Estonian History Research Articles

Revolutsiooni sidemehed: Eesti enamlikud emigrandid Kopenhaagenis 1918–1921 [Abstract: The couriers of revolution: Estonian Bolshevik émigrés in Copenhagen 1918–1921

Abstract: The couriers of revolution: Estonian Bolshevik émigrés in Copenhagen 1918–1921
 
 The history of the early twentieth-century Estonian left-wing radicalism has remained a relatively neglected field in the post-1991 period; not least due to its previous institutional role as the most favoured, but also the most highly politicised subject of historical research in Soviet Estonia. This state of affairs resulted in voluminous scholarship in “party history” produced over the decades following World War II, but its findings and conclusions are almost entirely untrustworthy and thoroughly biased in favour of Soviet-style Communism.
 In the last five years, however, the history of the Estonian left has attracted new attention on part of both younger scholars and senior academics – a highly positive development in light of the major role that left-wing ideas and movements have played in Estonian history from the 1905 Russian revolution onwards. Nevertheless, this newer research has the somewhat thankless task of having to re-examine the fundamentals without being able to rely on previous scholarship, which perhaps understandably limits its ability to generalise or to draw overarching conclusions.
 The present article is a contribution to this burgeoning field in Estonian historical research, engaging with the little-studied history of Estonian left-wing radicalism in Western Europe (rather than in Estonia or in Soviet Russia). I am particularly focusing on four individuals among émigré Estonians in Copenhagen, Denmark: August Lossmann (1890–?), Oskar Lenk (1890–1919), Johannes Rumessen (1888–?) and Harald Triikman (1892–1964). The primary period of study is 1918–22, although reference will be made to both earlier and later years where appropriate. The study makes use of both Estonian and foreign archival materials, contemporary newspapers and, occasionally, published scholarship.
 While my focus is on tracing and contextualising the activities and involvement of these four young men in both Danish and Estonian radical leftist circles, I will also propose some preliminary hypotheses relating to the radicalisation process of left-wing Estonian émigrés more generally, which in the future can hopefully be tested on a broader range of comparable subjects.
 Firstly, I would suggest that the Bolshevik Russian revolution (the October Revolution) was likely a pivotal moment in the development of their views: having been the supporters of Socialist Russian revolution, the Estonian émigrés tended to distance themselves from the more sceptical Social Democratic parties of their countries of residence in its aftermath, instead moving closer to Left Socialist or Communist parties that fully embraced the new revolution. Furthermore, their distance from and relative ignorance of Estonian affairs probably left them more open to contemporary Bolshevik propaganda, which among other things depicted the Estonian War of Independence (1918–19) as a struggle between an alliance of foreign capital and the Estonian bourgeoisie on the one hand, and the Estonian proletariat on the other.
 In the case of Lossmann, Lenk, Rumessen and Triikman, they were all connected to one Estonian Socialist (or Bolshevik) Group, established in 1918 and affiliated with the Danish Socialist Labour Party – the first openly Bolshevik party in Denmark. This Estonian group was headed by the remarkably well-respected Socialist Oskar Lenk, who in early 1919 was expulsed from Denmark due to his involvement in Bolshevik activities (among other things, working from the Copenhagen bureau of ROSTA, the Soviet Russian news propaganda agency). Later, he was active in Russia as a fairly prominent activist of the Estonian Communist Party, before being killed in a battle against the Whites in the autumn of the same year.
 Lenk’s influence in 1918 was likely of formative importance for his comrades in Copenhagen, at least one of whom (Johannes Rumessen) also became involved in the underground transport and intelligence network of the Estonian Communist Party in 1919–20.

