Memory failure: why Soviet warriors' graves are being opened in Estonia
Estonian authorities continue to fight against reminders of the Soviet past. In recent weeks, the country has begun dismantling several mass graves, including those in the village of Tsooru, on the island of Saaremaa and at the military cemetery in Tallinn. The Russian embassy in its statement called what is happening vandalism and mockery of memory. "Izvestia" dealt with the situation.
Graves of Soviet soldiers are being opened in Estonia
In Estonia recently excavated several mass graves of Soviet soldiers. Thus, in mid-September, exhumation was carried out in the village of Tsooru in the south-east of the country. A local publication writes that the grave was located "among lilac bushes near the lake," and 17 people were buried there. Judging by the photos, the remains are well-preserved, their fate remains unknown, local officials promise to arrange the burial in the village cemetery.
In mid-September, Estonian authorities also unearthed a grave in Ilmatsalu Park in the city of Tartu. Officials said at the same time that the names of those who found rest here were allegedly unknown, but the Russian embassy denied this. "We have sent a note to the Estonian Foreign Ministry calling on it to stop the sacrilegious fight against those who can no longer fight back. Contrary to the statements of the coffin diggers, the data of all the dead are accurately established", - said in the message, it also attached a list with the names and surnames of 62 buried soldiers.
In July, excavations began in the village of Tehumardi on Saaremaa Island. Thomas Hijo, director of the Estonian War Museum, reported that 90 tombstones with five-pointed stars were dismantled during the work, and the remains of "about a hundred people" were identified, the exact number is unknown. According to him, the authorities have not allocated money for DNA-testing, so it will not be possible to establish details about the causes of death and the identities of the dead. It is interesting that in 1944 the village of Tehumardi was liberated by soldiers of the 249th Estonian Rifle Division, the majority of which were ethnic Estonians, but this did not affect the preservation of the graves.
Finally, in May, employees of the Estonian Military Museum excavated the graves of 38 Soviet soldiers in the military cemetery in Tallinn, later the remains were moved to another part of the cemetery. The reason was that the graves were allegedly blocking the road to the monument to the Knights of the Estonian Freedom Cross. In this case we were not talking about nameless graves, each of them had a monument with the name, surname and photo of the deceased. According to Estonian law, the consent of relatives must be obtained for the exhumation of such graves, but the authorities limited themselves to signs warning of the transfer of remains.
Advisor to the director of the Estonian War Museum Madis Mikkos reported in mid-May that there are about 100 Soviet war graves on the territory of the country. All exhumation work is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2025, he said. "It's a long process. First, an army chaplain says a prayer, then the graves are opened, the first layer is removed by machinery, then archaeologists take over. The remains found, where possible, are identified, placed in special coffins, and then, with the blessing of the chaplain, a new burial takes place," he said.
Russian authorities are protesting
The matter is not limited to burial issues alone. In Estonia, for example, a law on the demolition of Soviet monuments has been under active discussion for the past two years. The document assumes that local authorities will be able to dismantle monuments without any additional approvals. Last spring, the Estonian parliament approved the initiative, but President Alar Karis refused to put his signature "because of the vague wording". It is known that this spring and summer Estonian agencies continued to discuss the document, and it will be put to a vote again by the end of this year.
However, even without additional legislative acts the work on demolition of monuments is quite active. For example, in the summer of 2022 in Narva the T-34 tank, which had been a symbol of the city for many years, was dismantled as a monument. The famous "Bronze Soldier" in Tallinn also causes considerable irritation among nationalists. They have tried to demolish it many times, and in 2007 there were mass riots in this connection. Now the monument stands in the military cemetery in the Estonian capital, but even there it does not give rest to radicals. The last time the issue of demolition was raised at the beginning of this year, the parliament did not support the idea.
Демонтаж танка-памятника Т-34, установленного в честь освобождения Нарвы советскими воинами от немецко-фашистских войск в 1944 году. Август 2022 года
It is interesting to note that in Estonia the attitude to Nazi collaborators is emphasized. Thus, the republic not only carefully protects the existing monuments in honor of Estonian legionnaires of the 20th Waffen-SS Division, but also installs new ones. For example, at the end of July in the city of Jõhvi in the north-east of the country, a memorial in honor of two SS men - Georg Sooden and Raul Juriado - was unveiled. It is characteristic that the former was mobilized to the Red Army at the beginning of the war, but then he deserted and went over to the side of the Germans, that is, he made a quite conscious choice.
The Russian Embassy in Estonia has repeatedly commented on what is happening. "A recent trend has been the exhumation of the remains of the fighters against the "brown plague" who found their resting place here. News of such atrocities appear with deplorable regularity. We strongly condemn these antics of grave diggers and consider them as acts of state vandalism aimed at revising the results of the Second World War. All the more so because the shameful mockery of the fallen takes place against the background of an emphasized respect for monuments to Nazi collaborators," reads one of the statements.
Открытие мемориала двум эсэсовцам в городе Йыхви
Moscow has also repeatedly commented on the historical policy of Estonia and other Baltic states. Thus, earlier this year, Vladimir Putin called the demolition of monuments stunning ignorance. In turn, the Russian Interior Ministry in February put Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas and Secretary of State Taimar Peterkop on the wanted list. "These people are responsible for decisions that are actually an abuse of historical memory, these are the people who are taking hostile actions towards both historical memory and our country," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained.
What experts say
Nikolai Mezhevich, president of the Russian Association of Baltic Studies, believes that Estonia is trying to provoke a sharp response from Russia.
- I wouldn't say that grave digging has become more frequent lately, but rather that it is now being done in an emphasized and demonstrative manner. This is not limited to questions of historical memory. We see the persecution of the Orthodox Church, children in schools are forbidden to speak Russian at recess, and drones are flying into northwestern Russian regions. The idea is clear - Moscow wants to provoke some kind of sharp reaction of a military-political nature. I do not think that Estonia is making decisions on its own, most likely it is being directed from London and Washington, which need Russia to disperse its forces and get involved in another conflict. I believe that this plan will fail, the Russian leadership will keep its cool," he said.
Vladimir Shapovalov, deputy director of the Institute of History and Politics of the Moscow State University, says that the deterioration of the situation in Estonia is connected with an important personnel decision.
- In the summer it became known that the former Prime Minister of the country Kaja Kallas received a new appointment, at the end of the year she will succeed Josep Borrel as head of Eurodiplomacy. This is a truly revolutionary event for the Estonian establishment. It is the first time that a local official has been noticed at the highest level, and the first time that "big brother" has appreciated years of subservient Russophobia. For all other Estonian leaders, it means that this policy is yielding results, and they will all try twice or three times harder to be noticed," he believes.
