History of Estonia

Visual Images of Russian Identity in Estonia: The Tõnismäe Second World War Memorial

by A N

An Itinerant Sheep, and the Origins of the Livonians: Friedrich Menius's "Syntagma De Origine Livonorum" (1635) [Abstract]

by Stefan Donecker

In: Journal of Baltic Studies 43 (2012)

The Efficiency of Electricity Supply in Estonia, Finland and Sweden, 1920–1938

by Timo Myllyntaus

Reference:

Timo Myllyntaus,  “The Efficiency of Electricity Supply in Estonia, Finland and Sweden, 1920–1938,” International Productivity Comparisons and Problems of Measurement, 1750 -1939, Ed. P. K. O'Brien, The Ninth International Economic History Congress in Bern 1986, Section B-6, Zürich 1986, pp. 96-105.

Standard of Living in Estonia and Finland in the 1930s

by Timo Myllyntaus

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Reference:

“Standard of Living in Estonia and Finland in the 1930s,” Eesti Teaduste Akadeemia Toimetised, Humanitaar- ja sotsiaalteadused (Proceedings of the Estonian Academy of Sciences, Humanities and Social Sciences, Tallinn), vol. 41 (1992) no 3, pp. 184-191.

Abstracts available in Estonian and Russian Abstracts available in Estonian and Russian

Ajalugu, poliitika ja identiteet: Eesti monumentaalsest mälumaastikust

by Marek Tamm

Co-authored with Saale Halla, published in Pille Petersoo, Marek Tamm (eds.), Monumentaalne konflikt. Mälu, poliitika ja identiteet tänapäeva Eestis. Tallinn: Varrak, 2008, pp. 18–50.

Effects of the First World War on the Engineering Industries of Estonia and Finland

by Timo Myllyntaus

Reference:

Timo Herranen & Timo Myllyntaus, "Effects of the First World War on the Engineering Industries of Estonia and Finland," Scandinavian Economic History Review (Bergen) vol. 32 (1984) no 3, pp. 121-142.

Alt-Livland zwischen römischen Kolonisten und jüdischen Exilanten. Genealogische Fiktionen in der Historiografie des 17. Jahrhunderts [English abstract]

by Stefan Donecker

In: Zeitschrift für Ostmitteleuropa-Forschung 60 (2011)

The Chronicon Livoniae in Early Modern Scholarship: From Humanist Receptions to the Gruber Edition of 1740 [Abstract]

by Stefan Donecker

In: Crusading and Chronicle Writing on the Medieval Baltic Frontier. A Companion to the Chronicle of Henry of Livonia. Ed. by Marek Tamm, Linda Kaljundi and Carsten Selch Jensen (Farnham: Ashgate, 2011).

Theoretische Überlegungen zum Begriff des kollektiven Gedächtnisses in Estland

by Meike Wulf

“Theoretische Überlegungen zum Begriff des kollektiven Gedächtnisses in Estland’, in: P. Nitschke (eds.), Sammelband: Kulturvermittlung und Interregionalitäten, Frankfurt: Collegium Polonicum, 2003, pp. 167 –  92.

Generating meaning across generations – The role of historians in the codification of history in Soviet and post-Soviet Estonia

by Meike Wulf

M.Wulf & P. Grönholm, “Generating meaning across generations – The role of historians in the codification of history in Soviet and post-Soviet Estonia”, in Special Issue on Collective memory and pluralism in the Baltic States, Journal of Baltic Studies, 41 (3), 2010, pp. 351-382.

The main focus of this paper is on processes of official history making in post-Soviet Estonia. Special attention is... more The main focus of this paper is on processes of official history making in post-Soviet Estonia. Special attention is thus given to the historians, as memory agents, i.e. their self-understanding and their changing role as codifiers and mediators of social memories, and shapers of a post-Soviet Estonian identity. Overall many historians took on an active political role in the restoration of a sovereign Estonian state; the question though is: why and when did they assume a more active role in supporting the independence movement and subsequent nation building processes? Based on their post-1991 biographic accounts, various modes of talking about their past experiences, such as glorification, denial, self-justification, apologetics, distancing, resignation and destiny, are singled out, as these reveal strategies of coping with loss and of generating new meaning. The key analytical tool herein are generational group identities among post-Soviet Estonian historians, which by and large, this is the argument, inform their personal and professional outlook.

The struggle for official recognition of displaced group memories in post-Soviet Estonia

by Meike Wulf

In Michal Kopecek (Ed.), Past in the Making: Recent History Revisions and Historical Revisionism in Central Europe after 1989 (pp. 217-241). CEU Press: Budapest & New York.

Locating Estonia: Perspectives from Exile and the Homeland

by Meike Wulf

Meike Wulf (2009). Locating Estonia: homeland and exile perspectives. In Peter Gatrell and Nick Baron (Ed.), Warlands: Population Resettlement and State Reconstruction in Soviet Eastern Europe, 1945-50 (pp. 231- 254). Palgrave Macmillan : Basingstoke.

