Seventy years ago in 1944, the Great Exodus of Estonians to the West took place. It has generally been estimated that around 70 000 Estonians escaped during the Great Exodus to the West. Most of the refugees arguably belonged to the elite of Estonia. Unfortunately, those opinions are widespread even in historical literature. This article analyses the validity of those opinions. By researching this subject, we can ask two further questions: when exactly the Great Exodus took place, and how many Estonians who served in various units of the German Army stayed in the West after World War II? Since this has been a topic of interdisciplinary research over the last ten years, we can confirm that it is highly unlikely that 70 000 Estonians, mostly civilians, left Estonia during the Great Exodus and that most of them belonged to the Estonian elite. Research affirms that around 80 000 Estonians left Estonia for different reasons over the duration of WW II. The Great Exodus began early in the summer of 1944 already and culminated in September and October of 1944, but it is highly improbable that around 70 000 Estonians escaped during that period. It is not yet known exactly how many of them were ex-soldiers in German military units but there is evidence that their number exceeds 10 000. The second widespread opinion that most of the Estonian refugees belonged to the elite could not be confirmed either. Regardless of the fact that many Estonian refugees were well educated, the majority had only primary school education.
