I Found My Father
An historical overview of Kirsti Eskola Eckert’s search for her father’s grave
Rollstone Studios presents a unique and touching multi-media installation of area resident Kirsti Eskola Eckert’s search to find her father’s final resting site at a mass grave in Russia.
“I missed my father and thought about him all my life,” Eckert writes. She was just four and a half in 1930 when she and her mother left for America on the Aquitania. She never saw her father again and during the Stalinist purges, he was shot and killed by soldiers in fall, 1937. Kirsti made five trips to Russia before she found evidence of where her father was buried. Tragically, Eckert, a longtime area resident, passed away in August, 2009, days after completing the installation at Rollstone Studios.
“We are honored to have this unique and heart-wrenching exhibition about Kirsti’s life and her search for an answer as to what happened to her father,” says Studios director Anne Giancola. “I am so saddened by Kirsti’s passing,” says resident artist Helen Simmons who installed “I Found My Father.” “This is the most significant exhibit that we have installed to date at Rollstone.”
Items on view include Kirsti’s photos of her journey and the grave site; family memorabilia, and informative items about the Russian gulags and the Finnish/Russian connection.
