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.”
The T-34s did not have Christie suspensions. They were just terrible for a heavy tank.
You leave these things in the history books and you would keep one eye on the lookout for them to return.
In that case you’ll burn the history books as well.
“‘The past was erased, the erasure was forgotten, the lie became the truth.’”
1984
You’re defending the Soviet Union. You are beneath contempt.
And you’re an idiot... and there’s no cure for that.
I’m defending history and reality. But given what you are, I don’t expect you to understand.
I take it you’re all in favor of taking down all the confederate monuments, those of slave holders, Columbus,etc. right?
After all you wouldn’t want to be seen as defending slavery and colonizers.
You insist on equating Soviet monuments with Confederate monuments when there is no comparison.
1. CSA monuments are located in Southern states and are not symbols of occupation or conquest.
2. CSA monuments were erected by former Confederates and in some cases by Northerners as part of the reconciliation movement of the 1920’s.
3. Soviet monuments were imposed on other people by the Soviet invaders and occupiers.
4. Soviet monuments are symbols of Soviet invasion and conquest.
5. Soviet monuments are pervasive reminders of atrocities not just committed but fondly remembered by Russian scumbags as symbols of Russian ‘greatness’.
6. Ultimately Soviet monuments were imposed on sovereign countries that have every right in the world to remove them.
7. The Soviets had no qualms about removing Nazi monuments, obliterating Nazi and Nazi allied war cemetaries, obliterating Nazi war graves, etc.
Please do not equate CSA monuments with monuments to Soviet murderers, conquerors, and rapists. There is no comparison.
Some people have no self control or sense of proportion. I don’t happen to be one of those. Maybe you can arrange for those monuments to be shipped to your home.
“Check out his blog. It reads like fedposting.”
Don’t forget to check out my FR homepage. Can’t imagine why Jon wouldn’t want you to see it.
https://freerepublic.com/~mercyflush/
You seem to have a crush on Mr. Preston, Mr. Toilet Man.
Jon is a liar, Field Marshal Rommel.
Since you are a pathological liar, Toilet Man, Mr. Preston is the opposite of what you claim he is.
If Jon isn’t a liar then he can publish this ‘thoroughly documented’ evidence he says he has about me. He says he has it and he said he’d publish it.
If he’s not a liar then let him make good on his threats.
You’re supposed to push the anti-Putin agenda, not the anti-Preston agenda. You’re taking your eye off the ball, Sorosbot.
You’re trying to change the subject. Fail.
You changed the subject from Putin to Preston. Fail.
Are you and JonPreston the same person?
Oooga booga.
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