KULTUURIGENOTSIID EESTIS: KIRJANIKUD (1940-1953)

Cultural Genocide in Estonia: Writers, 1940-1953

Toomas Karjahärm

《Acta Historica Tallinnensia》 10卷1期 (2006/12) Pp. 142-177

並列摘要

This article discusses the crimes committed by the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany in Estonia (see Conclusions of the Estonian International Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity.-http://www.historycommission.ee/) from the occupation and annexation of the Baltic States in 1940 until the death of Stalin in 1953, putting under closer scrutiny the fate of one of the most influential groups among Estonian creative intellectuals-men of letters-in the Stalinist era. We want to showcase the process of Sovietisation-Stalinisation-Russification of cultural life in Estonia, alongside with the methods that the occupation authorities applied to the goal of repressing the creators and ultimately destroying the Estonian culture.
The use of violence in the Soviet empire throughout its existence was not a temporary measure; violence was a legalised state policy, instrumental in keeping the system functioning. The scope and forms of repressions varied, yet their true essence and goals remained unaltered-to ensure the public's implicit obedience by keeping them in constant terror and fear, and to nip in the bud any sort of opposition that may emerge. The Soviet leadership viewed culture as an instrument that could help legitimise the totalitarian regime. Culture was utilised in rearing and educating the Soviet people, culture served as an important tool for ideology and propaganda, an inherent component of Communist Party work.
In 1940-1953 Estonia suffered major population casualties; however, as the compilation of databases is still ongoing, there is no precise statistics available. During the whole Soviet period (1940-1991), the death toll from war and repressions among the Estonian citizens reached to about 90,000, while an equal number of people were forced into permanent exile.
The first major losses suffered by creators and performers were associated with repatriation to Germany in 1939-1941, also the mass deportation of citizens of the Republic of Estonia to Siberia (about 3,000 men-heads of families-were taken straight to GULAG, where only a handful survived; 7,000 of their family members-women, children and the elderly-were deported and thousands of them died), and forcible mobilisation into the Red Army in 1941. About 15 writers and 30 artists and musicians were sent to Russia's prison and labour camps or shot, several dozens were killed in the Red Army.
The German occupation authorities persecuted and killed Jews and those individuals, including writers and artists, who harboured, or were suspected of harbouring, communist views. About 35 writers were arrested, of these four were executed, all Jews were killed.
In 1944, approximately 70,000-80,000 Estonians (about 10% of the total population), including around one fourth of the Estonian intelligentsia, fled to the West to escape the new Soviet occupation. Some 30-50% of the professional writers, artists, musicians, architects, clergymen and representatives of the medical profession emigrated, mostly to Germany and Sweden.
The Soviet repressive apparatus was launched in Estonia in the autumn of 1944. The first wave of repressions followed suit, in 1944-1945. The security agencies registered more than 50,000 potential ”public enemies”, now predominantly indicted pursuant to Article 58(superscript 1a)- ”treason to the Motherland”. The mere stay in the occupied territory was treated as a capital crime. Approximately 10,000 men were put in prison, half of them died within the first two years of incarceration. According to different estimates, in 1944-1953 about 25,000-30,000 men were sent to hard labour and prison camps, 11,000 of them never returned.
In 1947-1948, the Cold War escalating, Moscow adopted a course towards the unification of Eastern European societies, forcing them into the Soviet mould. For the occupied Baltic nations this led to a further acceleration of the Sovietisation process. The year 1949 witnessed the start of extensive ”re-evaluation”, i.e. a vilification campaign against the cultural heritage of the independence period. The process of looking for and ”unmasking” public enemies gathered momentum, and reached its peak in 1950-1951, as shown by long lists of individuals who were arrested, imprisoned or deported to Russia or expelled from creative unions and dismissed from their jobs (see Appendix). According to our calculations, based on a comparison of the creative unions ”membership lists and personal information, the Writers Union and Composers” Union expelled one third, and the Artists' Association-half of its members.
Leaving aside the repatriants to Germany and political refugees, the total number of writers repressed in Estonia reaches 200, artists above 150, and that of musicians is at least 100. The number of repatriants and those who fled to the West amounts to several hundreds in these groups. These figures eloquently demonstrate the tremendous loss that the Estonian culture suffered-a cultural genocide, a damage impossible to compensate. The pervasive atmosphere of fear and hysteria enveloped everyone, even those who were not imprisoned or expelled from professional unions. It was the fear of violence, physical and mental. The 1940s could be best characterised by the phrase ”a decade of survival”.
Estonia lived through three major waves of repressions: 1940-1941, 1944- 1945, and 1949-1951. Two of these waves also included the mass deportations in 1941 and 1949.
Repressions continued unabated-even when arrests and prison sentences declined in frequency, the machinery of violence never stopped grinding, collecting evidentiary material and applying more refined forms of persecution. Repressions assumed various forms: from heavy criticism of the writer's work to execution by shooting. The most prevalent form of persecution was expulsion from membership in the professional union, which for writers, artists and musicians meant loss of work and income.
It is often difficult to find a reasonable explanation to why certain concrete individuals should have fallen victim to the repressions. The choice of victims and the severity of punishments often seem random or haphazard. Outward demonstration of loyalty to the occupation regime, active collaboration, Communist Party membership, stay in the Soviet rear, public self-castigation, even eager exposing and denunciation of the regime's enemies, did not guarantee personal safety. The aim was to terrify and chastise the whole Estonian nation and its intelligentsia, so it made no difference whether an individual's personal guilt was actually established or not.
The repressive policy was administered and controlled by Moscow, whence came all the major impulses, orders and initiatives. The opinions and positions of the local wielders of power never had any fundamental significance. The KGB acted independently of the local authorities, taking their orders from the central administration. The local functionaries played a greater role in drawing up the lists of ”anti-Soviet elements”, relying on anonymous denunciation and agency reports.
The Stalinist era differed considerably from the subsequent period of thaw. The crucial factor in this period was fear, and survival the main concern. Fear wormed its way into everyone. Stalinism demanded total, unconditional obedience and total, unconditional collaboration from the whole nation. No aberrations, not even the slightest, from the official line were tolerated or allowed in any walk of life. Imminent repressions threatened anyone who dared to deviate from the norm. Dissenting opinions could not possibly emerge in the Soviet Union until the ice of terror began to melt.