The political climate currently in Moscow is turbulent at best after a symbol of sacrifice to many was dismantled. This symbol is an Estonian monument known as the Bronze Soldier. To get a better understanding of the conflict over the statue we’ll take a deeper look at both countries history.
According to the wiki page of Estonia they are located in Northern Europe bordering on the south with Latvia and to the east with Russia. Estonia’s other neighbors are the Finland and Sweden. Carbon dating established a lineage dating back to 6500 BC. Back then the area was mostly a hunting and fishing community.
Current day Tallinn was called Reval before 1918. During the Iron Age they converted to a farming community. Their culture was first influenced by the Roman Empire, then during the early thirteenth century by the Crusades. During this time the area known as Estonia was divided into eight large countries, which were later united under two forces by 1227. Germany conquered and controlled the bottom half, and Denmark controlled to Northern force. In 1343 the people of northern Estonia and Saaremaa rebelled against German rule in the St George’s Night Uprising. Russia attempted an unsuccessful invasion in 1481 and 1558, and after 1524 Estonia converted to Lutheranism. Fast forward to 1940, Estonia was formally annexed by the Soviet Union.
During the oppressive rule a Estonian SSR, thousands of ordinary people were drafted into the Red Army. Later when the country was occupied by Germany from 1941 to 1944 many Estonians joined the German Armed Forces. Soviet forces reconquered Estonia and tens of thousands of people fleed to bordering countries.
Admits the collapse of the Soviet Union, along with the Singing Revolution against Russia, along with mass public protesting, Estonia regained independence on August 20, 1991.
Now back in modern times, this statue which has stood since 1947 without much controversy, was created to memorialize the sacrifice of the fallen Russian soldiers who fought against Nazi Germany to liberate Estonia. The statue has the same sentiment to the ethnic Russians living in Estonia as to Russian nationals; it was the equivalent of a Tomb of the Unknown to the United States as The Bronze Soldier was to the Russia. Thirteen Soviet soldiers who died during the liberation of Estonia are said to be buried near the monument.
Not surprising the Estonian government views the statue depicting a “young man who holds his helmet on his right hip and gazes sadly at the ground – is an unwelcome and painful symbol of what they view as the Soviet occupation of their nation after World War II”.
The Estonian government wants to relocate the statue, and delayed the exhumation and identification of the soldiers’ remains.
The removal of the Bronze Soldier with inscriptions “To the fallen of the Second World War” has sparked massive controversy in political circles. Russian parliament called for Russia to sever diplomatic relations with Estonia, others have called Estonia supporters as “provincial zealots of Nazism”, while others have gone as far as to say “It’s like anti-Semitism, but directed against Russians”, said Sergei Markov a member of the Public Chamber government advisory board.
In the wake of the violent protests in the Estonian capital, one reported fatality has been confirmed. Along with the violence resulted in fires, looting, bottle-throwing and other vandalism. In response the Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Ilves has condemned the violence saying “The night criminals were united not by their nationality, but by the desire to destroy, to rob and to commit outrages”. Stanislav Cherepanov, chairman of the Russian Party of Estonia, who is among those who want to keep the monument in place, denounced the violence and called for a constructive dialogue. “Not a single monument, symbol, is worth human blood”, he said in an interview.
Source doc baltimoresun | wikipedia