Constructing a Text, Creating an Image: The Case of Johannes Barbarus

The Estonian poet, physician and politician Johannes Vares-Barbarus (1890–1946) is a contradictory figure in Estonian history and culture. He was a well-known and acknowledged doctor named Vares, but also a poet named Barbarus who was notable for his modernistic poems in the 1920s and 1930s. His actions in the 1940s as one of the leading figures in the Sovietization of Estonia have complicated the reception of his poetry. His opposition to the Republic of Estonia and his left-wing views are nearly always under observation when he or his poems are discussed. Predominantly his poetry has been discussed; his other works have received much less attention. This article analyses his travelogue Matkavisandeid & mõtisklusi (Travel Sketches and Contemplations) based on his trip to the Soviet Union. It was published in the literary magazine Looming in 1935 and reprinted in 1950 in his collected works. Travelogues have proven to be valuable materials when discussing the author and his mentality. The article analyses the image of the Soviet Union in his travelogue published in 1935 and discusses notable changes that were made in the reprint some of which have significantly altered the meaning, so that the text fits perfectly into the Soviet canon.

Cultural imaginaries of the postcolony: a critical discourse analysis of cross-cultural references in Estonian art history through a postcolonial lens

ABSTRACTThe article argues for an extended delineation of increasing Western cultural hegemony in the reconstituted Baltic states. An initial idiom of postcolonial studies is revisited in order to complement their dominant scope in the Baltics, focused primarily on a retrospective cultural study of Baltic/Soviet relationships. The argument elaborates on the urgency of the expanding research agenda regarding the Baltic/European research framework. By pointing out the frequent occurrence of the superiority or inferiority value scale in cross-cultural references sampled from press releases of the Art Museum of Estonia, the article concludes that mainstream cultural self-reflection in Estonia is nowadays subjected to the supremacy of the imagined West European viewpoint.

Identity and othering in past and present: Representations of the Soviet era in Estonian post-Soviet textbooks

This paper analyses representations of the ‘core Soviet era’ (1945-1985) in Estonian post-Soviet history textbooks (1989-2016). Attitudes towards the Soviet system have been a rich resource for identity building, and hence a powerful political tool across the whole of the post-Soviet block. Based on an analysis of sections about the Soviet era in Estonia in 21 textbooks, the paper takes a look at how textbooks reflect broader processes of social meaning making, identity building and othering after a profound social and political turn. In 1989 and during the early 1990s, perspectives and narratives in Estonian history textbooks were closely related to social memory and national politics, enacting a specific social representation of the Soviet era that dominated the Estonian-speaking public space during the 1990s. The Soviet era, Russia and local Russians became the main Others for Estonia and Estonians. Over time, public discourse has diversified. The national curriculum and textbooks, however, still maintain the canon that formed in 1990s and thus reflect earlier sentiments. Apart from the increasing salience of Soviet-era daily life in more recent textbooks, the thematic choices and emphases have changed little since the 1990s. Therefore, even if the style of writing has ‘cooled down’, issues of identity preservation, resistance and accommodation, together with a saliently negative representation of wrongdoings by the Soviet system, still prevail. On the one hand, this testifies to the resilience of an established tradition in the textbook genre in general. On the other hand, it reflects the dominance of an ethnocentric tradition in Estonian history textbook writing. The paper discusses the implications of these findings for interethnic relations in Estonia.

Socialist architecture as today’s dissonant heritage: administrative buildings of collective farms in Estonia

ABSTRACTThe heritage studies of the socialist built legacy of the former Soviet Socialist Republics have mainly concentrated on the buildings and monuments representing the political ideology of the socialist era due to their evidently controversial character, while the more mundane and ordinary legacy has seldom been the focus. The administrative buildings of collective farms represent a particular socialist architecture of the 1960s–1980s in Estonian rural areas and small towns. These prosaic buildings, which used to play important role in the Soviet-time rural life, have become a dissonant heritage today, although their controversial nature lies in the complicated contemporary environment they fell into after the collapse of the socialist regime, rather than in the fact that they were constructed for ideological purposes. This paper examines the dissonant processes and the present contexts that affect the re-use and preservation of the administrative buildings of collective farms, as well as the acceptance of them as a meaningful part of Estonian history that should not be ignored or forgotten.

