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The institutions for child placement under the Soviet Union strongly influenced the life of various populations. Nowadays, in post-Soviet societies, they prove to be central in identity and memory matters. The article highlights the general transformation of the relationship between institutions, families and children after the collapse of the communist regime. Positive narratives of former residents of Soviet institutions for placement conflict on a « mute » model with their pity-worthy images in society. Although the Estonian national institutions situate themselves in opposition to the Soviet system and blame the residential schools of the past, memories from life in residential schools and orphanages allow the individual identities of many former residents to create positive continuity between the two periods. The author refers also to studies on residential schools in Siberia.