lansbergienė Priesakas ant beržo tošies, Biržai Museum, June 11, 2011
Poland In Poland, they are preserved in in Licheń StaryLETTERS ON BIRCH BARK: HISTORY AND CONSERVATION OF OBJECTS FROM THE MUSEUM OF REV. JÓZEF JARZĘBOWSKI IN LICHEŃ STARYŻyczenia z łagru and in the Museum of the Second World War in Gdańsk.Archiwum IPN otrzymało niezwykłe pamiątki. To świadectwo o osobach, które zesłano na Syberię In 2023, the Institute of National Remembrance received a diary made of birch bark written in Siberian exile. In 2023, Archiwum Kresowe in Zielona Góra received photographs of a similar diary from a private archive.Przyjaciele z zesłania. Ludmiła Marczak ze Stryjówki koło Zbaraża i jej syberyjski sztambuch na brzozowej korze spisany.
Ukraine In Ukraine, they are preserved in the National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War, the and the , Ternopil.Ася Небор-Николайчук, Зберегти спадщину: до списку ЮНЕСКО подано берестяні листи депортованих до Сибіру людей, December 1, 2023
Library of Congress In the U.S. Library of Congress, the letters are kept in the collection "Siberian Letters on Birch Bark".https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667710/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667711/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667713/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667714/Letter and Poems on Birch Bark from Siberia by Gaida Eglīte, May 24, 1949.https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667716/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667717/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667718/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667719/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667720/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667721/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667722/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667723/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667724/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667725/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667726/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667727/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667728/https://www.loc.gov/item/2021667729/
See also Birch bark manuscript Memory of the World Register – Europe and North America Population transfer in the Soviet Union
References
External links Sibīrijā rakstītas vēstules uz bērza tāss A slide show by Agrita Ozola, with transcript
Further reading Zeszyt z kory brzozowej z wierszami pisanymi przez Marię Górniak w latach 1941–1943, Ozierki, obwód swierdłowski,