Kohtuasjad in puncto libertatis: isiku staatuse tuvastamise lähtekohad asehaldusaja Eestimaal [Abstract: Court cases in puncto libertatis: criteria of ascertaining a person’s status during the Regency Era (1783–1796) in the province of Estland

Kohtuasjad in puncto libertatis: isiku staatuse tuvastamise lähtekohad asehaldusaja Eestimaal [Abstract: Court cases in puncto libertatis: criteria of ascertaining a person’s status during the Regency Era (1783–1796) in the province of Estland

The Appearance of Hans and Jaan. A 17th Century Epitaph Painting Donated by Estonian Peasants

The epitaph donated by Hans and Jaan, two peasants from Türi parish, is evidence of the acceptance of ecclesiastic values and religious devotion among the Estonian peasantry. Other examples of this tendency from the Swedish era also exist. For instance, the grand wheel crosses, typical for North Estonia, that were once located in the Türi churchyard; and a chandelier (1659) donated by a peasant in the Keila church, the size of which exceeds those gifted by manor lords. From a later period, the stained-glass coats of arms of the peasantry in the Ilumäe chapel (1729) are also an example of this heightened sense of self-awareness and its display in houses of worships.Along with the hundreds and hundreds of works donated to churches by nobles, the epitaph painting depicting the Adoration of the Shepherds is a rare example of a painting gifted to a church by farmers, which also commemorates them. Hans and Jaan have now earned a place in Estonian (art) history: the pictures of the two simple men are the first known portraits of peasants whose names we know.

„Kiri ütleb, et peab tuginema vene teadusele…“ ÜK(b)P Keskkomitee 16. juuli 1947. aasta kinnine kiri professorite N. Kljujeva ja G. Roskini süüasjas ja selle ajaloolisest kontekstist / Closed letter of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of July 16, 1947: Its historical context

„Kiri ütleb, et peab tuginema vene teadusele…“ ÜK(b)P Keskkomitee 16. juuli 1947. aasta kinnine kiri professorite N. Kljujeva ja G. Roskini süüasjas ja selle ajaloolisest kontekstist / Closed letter of the Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of July 16, 1947: Its historical context

Euroopa-ihalusest taasiseseisvusperioodi autobiograafiates / European Identifications in Post-Soviet Estonian Life Writing

Teesid: Artikkel käsitleb Euroopat kui identiteedi ja minaduse sõlmpunkti ja enesevahenduse mõõdet kolmes omaelulookirjutuslikus teoses, mille autoritel on väljapaistev positsioon eesti (kirjandus)kultuuris: Jaan Krossi „Kallid kaasteelised“ (2003a, 2008), Jaan Kaplinski „Isale“ (2003) ja Tõnu Õnnepalu „Flandria päevik“ (2007). Artikkel keskendub sellele, kuidas küsimused suhestumise trajektooridest Euroopa mäluruumiga haakuvad Krossi, Kaplinski ja Õnnepalu teostes esiletuleva enesemääratlusliku raamiga, neist lähtuvate vastastikuse kõnetuse võimaluste ja oma aegruumi tunnetuse pidepunktidega. Kuigi tegemist on eesti keeles ilmunud ning eesti kultuuriruumi lugejale suunatud teostega, seostuvad neis väljajoonistuvad enesemääratluse teljed viimastel aastakümnetel hoogustunud laiemate aruteludega ühtse Euroopa mäluraami ning identiteedi võimalikkusest ja selle toimimise tingimustest. In recent years, the question of the possibility of a shared frame of memory and identity in Europe, its desired manifestations and practices for attaining it as well as its obstacles and limitations to it have gained prominence in scholarly debates in a number of disciplines. In terms of the division between the East and West of Europe, these discussions take as their starting point the collapse of the Soviet system in 1989 as well as the European Union enlargement in 2004. Far from uniform, the exceedingly complex and contrasting ranges of arguments have put forward a varied palette of perspectives and suggestions about possible and desirable implications of Europe in different socio-political and cultural configurations. Taking these debates as my starting point, the current article offers an analysis of three life writing works by contemporary Estonian authors and intellectuals, Kallid kaasteelised (Dear Fellow Travellers, 2003, 2008) by Jaan Kross, Isale (To My Father, 2003) by Jaan Kaplinski and Flandria päevik (The Flemish Diary, 2007) by Tõnu Õnnepalu where Europe emerges as a noteworthy if not central aspect of construction of subjectivity and processes of identity/identification. Written in Estonian and therefore not accessible for wider international readership, these life writing works can nevertheless be viewed as negotiating for a position within the space of European memory and narration but also challenging it by asking how and by whom does the conditioning of the shared and the recognition of the specific take place and to what extent does it proceed along the (old) binaries of centre/margin, self/other, East/West. The anecdotal structure of Kross’ monumental and canonic memoir follows the lives of a great number of the author’s ‘fellow travellers’. Although many life stories are narrated primarily in relation to Estonian history, Kross also makes a consistent and self-conscious effort to envision a wider space of existence, most importantly, that of a European space of human agency and interaction. Dear Fellow Travellers proposes a (textual) configuration of Europeanness where the narrating subject is self-conscious both of its authoritative identity-forming position and the limits of that authority that inevitably erode that identity and metaphorically leave open a space of narration for the other. In Jaan Kaplinski’s confessional epistolary address to the author’s Polish father who died in the Gulag shortly after the birth of his son and in Õnnepalu’s semi-fictional diaristic text emerging from an obligation to write during a stay in a writers’ residence in Belgium in Vollezele, the question of subjectivity and (European) identity do not unravel primarily via an emphasis on the ruptures of the period of occupation. Instead, these works engage with questions of Europeanness on a larger and also more volatile frame of the politics of positioning in the contemporary relating to questions of cultural diversity, the local/global relationship and Europe’s simultaneously tight and leaky boundaries. In the work of Kaplinski and Õnnepalu, these boundaries are being drawn and dissolved both on the level of sociopolitical and cultural functioning of Europe but sometimes independently of the larger public processes, via processes of the construction of individual identities as well as via acts of communication and interactions with other people.

