Osmussaar

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Osmussaar (Swedish: Odensholm) is an island belonging to Estonia, situated in the Baltic Sea 7.5 km off the Estonian mainland in Noarootsi Parish, Lääne County. Its area is 4.7 km² (1,160 acres). There are only two permanent inhabitants on the island.

The island is named after the Vikings' chief god, Odin, who, according to a legend, is buried on the island. Before the Soviet Union occupied Estonia during World War II, 130 people, mainly Estonian Swedes, lived on the island. The continuous settlement of Swedes on Osmussaar had dated back for centuries.

All inhabitants of were forced to leave the island in 1940, when the Soviet Army base laid the foundation on the island. Osmussaar was the last foothold in Estonia that was given up by the Red Army to the advancing German army in 1941.

As nowadays Osmussaar is a nature reserve, after Estonia regained independence in 1991, the pre-1940 landowners were not allowed to directly reclaim back their land and property and they got compensated elsewhere in Noarootsi.