Historical memory in the age of globalization: the case of Russian- Estonian relations (original) (raw)
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This article analyses the dynamics of memory politics in post-Soviet Estonia from the 1990s to the present day. It focuses on speeches by Estonian presidents, which are treated as a specific type of commemorative activity and studied in relation to other social memories. The analysis seeks to link the meaning conveyed in the speeches to the presidents’ personal experiences during the Soviet period. The article shows that in these speeches, the primary discourse used with regard to Soviet times was that of ‘rupture’ as well as the related discourse of ‘resistance’.
An Uncertain Past: Estonian Collective Memory and Its Integration into a European Memory
After the conclusion of World War II, Estonia ceased to exist as an independent country. It was absorbed into the Soviet Union, which it would remain a part of until 1991 and the collapse of the Soviet Union. This dissertation will examine how Estonia constructed a collective memory from the Soviet repression by examining several lieux des mémoire. This reconstruction of collective memory has caused conflict among Estonians and the Russian speaking community, who are having their memory of past events forced into the shadows. Indeed, Estonians have embraced the identity of victim of communism, and have argued that collaboration with the Nazis was the lesser evil. Estonian remembrance of the Holocaust is emblematic, and hasn't become a meaningful memory within Estonian civil Society. Estonian identity centered around anti-communism has also expressed itself on the pan-European stage. Estonia, along with other European nations are pushing for official recognition from the EU of their traumatic memory under communist rule, and the narrative that Stalin's crimes were equal to Hitler. This paper will then discuss how the Estonian collective memory of victimization under the Soviets helps shift European memory to reconcile Hitler with Stalin.
To Whom Does History Belong? The Theatre of Memory in Post-Soviet Russia, Estonia and Georgia
This article discusses different processes of appropriation of history in three former Soviet Republics. It provides a context for the recent historical retrofitting by taking the re-monumentalisation of the past in Estonia, the popularity of pseudo-history in Russia, and the current state of the Stalin museum in Georgia as symptomatic of wider social processes. New forms of convergence are shown between the historical and the political by the replacement, emptying of meaning, and remixability of past symbols. The author concludes that the Soviet world has been put to political and communicative uses as a familiar context to refer to; also that the process of retrofitting historical narratives is not over yet in any of these societies.
Historical Memory's Influence on Russian Policy
Calhoun: The NPS Institutional Archive, 2023
Russia’s aggressive policies have increasingly drawn greater focus on the part of the United States and other Western states. Putin’s aggressive behavior does not occur in a vacuum but has a multitude of catalysts. One of the factors shaping his decision-making is historical memory, or the narratives a society tells itself. This thesis analyzes how historical memory influences Russian nationalist narrative and impacts the choices of the Putin regime. My research contributes to our understanding of what guides the internal decision-making of the Putin regime by exploring how narrative and ideology have shaped how Putin’s regime sees Russia’s place in the world. Through case studies of the Russian invasion of Georgia and Ukraine, this paper proposes that historical memory has had an influence on the choices and outlook of the Kremlin.
Representations of the past in the Estonian Russian-language press: “own” or diaspora memory?
Nationalities Papers, 2011
The article discusses the much-debated issue of collective identity among the Estonian Russian-speaking population from a different prism -based on representations of the past in the local Russian-language press in 2009. Assuming that representations of the past offer references for present-day identity construction, the study is aimed at revealing which identity patterns were supported and which were rejected by journalists and other speakers in the press. The analysis suggests that the "memory divide" is not only connected with WWII, as is widely believed in Estonia, but runs further down at the imaginary time-scale. Although the analysis revealed a strong prevalence of local-scale events, the mode of representations could not help to develop "own" local identities, either in a civic or emancipatory form. By the evaluation of events, actors and the stylistic means, the Russian-language press rather constructed the identity of the imperial diaspora. The existing State Integration Program aims at strengthening civic identity and activity, but it does not have a say in history politics. However, the latter is needed in order to give more space for private memories, critical reflection and the search for ways to (re)define the group in relation to space, time and other groups.