Posted on 08/13/2022 5:11:40 PM PDT by MercyFlush
The Estonian government wants to ban the memory of the Soviet past from public life. Riots and Russian cyber attacks cannot be ruled out. At the center of the controversy is an old tank.
Lenin got it: his statue still stands in Estonia’s third-largest city, Narva, but it was moved to a secluded, walled-in corner in the courtyard in the 1990s. In the summer, the Russian revolutionary leader was surrounded by an ugly construction site fence.
If the Estonian government under Prime Minister Kaja Kallas has its way, all Soviet monuments in the small Baltic state should disappear from public view. And as quickly as possible – that’s what Kallas announced on Thursday.
With the beginning of the Ukraine war, the debates about Soviet monuments in the Baltic States flared up again. Estonia’s neighbor Latvia has already taken it seriously: All Soviet monuments must be removed from Latvian soil by November 15.
In Estonia, this decision harbors enormous potential for social disruption. Because about a quarter of the Estonian population are ethnic Russians. Older people in particular feel connected to Russia and the legacy of the Soviet Union. The announcement also brings back memories of the worst riots since Estonia’s independence in 1991.
15 years ago, in April 2007, the so-called bronze soldier was transferred from the center of the capital Tallinn to the outskirts. The memorial commemorated the Soviet “liberation” of Estonia in World War II. Two days of violent protests followed: Russian-speaking youths rioted, torched cars and looted shops. Over a hundred people were injured, one man was stabbed. On top of that. Russia launched a large-scale cyber attack against Estonia. It was the first time a nation-state had been the victim of such coordinated hacking.
Today it is not the bronze soldier, but a tank that heats up tempers. About 200 to 400 Soviet monuments still stand in Estonia. But the old T-34 tank near Narva in the predominantly Russian-speaking east of Estonia is at the center of the debate about the culture of remembrance. It stands at the point where Soviet soldiers crossed the Narva River and drove the German occupiers out of the city. The river today marks the Estonian-Russian state border.
After the first rumors about the removal of the tank began to circulate in public on Wednesday afternoon, about 150 people gathered at the monument in the evening, according to the Estonian public broadcaster. Some wanted to stay the night to prevent an alleged removal of the tank.
Relocating the tank is legally problematic. Because the central government can only decide on the relocation of war memorials with human remains. Other monuments, like the tank at Narva, are the responsibility of the local administration.
Prime Minister Kaja Kallas admitted that the city of Narva has the right to decide the fate of the tank. “But because it is clear that Narva itself will not intervene, the Estonian state and government must make the decision to move this and other monuments of symbolic value,” said Kallas.
The corresponding law would have to be changed for this. Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu has already suggested calling MPs back from the summer break so that they can vote on a change in the law as quickly as possible.
Nevertheless, it would be wrong to blame the entire Russian-speaking minority in Estonia should the monument dispute escalate, says Karsten Brüggemann. He is Professor of General and Estonian History at Tallinn University and researches the history of Russian-Baltic relations. «In April, 2007 hasn’t the Russian minority demonstrated against the implementation of the bronze soldier. There were a few hundred – partly incited by the Russian embassy”.
However, even now, riots cannot be ruled out. “You’ll always find those few hundred who would salute a Russian tank. Especially in Narva,” says Brüggemann. “But that doesn’t mean that the majority of Russian-speaking Estonians are behind it. On the contrary: This is a radical, dissatisfied minority whose displeasure could unfortunately be activated again.”
good, I know good Lithuanian’s, but they have Russian heritage
I’ve read about that. Only one of Hitler would be more repulsive. Here’s an interesting thing. Now and again someone will come along and paint Lenin’s outstretched hand blood red. So at least one person in Seattle has a true understanding of history.
“It’s like having a statue of King George III at the National Mall in Washington, D.C.”
During the Revolution there was a lead statue of King George III in New York City.
It was torn down, melted down, and made into bullets which were used to kill the British.
Perhaps the Estonians can harvest metals from the Russian monuments and make weapons for the Ukrainians. That would be a fitting end to these monuments.
How many of those were killed by whom, and were the Estonians killed by Soviet Occupation killed because they supported Germany?
dey all whiteys, dey much be punished!
damned Caucasians...
OK. After WWI Russia (now the newly minted USSR) was treated as a losing side in the war and new nations were carved from their territory, including Finland, Poland, and the Baltic Nations.
The new USSR wasn’t happy about this and tried to take its part of Poland back, but Poland repelled them. They then signed the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact in which they agreed to take back ‘their’ part of Poland and let Germany take the rest as well as retaking the Baltic nations. USSR then had a go at Finland, but that didn’t go as planned. Then Germany attacked the USSR taking all of Poland and the Baltics. After years the Red Army won nearly all of the lost territory back.
Somewhat ironically, the USSR was allowed to keep ‘its’ part of Poland as well as the Baltic nations after WWII. They also got to keep the bits of Finland they took in the second Finnish war.
After the war, the Soviets moved many citizens of the Baltic nations out and moved Russians in. The citizens of the Baltic nations do not have fond memories of the Russian, Soviet or German occupations of their nations.
A good movie.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt3213684/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0
“1944”
“In 1944 Estonia, a fratricide war ensues when Estonians of the retreating German forces fight against Estonians conscripted into the advancing Soviet Red Army.”
Does anybody ever wonder why the Soviets didn't sign with Britain and France, before Hitler did? The reason was simple. Russia wanted to occupy Poland as a condition of signing an alliance with Britain and France, Britain and France refused, so there was the opening for Hitler.
Estonia was a heavy nazi collaborator country. They even had an SS division. They even have reunions there. Pretty sick.
More ugly, corny Soviet garbage monuments. Those are in your face ugly. Did they remove the Bulgarian thing?
anyone here ever drink Ukrainian bombers? I have,
vodka on cracked ice, chased with pomegranate juice
The Estonians should offer the statues to Seattle.
Estonia should forcibly eject the Ethnic Russians out, just like Ukraine should have done in the 1990s, and will have to do if they manage to get Dombass and Crimea back. Also forcibly remove anyone who is part of any Communist or Socialist party, back to Russia.
“Estonia was a heavy nazi collaborator country. They even had an SS division. They even have reunions there. Pretty sick.”
That tells you just how much the Soviets were hated. The Estonians believed the Germans would help them regain their independence from Soviet tyranny.
We allied ourselves with an autocratic monarchy (France) to liberate ourselves from another monarchy so that we could establish a republic. If the Soviet Union had somehow occupied the U.S.A. in 1940, we would have welcomed an alliance with the Nazis too. And if you don’t believe that, then you’re way out of touch with reality.
Memento Park, Budapest, Hungary
Museum of Socialist Art, Sofia, Bulgaria
What about all of the Confederate monuments/memorials taken down in the U.S. over the last 3 years?
“It’s time to remove these monuments to rape and conquest.”
That’s right!! Just like we did to the monuments of Robert E Lee, Columbus, Jefferson, confederate soldiers, confederate monuments - even the slave holding founding father’s statues should come down.
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