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Continuity or Discontinuity: On the Dynamics of Remembering “Mature Socialism” in Estonian Post-Soviet Remembrance Culture

2013; Routledge; Volume: 44; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/01629778.2013.775849

1751-7877

Kirsti Jõesalu, Ene Kõresaar,

Polish-Jewish Holocaust Memory Studies

Click to increase image sizeClick to decrease image sizeKeywords: remembrance culturememory politicscultural memorypost-socialismmature socialismlife stories Acknowledgements The preparation of the article was supported by the Estonian Science Foundation Grant No. 8190 and by the European Union through its European Regional Development Fund (Centre of Excellence of Cultural Theory). Notes 1. The anthropologist Alexei Yurchak has also described these decades as the late socialist period, spanning from 1955 to 1985 (Yurchak 2005 Yurchak, A. 2005. Everything Was Forever, Until It Was No More. The Last Soviet Generation, Princeton: Princeton University Press. [Google Scholar], 31). 2. Our discussion will be limited to developments in the remembrance culture of the titular nation. At this point, a thorough cross-ethnic comparison cannot be made, due to the fact that the mnemonic practices of the different ethnic groups are relatively different. As a result, there is a lack of comparable sources. For example, the autobiographical stories that are used as the primary source in this study are a form of commemoration that has been practiced during the post-Soviet era primarily by the Estonian community. Analyses of the small number of Russian-language life stories available from the 1990s have revealed that Estonian and Russian autobiographers had different views of the various periods of the twentieth century (Jaago 2004 Jaago, T. 2004. "Narrationen von Heimat und Abstammung. Esten und ethnische Minoritäten in Estland erzählen". In Erzählen zwischen den Kulturen, Edited by: Wienker-Piepho, S. and Roth, K. 173–85. Münster: Waxmann. [Google Scholar]), but the number of sources is too small to determine any broader dynamics. 3. Life-writing campaigns are appeals for public thematic life-story writing. The Estonian Life Stories Association sends appeal texts to the press, where they appear in various forms. The appeals have a fixed term and the received life stories are read by a jury convened by the Association. Summaries of the campaigns are released on Life Story Day in March (the month the Association was founded). 4. One of the best examples of the nationalist view of history is the book Kodu lugu (The Story of Home) by Mart Laar, Lauri Vahtre and Heiki Valk, which was published in 1989 Laar, M., Vahtre, L. and Valk, H. 1989. Kodu lugu I – II [The Story of Home I – II]. Loomingu Raamatukogu, 40–43. Tallinn: Perioodika. [Google Scholar] (with a second edition in 1992). On the latest analysis of the book as a classic work of teleological nationalist history see Kaljundi 2009 Kaljundi, L. 2009. 'Ein sicherer Halt': Zum Verhältnis von Geschichte und Analogieprinzip in 'Kodu Lugu'.". Forschungen zur baltischen Geschichte, 4: 238–48. [Google Scholar]. 5. See the last example from a life story (female, b. 1925, KM EKLA F. 350, 519, 25), where the lack of familiarity with etiquette is associated with the "paradise of workers" which, in addition to the Soviet connotations, also carries the meaning of something that has little social value. 6. Following the example set by the Estonian Life Stories Association, local life-writing days have been held in Estonia since the second half of the 1990s. The discussions at these events are a good indication of how life writers feel about the historical and political interpretations that dominate the public sphere. A notable shift has occurred in the life writers' attitudes towards the ideology of the "prolonged rupture". For example, when Ene Kõresaar spoke about "the disappearance of the late Soviet period" in life stories at a meeting of life writers that took place at the end of the 1990s, the participants expressed the opinion that there was nothing to write about, since "history did not happen" during the period of mature socialism (Kõresaar 2001 Kõresaar, E. 2001. Time Ignored? About the Role of the Soviet Period in Life Stories of Older Estonians.". Ethnologia Fennica, 29: 45–55. [Google Scholar]). Kirsti Jõesalu's fieldwork in 2001, which involved interviews with people born in the 1960s (the "Generation of Winners") on the subject of the "time of awakening" in the 1980s, provides an insight into how the people who shaped public opinion felt about the Soviet period. In this case, the informant claimed that the entire Soviet era was viewed negatively and avoided in life writing because it was a period not worth remembering. "They avoid the subject because they are ashamed, and rightly so" (Jõesalu, fieldwork 2001, interview with a public official). The fieldwork experience from 2003 is more dramatic: when asked to write about their lives in the ESSR, the participants resentfully replied that those years had been suppressed by "the new Estonian authorities" (Kõresaar 2005 Kõresaar, E. 2005. "Collective Memory and the Politics of Experience in Estonian Post-Soviet Life Stories". In Memories and Visions, Edited by: Ronström, O. and Palmenfelt, U. 45–87. Tartu: Tartu University Press. [Google Scholar], 196). 7. Biographical interviews were conducted in 1997–1998 within the framework of the project Memory as a Culture Factor, organized by the Chair of Ethnology at the University of Tartu. For this analysis, the interviews are used as background information to the written life stories. 