|
After months of debate, trash-talking, mudslinging, demonstrations and delays - the Bronze Soldier was finally removed from his post in central Tallinn in the dark early hours of April 27th, 2007.
The fate of the monument had been a hotly contested issue between Estonia and Russia since legislation regarding its removal was introduced into the Estonian Parliament months ago. Since then, the so-called 'Monument of the Soldier-Liberator' - which pays tribute to those Soviet soldiers who perished at the hands of the Nazis in Estonia - has become the figurehead of the complicated, worsening relationship between Estonia and Russia.
Tallinn's ethnic Estonian community has long regarded the monument to be an unwelcome reminder of 50 years of Soviet oppression. Estonia's ethnic Russian community, which comprises a significant third of the country's entire population, regards the monument as a symbol of Russia's sacrifice during World War II and a tribute to the Russian soldiers who died fighting Nazi Germany. At the crux of the matter are two contrasting interpretations of history: For Russia, the years 1941-45 call to mind the 'Great Patriotic War', wherein the Soviet Union defeated Germany for the good of all Europe (an act they feel they've received little thanks for). For Estonia, alongside Latvia, Lithuania and Poland, the Second World War began two years earlier in August 1939, when Stalin and Hitler divided Europe in half with the secret Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. Ethnic Estonians view Russia's re-entry into Estonia in 1944 as an act of occupation - a regime change from one oppressive occupying force to another. Russians continue to view their re-entry into Estonia as an act of liberation, freeing Estonia from the terror of fascism.
For Estonians, it is this refusal on the part of Russia to acknowledge or confront the hardships the Soviet Union inflicted on the Baltic peoples that continues to aggravate them and will continue to strain relations between the two countries. The presence of an overtly Soviet monument - particularly one touted as a symbol of 'liberation' and sacrifice - in their city centre is regarded as nothing short of insulting. With a soaring economy, booming tourist industry and pioneering technological advances, Estonia has become one of the darlings of the EU since ascension in 2004, giving rise to an increased sense of pride within the small Baltic nation and a slight tendency toward nationalist indulgences - the dismantling of the Bronze Soldier being a perfect example. Backed by Europe, Estonia is feeling good enough about themselves to get brazen. They won't be bullied by Russia anymore, and unlike other former Soviet satellites, they won't cater to Moscow in the interest of the national economy. They've got some new friends and they're doing just fine financially, thank you.
Estonia overwhelmingly passed legislation banning Soviet symbols like the hammer and sickle, and in early 2007 put The War Graves Protection Act into effect, requiring that the remains of soldiers be respectfully interned in proper military cemeteries. This act gave grounds for the desired removal of the Bronze Soldier from central Tallinn and the unknown remains beneath it to be identified and reburied with the monument elsewhere. Predictably, Moscow lost its shit, taking offense at the forthrightness of a tiny country they have had their hand in for so long. Amidst the media outrage in Russia, the fact that Estonia is a sovereign country and that this was a matter of Estonian internal affairs seemed to be overlooked. Anti-Estonian statements became political tools of public-image improvement for Russian politicians, and accusations of Estonia fostering fascism flew. Vague threats from Russian officials abounded, including the description of plans to move the monument as an "ultra-nationalist and very short-sighted policy" coming from Putin himself. Calls for economic sanctions followed and politicians urged the Russian people to boycott Estonian goods. Russian nationalist groups in Estonia and Russia vowed to defend the monument by whatever means necessary; should it be removed, ethnic Russians in Tallinn vowed to stand in its place. Flag-waving demonstrations took place around the monument for weeks. Sensing the tension was boiling to a head, Tallinn authorities 'soldiered' forward with their plans for the monument's relocation, hoping to get the job done before May 9th - 'Victory Day' - when the Bronze Soldier has yearly been the rallying point for brawling nationalists on both sides of the issue and the site of violence.
The removal of the monument was not without unprecedented protest and violence in the Estonian capital. During the events of the monuments overnight removal on April 27th, 2007, frenzied demonstrators hurled rocks and molotov-cocktails at police, overturned cars, lit several buildings on fire, and looted liquor stores in what became a full-on riot in the streets of Tallinn that persisted for two days and involved over 3000 participants. By Saturday, police had detained over 1000 people, most of whom were drunken Russian-speaking teenagers hell-bent on defending a memorial to fallen soldiers from a war they didn't experience and likely know little about. Provoked by the sensationalist, censored and one-sided journalism coming out of the Kremlin, Russian nationalists from all over Estonia rallied to Tallinn, inciting the worst violence in the country since Soviet tanks attempted to crush the independence movement (ironic, no?). One ethnic Russian was stabbed to death - presumably by other rioters - and 153 others were injured as police employed tear gas, rubber batons, light and noise shells and water jet cannons to suppress crowds and stop looters. Several police were also hospitalised during the shocking violence, which seemed to have lost momentum by Sunday morning after alcohol sales were banned in the capital.
Rioting also occurred in the primarily Russian towns of Johvi, Kohtla-Jarve and Narva, where the violence was not as extreme, but nonetheless troubling for Estonian-Russian relations in the small country. As Russia and Estonia continue to spar politically, the daily street-level relations between ethnic Russian and ethnic Estonian residents in Estonia has certainly reached an all-time low, stirred up by Estonian officials' stubborn insistence to carry out the unpopular decision to move the Bronze Soldier and provoked by Moscow officials' outraged reaction to the decision, including propaganda campaigns with slogans like, "Hitler is the hero of Estonia." Certainly the Estonian government could and should have been more diplomatic, creating a discussion with the Russian government about how best to approach the issue with respect to both sides. Not that Russia would have heard them amidst their immediate over-the-top condemnation at the first utterance.
Estonia's Russian population - imported in large numbers during occupation in an effort to 'Russify' the country as tens of thousands of native Estonians were massacred or deported - faces many challenges today due to both their voluntary failure to integrate or 'Estonianise' themselves, and discriminatory Estonian national policies. Take the fact that though half the country's population speaks Russian, Estonian is the only official national language, for example. Amnesty International has been adamant about pressuring Estonia to change its policy requiring Estonian language fluency for citizenship, which has resulted in half of Estonia's enormous Russian population not having the full rights and benefits of proper citizenship. With diplomatic relations between Russia and Estonia being severed, the onus lies on the Estonian government to find a way to better incorporate its Russian population; it may be necessary if the country wishes to continue currying favour in the EU. Yet, the political influence of the heaps of praise and attention the country has garnered since EU ascension hasn't lead policy in that direction thus far...
The Bronze Instigator, for his part, has been restored and relocated - along with 12 graves revealed during the police-protected excavations at his former standing place in Tonismagi - to a quiet military cemetery beyond Tallinn's city centre. | | | |