In Estonia, since the start of the war in Ukraine, politicians would like to remove Soviet monuments and symbols from public spaces. Some have already been removed. But this big cleaning is not unanimous.
Soldiers, weapons in hand and serious faces, appear on a bas-relief on the facade of a historic building in the center of Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. Stars adorn the tops of the columns and the Soviet emblem points to the roof.
“According to the law currently being discussed in Parliament, the owner of this building should remove these symbols. It’s ridiculous,” says Andro Mänd. The president of the Estonian Association of Architects does not see any threat in these symbols. “It’s just a trace of history here in Estonia. But our politicians don’t see it that way, nor does a majority of society.”
A law in preparation
Indeed, the Estonian Parliament is currently debating a law to facilitate the removal of Soviet objects or symbols from public spaces.
A facade or a statue should neither incite hatred nor support an occupation regime or an act of aggression. It is about maintaining public order, according to the Estonian government behind the text, in a rather tense context.
Estonia lived under Soviet occupation until 1991. This small country of 1.3 million inhabitants is located on the Russian border and has a Russian-speaking minority, around a quarter of its population. Tallinn fears that Russian President Vladimir Putin will justify an intervention to “save” this minority, as was the case in Ukraine.
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Worried cultural circles
With 13 other cultural associations, Andro Mänd signed a petition in 2022 already to oppose this big cleanup in public spaces.
He continues his fight today. One case in particular worries him: a huge Soviet memorial at the gates of the capital, which certain politicians want to destroy. “It’s one of the most beautiful examples of landscape architecture in the Baltic region. It’s pure geometry, pure architecture. There are no Soviet symbols there,” Andro says with alarm. Mänd.
Cultural and artistic circles criticize the Estonian authorities for a certain haste. “We waited 30 years to make these decisions. Before, no one cared. Now, with the war in Ukraine, it’s becoming a hot topic,” notes Andro Mänd. “We should take the time to assess what is valuable, because the majority of these Soviet statues are uninteresting. But some have great artistic value.”
>> Also read: In Berlin, the controversial statues that are torn down have their museum
A bronze soldier moved
But it will not have been necessary to wait for the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022 to measure the political dimension of certain monuments.
An emblematic case is the movement, in 2007, of a Soviet statue from the center of Tallinn to the outskirts. This bronze soldier was alternately perceived as a symbol of the Soviet occupation for some and a symbol of resistance to Nazism for part of the Russian-speaking minority in particular. Its dismantling sparked a strong reaction from Moscow, which responded with a massive cyberattack against Estonia. The war of memories was launched and has since affected all the Baltic countries.
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Molotov cocktail at the museum
In Riga, Latvia, the Occupation Museum had a major surprise this spring. He received a molotov cocktail on his premises. The museum is not its first attack since its renovation in 2022 and demonstrates that cultural institutions are at the heart of these tensions.
Tallinn also has its Museum of Occupations and Freedom, the Vabamu. The institution mainly presents everyday objects. Although she has never experienced such violent outbursts, she discusses how to react and cope with them.
“State security is not just about buying weapons and investing in the army,” argues Nikolai Ostašov. “This also involves building a new identity for Russian-speaking schoolchildren,” explains the museum’s educational manager.
Vabamu has therefore set up a course in Russian intended for them, in collaboration with Estonian historians, specialists of the 20th century. “They tell them personal stories and the students can decide: was it liberation? What kind of freedom did Stalinist crimes bring to our society? And if history repeated itself in Estonia, what would they do?” , details Nikolai Ostašov.
The Museum of Occupations and Freedom also offers a guided tour of Tallinn’s old town and its buildings, tracing the traces of the Soviet era. To be done before these vestiges perhaps one day disappear from public space.
Julie Rausis