8. This is revealed by phrases such as "we have been talking about this", etc., contained in the interviews. People often discussed their experiences during the period of "mature socialism" on city buses, and it was common to happen upon such discussions while riding the bus. 9. The habit of seeing the Soviet era in its entirety as a negative experience has also affected researchers. For example, the fieldwork notes of one of the authors of this article express her surprise at reading stories of working life in Soviet Estonia in 2001. "These stories do not say anything bad [negative] about the Soviet era!" (fieldwork notes, Jõesalu 2002 Jõesalu, K. 2002. Fieldwork notes. Unpublished material in the personal archive. [Google Scholar]). 10. During the 1990s, the poor quality of work in Soviet times and the negative effect of the Soviet mentality on the transition society were common topics of discussion in Estonia at every level of society. One of the proponents of this discourse was Lennart Meri. 11. For a more detailed discussion of this particular call for life writing see Jõesalu and Kõresaar 2011 Jõesalu, K. and Kõresaar, E. 2011. "Working through Mature Socialism: Private and Public in the Estonians' Meaning-Making of the Soviet Past". In Baltic Biographies at Historical Crossroads, Edited by: Bennich-Björkman, L. and Aarelaid-Tart, A. 68–85. London: Routledge. [Google Scholar]. 12. On 18 June 2002, the Riigikogu adopted the Statement on the Crimes of the Occupation Regime in Estonia. The full text of the statement is available at http://www.riigiteataja.ee/ert/act.jsp?id=174385. 13. Here "Tarand boy" refers to Kaarel Tarand, who is the younger son of a well-known Estonian family. His father, Andres Tarand, has been the Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia and a member of the Riigikogu and the European Parliament, while his brother, Indrek Tarand, is a former long-time public official and current member of the European Parliament. All three are well known in Estonian society for their opposition to the Soviet ideology. 14. However, some stories written by people born at the end of the 1930s (1937–1939) and the beginning of the 1950s have also been used. It must be noted that the life writers born in the 1940s are overwhelmingly female. 15. In describing the different generations of the GDR, Bernd Linder called the people born in 1945–1960 "the integrated generation", therefore characterizing their participation in various social structures (Linder 2003 Linder, B. 2003. Die Jugendgenerationen der DDR in literarischen Selbstbildern.". BIOS: Zeitschrift für Biographieforschung, Oral History und Lebensverlaufsanalysen, 16(2): 190–208. [Google Scholar]). Juliane Fürst (2010 Fürst, J. 2010. Stalin's Last Generation. Soviet Post-War Youth and the Emergence of Mature Socialism, Oxford: Oxford University Press. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) describes the post-war youth as "Stalin's last generation". 16. The exhibition was first displayed at the Estonian National Museum in Tartu from 12 December 2000 to 4 February. 2001. The same exhibition was shown in Tallinnat the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design from 3 April 2001 to10 June 2001. On the topic of this exhibition see more in Jõesalu and Nugin 2012 Jõesalu, K. and Nugin, R. 2012. Reproducing Identity Through Remembering: Cultural Texts on the Late Soviet Time. Folklore. Electronic Journal of Folklore, 51: 15–48. doi:10.7592/FEJF2012.51.joesalu-nugin[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]. 17. The subject was also dealt with by Maimu Berg in her novel Away (Ära), which was published back in 1999 but did not garner much attention at that time. 18. The plastic bag exhibition was also reported on in newspapers: "Rare Plastic Bags on Display in Tartu" (Päärt 2004 Päärt, V. June 2004. "Muuseum näitab 198ndate kilekotte". In Postimees June, 19 [Google Scholar]); and the SL Õhtuleht article "Colorful Plastic Bags Made People Feel Good and Were Used as Currency" (Viira 2004 Viira, A. 2004. Värvikirev kilekott upitas enesetunnet ja toimis valuutana.". SL Õhtuleht, 12 February: 14–15. [Google Scholar]). 19. The exhibition was open from 8 April 2006 to 1 October 2006. The introduction to the exhibition can be found at http://www.erm.ee/et/Avasta/Noukogude-argielu-uuringud/Ise-soime-ise-joime-Toidukultuur-Noukogude-Eestis. The exhibition also travelled to Tallinn and was displayed at the Estonian Museum of Applied Art and Design, with a few modifications, from 1December 2006 to 14 January 2007. 20. The electronic exhibition can be seen at http://www.erm.ee/et/kylasta/Virtuaalnaitused/61. 21. "This generation did not choose when to be born. They had to live their lives. This is why I believe that the wisdom, understanding and help of our creative intellectuals, scientists, and heads of agricultural establishments made these summer camps fun and attractive for the young people, while also teaching them skills that would benefit them in the future." Vaino Väljas smiled and added that, although these summer events were last organized in 1990, the tradition had not been lost. "The Estonian countryside is filled to the brim with summer events held by political parties, ministries, institutions and companies" (Vaino Väljas, reported by Rein Joamets, ETV news program Aktuaalne Kaamera, 28 Sept 2007). 22. The authors would like to thank Kristi Grünberg for her overview of the Soviet era-related plays put on by Estonian theaters in the twenty-first century. 23. The stage director of the play was Taago Tubin and it opened in the Viljandi Drama Theatre in 2003. 24. On the tendency to contrast oneself with "the West" as an aspect of post-Soviet identity see Keller and Vihalemm 2003 Keller, M. and Vihalemm, T. 2003. 'Return to the 'Consuming West': Young People's Perceptions about the Consumerization of Estonia.". Young, 11(3): 195–215. [Crossref] , [Google Scholar] and Runnel 2003 Runnel, P. 2003. Europe as a Measure of Change: Soviet Time Values and the Construction of Estonia's Post-Communist Turn to Europe.". Pro Ethnologia, 16: 113–34. [Google Scholar].