As the attention of the world is once again focused on the Ukraine war, bitter memories of a not-so-distant past are reawakened in other nations on Russia’s border. Estonia celebrated its Independence Day on 24 February, as one of the three Baltic States which regained their independence in 1991. Today it is a prosperous democratic, peaceful country, fast closing the economic gap to where it feels it should be if it had not been part of the Soviet Union for much of the latter part of the 20th century. Although Estonia has been independent for over 30 years, many Estonians still have vivid memories of the post-war period when the country was absorbed into their belligerent neighbour.
Estonia and Soviet occupation
The Second World War and the Soviet occupation brought misery to Estonia: the deportation of thousands of citizens, the siphoning off of the country’s economic wealth and the large-scale immigration of industrial workers from other parts of the Soviet Union that changed the demographics of the country dramatically so that, by independence in 1991, Russian speakers made up about one third of the Estonian population.
Anger and resentment remain. Every Estonian family has a story to tell. Maimu-Mathilde Valdma was the grandmother of an Estonian friend of mine. Her story is a stark reminder of the fear most Estonians lived with during the Soviet occupation, and how it frames their preparedness for the future.
Maimu-Mathilde’s story
Maimu-Mathilde was born in 1912 and, as a child, witnessed Estonia’s bloody struggle for independence first time around. By the time the dark clouds began to settle over Europe in the late 1930s, she was married (by then known as Maimu-Mathilde Abram) with a small child. Maimu-Mathilde’s first husband was Jewish. They divorced shortly before the war and, perhaps recognising the potential fate which faced him, he fled to Sweden alone. Yet the wife he left behind was interrogated by both the Nazis (because her ex-husband was a Jew) and the Communists (because he fled to Sweden).
Maimu-Mathilde resisted Soviet occupation through various acts of personal defiance. She never learnt to speak Russian even though it was necessary to know the language to deal with the state bureaucracy and much of everyday life. (Interestingly when the first soap operas appeared on Soviet TV in late the 1980s and early 1990s my friend, her granddaughter, had the task of interpreting for her).
Then, there was the issue of the national flag. The flying of the distinctive blue-black-white flag of independent Estonia was forbidden during the Soviet occupation. Even owning onewas strictly illegal. Maimu-Mathilde hid the flag that had proudly flown from her house prior to the war in a metal tube, all through the 47 years of Soviet occupation, first buried in the back garden and later in her attic at the bottom of a large basket.
If the flag had been discovered, she and her family could have been arrested and sent to Siberia. One can only imagine her emotions when, after Estonia became an independent country again, she could bring the flag out of hiding and fly it proudly once more.
Estonia in 2025
Talking to Estonians there is a range of views on the current geopolitical situation but the sense of unease, unsurprisingly, is palpable. Most Estonian families have stories like that of my friend’s grandmother. These are not comfortable memories, but for most Estonians the situation they face now is not the same as compared to 1940 and 1944.
Then, they were effectively alone as the Soviets and the Nazis secretly carved up Central and Eastern Europe between them. No one could come to the rescue of Estonia during the second world war. Now, however, Estonia is a member of both the EU and NATO and, despite the nervousness about precisely what a Trump administration means, there is a security offered by being part of these bigger transnational organisations that was not on offer to Estonia in earlier years.
Driving around Eastern Estonia, as I did recently, it is quite apparent to see that the country is fully integrated into NATO’s defensive strategy with the Enhanced Forward Presence (EFP) force firmly based there.
The stories of the horrors of the Soviet occupation that are everywhere in Estonia are the warning sirens that this cannot and will not happen again. This time, Estonia is ready.
Stewart Arnold is a former lecturer in business transition in Central and Eastern Europe at the Hull University Business School and has recently returned from a trip to Eastern Estonia.
