Many Estonias: Visions of Homeland and Loss of Homeland in the Context of Events in the 1940s-50s

• In Event: Cultural Memory and Remembrance of Occupations

Abstract

The 100th anniversary of independent Baltic republics makes us think about the fates of their citizens, different milestones in history, their birth, as well as destruction and rebirth. The political turn of 1940 with the war that followed caused great losses and dispersed the nation into several directions. The Estonian people were broken into three major groups: refugees to the West, deportees to exile and prison camps in the Soviet Union and those who remained at home. The further course of life of separated people, part of them in the closed Soviet Union, part of them in the open Western world with all the restrictions and options has strongly influenced our attitudes today. If we ask whether these scattered groups of people have united by now, my answer is hesitant. Estonian historiography mostly deals with them separately. There are independent studies of exile Estonia, the repressed, events in Estonia before and after Stalin’s era, but, as a rule, these groups are not examined together or parallelly. It can be argued that the groups are not familiar with each other’s stories well enough either, there is much ignorance and false understandings. The years apart have brought estrangement to the relations. Here, the mistrust towards both the repressed and the refugees sown by the Soviet authorities (their stigmatization), but also application of various mechanisms of social control have played a part in creating such atmosphere. People’s return to the native land has been problematic in many respects. For bringing together the fractured connections we need to develop dialogues between the separate stories that enable to give meanings to incomprehensible phenomena.

Short Bio

Aigi Rahi-Tamm is an Associate Professor and Head of Archival Studies at the University of Tartu. Her main field of research is 20th century history with particular emphasis on mass violence and social history in the Soviet period. She is the author or co-author of several articles and two monographs. See: https://www.etis.ee/Portal/Persons/Display/a913e685-49d2-4cbc-92d2-bc51de192d28?language=ENG

Author

• Aigi Rahi-Tamm, University of Tartu