POLITICAL ATMOSPHERE IN DORPAT IN EMIL KRAEPELIN’S PERIOD

Abstract

1. Historical background Since the 13th century up to World War I, the German minority, who Christianized the Estonians and Latvians, had been the ruling class in the Estonian area. Although the Livonian Order founded by the Teutonic Order ceased to exist in the middle of the 16th century and the territory of today's Republic of Estonia, mainly inhabited by Estonians, was in the 17th century under the reign of Poland and Sweden, and since the 18th century of the Russian empire, the Germans maintained their privilege to rule in the area. The Russian empire even granted an extensive autonomy to the Estonian and Livonian Ritterschaften (Russian Baltic Sea provinces), which enabled to manage all the living spheres in German and guaranteed the superiority of the Lutheran church in the Estonian area (Schirren 1865, 1869, Pistohlkors 2006, Ungern-Sternberg 2013). The university that opened in Dorpat in accordance with the ukase of Emperor Alexander I in 1802 used German as the official language and its theological faculty propagated Lutheran religion. The first professors of the University of Dorpat mainly (with a few exceptions) came from German-speaking countries and territories in Europe, later local Germans, born in the areas of present-day Estonia and Latvia, were also employed. It was the German language used in instruction that guaranteed a very high academic level similar to that in universities of Germany and such a situation lasted almost until the last decades of the 19th century (Engelhardt 1933). During the 19th century, the class-conscious Russian empire as well as the German-governed Estonian area underwent great changes. The national consciousness awaking slowly among the peoples of the empire: the Russians, Estonians, Latvians, Polish and other ethnic groups since the mid-nineteenth century seriously undermined the basis of the class-society in Russia and in the 1860s the government considered necessary to react to that (Kappeler 1992, Miller 2008). It means that Russian began to be increasingly introduced in the whole empire as the official language, including the University of Dorpat, some limits were established to religious freedom, an attempt was made to unify the legislation of different parts of the empire and some other steps were taken. The measures taken with the aim to modernize the country, but, at the same time, maintain the class-system, generated different feelings among the nations of the empire. The term Russification was introduced. The American historian Edward C. Thaden and his pupils proved in the 1980s already that the term Russification was an ambiguous notion and the Russification policy differed regionally to a great extent (Thaden 1981, Thaden, Thaden 1984, Haltzel 1977). Most recent studies concerning the borderland areas of the Russian empire confirm that point of view (Bobrovnikov, Babich 2007, Dameshek, Remnev 2007, Dolbilov 2010, Beauvois 2011, Dolbilov, Miller 2007, Kushko, Taki 2012). Another aspect is how different nations of the Russian empire perceived Russification, in our case the Germans living in the Estonian and Livonian areas. The loyalty of Germans living in the Baltic Sea provinces to the Russian emperor was remarkable. They often held high military and civil positions in the empire, worked as leading officials at ministries, were outstanding scholars greatly contributing to the development of Russian science. That is why the increasing interference of the central government of Russia in the life of the Russian Baltic Sea provinces since the 1840s was so painful to local Germans (often called Baltic Germans). The following steps were classified as Russification: attempts to increase the role of the Russian language in everyday affairs and the school system of the Baltic provinces, including the University of Dorpat, attempts to put an end to teaching Lutheranism in Dorpat University in 1843 and the interference in ruling the province, giving the Estonians and Latvians passports and the freedom to move and freeing them from the patronization of landlords (passport law 1863, parish reform 1866, court reform 1889) (Bock 1869, Schirren 1869, Eckardt 1869, 1870, [Buchholtz] 1883, 1888, Anonymous 1886, cf. …