Historical consciousness, personal life experiences and the orientation of Estonian foreign policy toward the West, 1988–1991 [Kokkuvõte: Ajalooteadvus, isiklikud elukogemused ja Eesti välispoliitika pöördumine Läände, 1988–1991

The years 1988 to 1991 were a critical juncture in the history of Estonia. Crucial steps were taken during this time to assure that Estonian foreign policy would not be directed toward the East but primarily toward the integration with the West. In times of uncertainty and institutional flux, strong individuals with ideational power matter the most. This article examines the influence of Foreign Minister Lennart Meri’s and Prime Minister Edgar Savisaar’s experiences and historical consciousness on their visions of Estonia’s future position in international affairs. Life stories help understand differences in their horizons of expectation, and their choices in conducting Estonian diplomacy.

Johann Caspar Lavater in Estland. Über seinen Einfluss, einige Portraits und einige Gedanken über die Portraitkunst

The article focuses on Johann Caspar Lavater (1741–1801), the Enlightenment-era thinker, pastor and writer, art collector and physiognomist, whose work and activities affected thinking from Zurich to America and Russia, including the Baltic countries. Of Lavater’s Estonian acquaintances, Johann Burchard VII, the Tallinn Town Council pharmacist, is the one that primarily emerges from the article. The famous Swiss maintained a correspondence with the latter for over ten years, and in 1792, gifted him a miniature portrait of himself (now in the Estonian History Museum).In addition to the miniature portrait after Johann Heinrich Lips (?), there were two graphic portraits of Lavater in Estonia that were associated with Georg Friedrich Schmoll (Tallinn City Museum, University of Tartu Library) as well as a masterful oil portrait by August Friedrich Olenhainz (Art Museum of Estonia’s Kadriorg Art Museum). The article examines all of these against the background of Lavater’s successful book of the day “Physiognomische Fragmente zur Beförderung der Menschenkenntnis und Menschenliebe” (“Physiognomic Fragments for Furthering the Knowledge and Love of Man”, 1775–1778) and in regard to Lavater’s discussions about people and the art of portraiture.An attempt is made thereby to see Enlightenment-era portrait art through the eyes of Enlightenment-era people – Lavater and his audience. While the author of the article is convinced of the impact of Lavater’s physiognomic research on the portraiture of the day (on the artists, clients, viewers) and also more indirectly on the history of art, she emphasis that, for Lavater, portrait art was primarily a tool for his physiognomic research and even if Lavater’s teachings lost their popularity after his death and were relegated to the periphery of science, Lavater should not be excluded from the history of art and culture in the Baltic countries.

