The Bronze Soldier
Hello. I am an Estonian nationalist. In Tallinn, Tõnismägi, the center of the capital of Estonia is the "Bronze Soldier" a monument to soviet soldiers. Last may, to celebrate victory over Nazi Germany the Russian minority here(Which is rather large due to the 50 year occupation of Estonia, they tried to russify us by sending russians to live here) had a meeting at the bronze soldier, singing old communist songs and waving the red flag and the flag of the Russian empire. A group of Estonians with an Estonian flag and signs came to protest, the Russians attacked the Estonians and tried to rip down the Estonian flag, and called us bastards
(Video of it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D04ptK8HZas )
Since then, first only in Estonia a huge debate has started. Should we remove the bronze soldier? Most Estonians say yes, and most Russian colonialists say no. After that, when news of this reached Russia, there have been protests in Russia. They have burned our flags, and throw paint bombs etc at our embassy. Then, Moscow started taking this thing to other countries, The Guardian recently published an article by a member of the Duma where he called us neonazies, bastards etc. Russia is the last country to call somebody else anti-democratic or nazi. The country has over 50 000 violent neo-nazies, and isnt exactly what one would call "democratic".
Now, i am interested what other people think of this. People who are neutral, not Estonian or Russian.
Do you consider the Soviet Union as liberators or occupiers in eastern europe and the baltic states after the second world war? Do you think the monument should be removed?
Estonia first gained independence in 1918, and after a 2 year independence war against Russia, a peace treaty was signed in Tartu, Soviet Russia recognized our independence and clear borders were made. Estonia was a free country, until in 1940 the Molotov-Rippentrop pact was signed just before Germany invaded Poland. In the pact, Germany agreed to give Estonia into the soviet sphere of influence. Sadly, our leaders were too afraid to fight against the Soviets like the Finnish did. Our president Konstantin Päts knew that soon a war between the Soviet Union and Germany would come, and he was hoping to keep the Estonian republic alive until this happens. He gave in to Russian demands, and in the summer of 1940, the Estonian Republic became the Estonian SSR. Terror immideatly started, as people were arrested, raped and murdered. When Germany invaded, Soviet Russia tried to evacuate with as many people as possible to later put them to work in GULAG or in the red army. People were stuffed in animal wagons and shipped to Siberia. As the Germans came to Estonia, we first greeted the Germans as liberators. Many men joined the German army hoping to drive the communists as far away from Estonia as possible, they DID NOT fight for Germany. It became clear the Germans were not going to restore our republic, but they did act much better with us than the Russians did. In 1944 the Russians returned, and many men again joined the Estonian Legion, hoping they can delay the Russian advance until the western allies end the war. These brave men, including my 2 grandfathers managed indeed to stop the Russians at Sinimäed in northeastern Estonia. They never broke through there, however they came from the south and the Germans had to leave Estonia. In September we tried to restore our independence, but when the Russians arrived in Tallinn they of course would not have of it. The war ended, and, again, Estonia became a part of the USSR. In 1949 30-60 000 people were again shipped to Siberia, most of them women and children! There were only 1 million Estonians. During the occupation, every fifth Estonian was put in an animal wagon. Most of them never returned, and died in the GULAG camps.
After Stalin died, there were no longer such murders, but instead now they tried to russify us by bringing in lots of russian colonialists. Today, about 25% or so of our population is Russian. And as you could see from the above video, they dont exactly love Estonia. Finaly as the Soviet Union started to collapse at the end of the 1980's, we could again think of freedom. 1987-1991 is known as the singing revolution, a revolution with no violence, we sang ourselves free. And formed the coolest human chain from Estonia to Lithuania
Anyway, a cool site with lots of documentary films about the occupation
www.okupatsioon.ee
Now we are free again. The bloodiest occupation we have had, and the Bronze Soldier is a symbol of all this. Would it be normal for say, a monument to Luftwaffe pilots to exist in London? Or a monument to German soldiers in Moscow?
Please realize atleast, Estonians did NOT like the nazies. Germans were the ones the first occupied us, and took our freedom from us in the 13. century. For 700 years we were slaves to baltic-German land lords. We just want freedom and independence, from both Russia and Germany.
But what do other westerners think of this?
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Originally Posted by milns
