Although a substantial part of the foreign materials collected, the archived materials regarding Baltic Germans is relatively small, partly because early calls for folklore were done so in Estonian. Also because many of those collecting folklore did not have the language skills necessary to document Baltic German folklore and those who did have the skills felt it was unimportant. Further collection was also impeded by the Second World War as the Baltic Germans left Estonia after the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact was signed in 1939.