After the Second World War 'homeland Estonians' and 'Estonians living abroad' co-existed on two sides of the Iron... more After the Second World War 'homeland Estonians' and 'Estonians living abroad' co-existed on two sides of the Iron Curtain equally maintaining to be the rightful bearer of a 'true' Estonianess. Based on a sample of life story interviews with 42 historians from Estonia, I identify narratives of (1) hope, betrayal and loss; (2) 'purity', 'pollution' and whitewashing; and (3) transgression and return, that at times conflict and at times converge. I argue that notions of 'authenticity' were at centre stage in these competing identity claims and that in the context of their mutual (mis-) perceptions, 'pollution' was primarily defined as 'moral degradation' and 'ideological contamination'. Overall these three sets of narratives relate closely to the process of identity re-configuration among Estonians after 1991.

Changing memory regimes in a new Europe

by Meike Wulf

To be published in: East European Memory Studies. Memory at War e-newsletter, Nov. 2011(http://www.memoryatwar.org/resources-newsletter).

European memory politics undeniably affects the prospects of a shared European identity. During the political... more European memory politics undeniably affects the prospects of a shared European identity. During the political transition of 1989/91 East European societies needed to redefine their collective identities through reinterpreting their recent past. Consequently the historical interpretations grown out of the specific East European war experience, that is the double legacy of Nazism and Stalinist communism, began to increasingly challenge and clash with commonly held western interpretations after 1989. Pointing to the fault lines of these colliding political memories in the new Europe, this paper provides a contextual analysis of these interpretive differences. The regional focus of this paper is on the Baltic Three and Poland (with some references also to Ukraine), as these four new member states are at the forefront of a new commemorative politics in Europe. It is on the ‘level’ of political memory that memory regimes are formulated and political myth constructed, but this paper also tackles the ‘level’ of social memory and puts forward a generational explanation for the character of the new East European form of commemorative politics.

Theory Building: Dynamics of Collective Memory in Estonia

by Meike Wulf

"Theory Building: Dynamics of Collective Memory in Estonia ”, in: Working Papers, Uppsala University, Department of East European Studies, 54, (ISSN 1103-3541), February 2000, pp. 29 -51.

This paper presents an analytical approach to some of the changes which the times of
occupation, i.e. the ‘Years... more This paper presents an analytical approach to some of the changes which the times of
occupation, i.e. the ‘Years of Dependence’2 between 1939 - 91, brought upon
Estonian society and it examines the implication of long-term occupation on the (re)-
interpretation of inter-ethnic group relations and national identity in post-Soviet
Estonia.

Lotman’s World. Dir. Agne Nelk. Brooklyn, N.Y.: Icarus Films, 2008 (Film Review)

by Maxim Waldstein

Russifying Estonia?: Iurii Lotman and the Politics of Language and Culture in Soviet Estonia

by Maxim Waldstein

Clothed Straw Puppets in Estonian Folk Calendar Tradition: A Shift from Cult to Joke?

by Ergo-Hart Västrik

Published in Folklore: Electronic Journal of Folklore, vol. 7 (1998), pp. 38 - 78. Available at http://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol7/metsikx.htm and in CEEOL database at http://www.ceeol.com

Archiving Tradition in a Changing Political Order: From Nationalism to Pan-Finno-Ugrianism in the Estonian Folklore Archives

by Ergo-Hart Västrik

Published in Culture Archives and the State: Between Nationalism, Socialism, and the Global Market (Working Papers of the Center for Folklore Studies, v. 1). The Center for Folklore Studies, The Ohio State University, 2007-05 [2010]. Available at http://hdl.handle.net/1811/46903

Arbeiten und Projekte des Dorpater Professors Friedrich Menius in den 1630er Jahren [English Abstract]

by Stefan Donecker

In: Forschungen zur baltischen Geschichte 6 (2011).

Ideology and tradition in landscape change: a case of the Helme parish, Estonia

by Marge Konsa

Co-authored with H. Palang, A. Printsmann and V. Lang. Published in the book "Landscape, Law and Justice", ed. by T. Peil and M. Jones, Oslo 2005

This paper traces the territorial structures of power in the Helme Parish in south Estonia.Territorial power... more This paper traces the territorial structures of power in the Helme Parish in south Estonia.Territorial power structures convey abstract ideology upon a landscape: it shows who makes
the decision, who owns the land and how it is celebrated, and how far the influence lingers. These structures involve taxation and administration units as well as property etc., which
also determine social behaviour, e.g. which villages get along better with each other. Sometimes it seems that long established social ties in landscape can survive new territorial
power structures, i.e. that tradition prevails over ideology. We hypothesise that: a) Changes in power structures find their way through the ideology and new regulations to inscribe new
layers in material and immaterial culture, e.g. settlement patterns, and ways in which landscapes are understood; b) These changes could happen only if the ideology of change is
supported and carried out by all members of society, not only the elite; and c) Different power levels practise diverse territorial strategies. The study demonstrates that the primary power relations are stable in the landscape. Their location has been constant since the Early Iron Age.