Postcolonial theory as a means to understand Estonian art history

ABSTRACTThis article analyzes Estonian art scene in the Soviet era from the postcolonial perspective. The first objective is to consider whether it is appropriate to call the Soviet occupation of Estonia colonialism. Second, the article points to how postcolonial theory can elucidate the history of Estonian visual art during and after the Soviet occupation. The period of Soviet colonialism in Estonia was not uniform; in the fine arts, several different rhetorical regimes existed simultaneously: pro-authority, Western avant-garde orientated, and a national-conservative discourse. The article also investigates how the Soviet colonial situation shaped the institutional and economic environment of Estonian art.

An Antiquarian Gift – a Collection of Perm Animal-Style Plaquettes in Estonian History Museum

in 1873, a short notice appeared in the Revalsche Zeitung (no. 256, 02.11.1873), in which the Provincial museum, currently the estonian History museum, introduced the new museum exhibits that had arrived in its collection. Among other new objects in the collection of antiquities was a collection of finds, which were supposedly excavated from the central course of the Pechora river, and had been brought to estonia by Paul von Krusenstern, gifted to Karl ernst von Baer and thereafter donated to the Provincial museum. the collection (Am 196) includes iron and lithic points as well as human and animal-shaped plaquettes. this collection, which is rare and foreign for estonia, has received little attention, and during the past 150 years, only a few objects have been mentioned within the framework of some broader analyses.1 However, the collection as a whole has never been introduced. By 1873 Paul von Krusenstern had visited the Pechora river several times. A thorough descriptive book on the first expedition was pub-

Die St. Katharinen-Kapelle in Fellin (Viljandi)

Viljandi ‘s St. Catherine’s Chapel During the Middle Ages, St. Catherine’s Chapel in Viljandi (Fellin) was located outside the town walls, and it was demolished in 1558, upon the out­break of the Livonian War. In 1908, archaeological excavations were conducted in the vicinity of the former chapel under the direction of Karl Lowis of Menar. An octagonal limestone capital (now located in the Viljandi Museum) was found in the course of the excavations. Its facets are decorated with slightly raised fantastical animals and plant motifs. The capitals in the Great Guild Hall (currently the Estonian History Museum) in Tallinn that date from 1410 are very similar to the Viljandi capital. Apparently, they are the work of the same master. Therefore, we can date the Viljandi capital to the early 15th century. However, other sculptural medieval elements, which are not related to St. Catherine’s Chapel, have also been found in its vicinity. Apparently, they have end­ed up there with the waste from subsequent centuries. So, we cannot say with certainty whether the capital with the relief decorations is from St. Catherine’s Chapel. A large number of brick rib stones have also been found in the vicin­ity of the chapel. A similar form was in wide use in Livonia (Southern Estonia and also Riga) throughout the 15th century. Apparently, Viljandi’s St. Catherine’s Chapel was also built at that time. With the research that has been conducted to date, it is not possible to be sure about the dat­ing of the chapel.

Home Environments, Memories, and Life Stories: Preservation of Estonian National Identity

This paper examines the means by which Estonian national identity was preserved during 50 years of Soviet occupation. The study upon which it is based explored such factors as family environments; memories, in the form of oral narratives; and life experiences. This research was informed by the sociocultural approach to mediated action, and it employed both quantitative and qualitative research methods. In 1993, a quota-sampling technique was used to interview a cross section of Estonian society (N = 930). Descriptive statistics, and factor and multiple regression analyses were performed. Fifteen qualitative interviews were also conducted. When woven together, these personal histories create a fabric that is representative of the greater Estonian history during the occupation. The implications of these findings may reach beyond the Estonian context to further inform our understanding of the complexities and the vicissitudes of human action.

