Sergey Kadinsky
Written Works
This opinion piece was written as part of an editorial writing exercise for the Politics and Leadership class which I took at CCNY in spring 2007. The class was taught by Political Science Professor John Krinsky.
Removing History from the Landscape
April 30, 2007
The relationship between Estonia and its giant neighbor to the east has never been easy. Estonia was part of the Russian Empire from 1710 to 1917. Beating the odds, it succeeded in a two-year war against the Bolsheviks to achieve independence. Two decades later, Estonia was reoccupied under the Soviet banner, leaving an irreversible mark on its culture, landscape, and population.
In the half-century of Soviet rule, the demographic balance was altered through mass deportations under Joseph Stalin, and a government-sponsored influx of ethnic Russians under his successors. By the time Estonia was able to reestablish independence in 1991, more than a third of its residents were Russians, many of whom opposed independence, and did not speak the native Estonian language.
To change the balance, the post-war Soviet settlers were stripped of their citizenship, and the Russian language was no longer used in schools and government institutions. While some Russian Estonians protested their disenfranchisement, many simply left Estonia, giving the indigenous population a larger percentage as the majority. For those who remained, mandatory knowledge of the Estonian language was acceptable, taking a citizenship test that openly declared the Soviet occupation as illegal and immoral was also a price worth paying in order to be counted as citizens. The last straw came on April 26th, when the Estonian Parliament approved the removal of the Bronze Soldier, a Soviet World War Two monument in the center of Tallinn. This act caused rioting that resulted in one death and a thousand arrests. On a larger scale, the decision has reopened painful historical wounds, exposing ethnic divisions in the tiny Baltic republic.
During the Second World War, many Estonians fought alongside the Nazis, viewing them as liberators from the Soviets. This collaboration included mass murders of Russian, Gypsy, and Jewish civilians. When the Soviet forces recaptured Estonia in 1944, they viewed themselves as liberators, and established a monument containing the graves of 13 soldiers. The Soviets also deported thousands of Estonians suspected of Nazi and anti-Soviet activities.
As an independent country, Estonia has the right to define and preserve its culture. At the same time, it has the responsibility of telling its story truthfully. This means including the non-Estonian aspects. During the Cultural Revolution in China, Mao Tse-tung ordered the destruction of monasteries, churches and mosques, in an attempt to impose atheism in a society that once valued religious pluralism. More recently, the Taliban regime in Afghanistan attempted to erase the pre-Islamic history of the country by bombing the Buddhist statues of Bamiyan out of existence. In the Gaza Strip, Hamas desecrated the remains of Jewish synagogues following the Israeli withdrawal in August 2005. It appears that Estonia is doing the same with its Russian legacy.
However, while Mao Tse-tung and the Taliban encountered little internal opposition to their historical revisionist schemes, Estonia has a sizable Russian population, and a border with Russia. Whether the monument symbolizes illegal occupation or liberation is not the issue. By erasing symbols of Soviet rule, Estonia is attempting to revise its history by omitting the chapters that it views as objectionable. It is being dishonest to its future generations by pretending that the occupation can be physically erased. Whereas physical signs can be erased, personal accounts cannot.
The reality is that the second Estonian Republic cannot return to 1939. If it were to do so, it would have to tear up the myriad buildings, highways, and railways built by the Soviets. It would have to forcefully expel one-third of its population, including mixed Russian-Estonian marriages. As a compromise, Estonia moved the monument and its graves out of public view, to a nearby cemetery. For the ethnic Russian community, this symbolizes marginalization. As a member of the European Union, Estonia cannot carry on such policies. It must respect its minorities and preserve history.
Photo: Raigo Pajula AFP/Getty Images