Estonia, I was never aware of history surrounding this European country . This weekend I attended an independent film festival with movies from Estonia . As always it opened a new world of information (which often leads to the thought that I have been ignorant of so many things)
Estonia a small country with about 1.1 MM people was battlefield for the Russians and Germans in the WWII. After the Great Northern War, the Swedish empire lost Estonia to Russia in 1710 However, the upper classes and the higher middle class remained primarily Baltic German.Following the Bolshevik takeover of power in Russia after the October Revolution of 1917 and German victories against the Russian army, between the Russian Red Army’s retreat and the arrival of advancing German troops, the Committee of Elders of the Maapäev issued the Estonian Declaration of Independence in Pärnu on February 24, 1918. After winning the Estonian Liberation War against Soviet Russia and at the same time German Freikorps volunteers the Tartu Peace Treaty was signed on 2 February 1920), Estonia maintained its independence for twenty-two years.
In WWII, after a fierce battle between Germans and the Russians, the Victorious Russians annexed the Estonia and it became a part of the erstwhile USSR. Estonia thus celebrates its second day of independence. Estonia formally declared regained independence on August 20, 1991, during the Soviet military coup attempt in Moscow. The first country to diplomatically recognize Estonia’s reclaimed independence was Iceland. They joined the EU officially in May 2004
The dilemma is the 25% of the population are of erstwhile Russians who are loyal to the Russian State and the native Estonians consider the end of WWII as starting of their period of illegal Russian occupation.
The movies shown did reflect this ethnic conflict which had taken a very ugly turn this year on the removal of Russian soldier from the town square in their capital city of Tallinn.
One should read the singing revolution , it has similarities to Bhasha (language ) Andolan in Bangladesh
The Films for freedom Bangalore screens documentaries website http://vikalpblr.org/
A must read the singing revolution , freedom movement of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_Revolution
As always it opened a new world of information (which often leads to the thought that I have been ignorant of so many things) – This is a deja vu that happens to me all the time, be it academics or otherwise. But yes, a nice glimpse to Estonian history
By: Rajendran on October 26, 2007
at 8:02 pm