Modernity, Intertextuality and Decolonization: Some Examples from Estonian and Latvian Literature

Colonization influences the colonized country politically, economically and culturally, and colonial traces persist everywhere in a colonized society, particularly in social manners, behaviour and culture. After a period of colonization, a period of decolonization is needed. According to W. D. Mignolo, decolonization is the long-term processes involving the bureaucratic, cultural, linguistic, and psychological divesting of colonial power. The result of decolonization is a new people and community. The processes involved depend on cultural transfer, cultural relations and modernisation of smaller and peripheral national cultures. All of these processes make it possible for small and peripheral nations to find their own originality within European culture. An “external” or “alien” culture may function as a metatext in an “own” culture and it can describe the “own” culture itself via auto-communication. The literary works of smaller national cultures, such as Estonia and Latvia, represent cultural processes in the process of modernisation and the modernist period in literature at the beginning of the 20th century and also in the 21st century. The paper analyses different texts from “alien” cultures (Shakespeare’s Hamlet , the Bible etc.) which function as metatexts in “own” culture. Shakespeare’s Hamlet as a literary figure has been a very important and influential motif in Estonian literature and culture: Gustav Suits’s and Paul-Eerik Rummo’s poems used the motif of Hamlet to describe Estonian history and culture. The Bible has influenced Estonian literary culture for a long time. The function of the old biblical myths is to create the eternal, mythical dimension in literary works and create contact with old nations (e.g. Kasu Hans’, Juhan Liiv’s and Ene Mihkelson’s poetry.). Prose writers Rūdolfs Blaumanis’ and Eduard Vilde’s works represent the Baltic lifestyle, which affected peasants and aristocrats in different ways. Both writers used more of their “own” cultural system and language as metatext to describe the cultural system, rather than using external cultural systems and languages. They transformed realist, romantic and psychological realist styles and languages into internal or “own” cultural systems. All of these stories and poems demonstrate how smaller and peripheral cultures find their own original national cultures and how cultural influences and transformations work through cultural dynamics. Small nations can communicate with other cultures, and they can communicate with us; we can describe our “own” culture via auto-communication.

Commemoration of Independence Day in the Republic of Estonia 1919–1940 [Vabariigi aastapäeva pühitsemine Eesti Vabariigis 1919–1940

World War I led to the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian and Russian empires, generating widespread political upheaval across Europe that provided numerous ethnic groups within those former empires the opportunity to break free and begin the process of independent nation-building. New nations need to create a history for themselves and their people to legitimate their existence. Estonia was one such nation. It was forced to fight a War of Independence at the very beginning of its existence as a separate entity to establish its right to statehood. This war served as Estonia’s founding myth and even while it was still being fought, the war was integrated into the narrative of the Estonian people’s great, centuries-long struggle for liberation from the yoke of Baltic German oppression. The achievement of independence was seen as the culmination of Estonian history. This article explores the customs that evolved for commemorating Independence Day from the perspective of performative, collective memory. These customs form the basis for analysing the shifts that took place in the politics of memory and history when a coup d’etat carried out in March of 1934 established an authoritarian regime in Estonia in place of parliamentary democracy. Thenceforth the narrative was adjusted so that the culmination of Estonian history was no longer merely the achievement of independence. Instead, the narrative claimed that independence was won when Estonians defeated their Baltic German historical enemy once and for all. The way that such ideological precepts were reflected in commemorative practices is examined together with the corresponding implications for the creation of a national Estonian identity. KEYWORDS: Estonian history, collective memory, commemorative practice, Independence Day, national days, national flag, national identity, propaganda

Reverse, restore, repeat!

In this article, I look at Russian-speaking miners' perception of their position in Estonian society, along with their moral economy. Former heroes, glorified for their class and ethnicity, they feel like a racialized underclass in neoliberal Estonia. Excluded from the nation on the basis of ethnicity, they try to maintain their dignity through the discourse of hard work as a basis for membership in society. Based on the longer-term analysis of Estonian history, I argue that the current outcome for the Russian-speaking working class is related to longer historical processes of class formation whereby each period in the Estonian history of the twentieth century seems to be the reversal of the previous one. I also argue for analysis of social change in Eastern Europe that does not focus solely on ethnicity but is linked to class formation processes.

Vastuseks Kalle Kroonile kroonutalupoegade seisundi küsimustes [Abstract: A reply to Kalle Kroon on issues related to the status of the crown peasantry

The Estonian Historical Journal has actively mediated the debate on the issue of Swedish King Charles XI’s plans to abolish serfdom in the provinces of Estland and Livland after the reduction of the estates in the 1680s. The review by Kalle Kroon of “Eesti ajalugu III” (History of Estonia, vol. III, ed. by Enn Kung and Marten Seppel, Tartu 2013) published in the last issue can be clearly seen as a continuation of this debate. Alas, Kroon has found non-existent contradictions in the reviewed volume, e.g. the volume does not argue that peasant movement was totally unaccepted or that peasants could not complain about their high dues during the revision. Kroon states that there were “quite a number” of peasants who bought their freedom from corvee after the reduction of estates. On the contrary, Ulle Tarkiainen has shown that only 60 farmsteads out of 6387 paid socalled ‘Leide’ instead of corvee in the 19 parishes of Northern Livland. It should also be pointed out that even as late as 1693, the governor-general of Livland saw only Swedes and Finns (but not Estonians and Latvians) as potential reserve soldiers in the event that the Swedish system of indelningsverket were to be applied in the Baltic provinces. Kroon criticises the studies by Elina Opik that appeared in the Soviet period and believes that the chapter in “Eesti ajalugu III” on the status of the crown peasantry is merely a copy of Opik’s conception. Historiographically speaking, however, it is important to note that Elina Opik changed her views over the course of fifty years and there are some principal differences between her standpoints (especially the older ones) and the conclusions of the chapter under consideration. Kroon is convinced that crown peasants were not attached to estates and in particular that the younger sons of a household could leave farming at will. However, sources very clearly verify that when apprehended, all fugitive crown peasants were returned to their previous manor in the 1680s and 1690s. There is no evidence of the peasants’ freedom to leave of their own will. In conclusion, it should be agreed that after 1681 the status of the peasantry on crown estates differed to a certain degree from that of the peasantry on noble estates as the King had demanded. It was forbidden to sell off crown peasants, the taxes and dues of crown peasants were fixed and partly standardised, the leaseholders of crown estates could no longer act as omnipotent lord over the peasants in police and court matters, and crown peasants could sue their lords in the royal courts or the provincial administration. However, crown peasants were still bound to their manors, their property rights were very limited, and they had no right to possess weapons. Crown peasants were not copy- or leaseholders of their farmsteads and their customary dues to the manor were not regarded as rent. Rather they were merely the property of manors that were leased out under the supervision of the economic management governors of the provinces. KEYWORDS: Serfdom, crown peasantry, reduction, Baltic provinces, Sweden.

Discontinuity and Continuity in Representations of 20th Century Estonian History

The theme of this article is how Estonians have described political changes in their autobiographical narratives. The discussion is based on the observation that the establishment of Soviet rule in Estonia in the 1940s is construed in the studies of life stories, on the one hand, as a discontinuity of ‘normal life’, and on the other hand, as continuity. It is remarkable that irrespective of the demarcation of state borders by political decisions, Estonian territory is still perceived as a single and eternal whole. To what extent is the perception of discontinuity or continuity related to experiencing political change and to what extent is it related to the method of narration, and to what extent does it depend on the choices made by the researcher? An analysis of the three life histories discussed in the article indicates that experiencing discontinuity or continuity in a specific historical context does not coincide with its depiction in life histories. The texts reflect both the diversity of narrative methods (coherent representation of different layers of recollections, the comparison and contrast of different situations, etc.), and the context of narratives – for example the interviewer’s effect on discussing a topic or the relation of a story to publicly discussed topics. Recollections are characterised by variability, however this may not become evident as studies focus on certain aspects of the narrative or interrelations of the topic and public discourses. The polysemic and ambivalent nature of the ‘border’ unfolds through the entangled interplay of territorial, political and cultural borders, their narrative articulation in life story telling as well as researchers’ choices.