Never-Ending Second World War: Public Performances of National Dignity and the Drama of the Bronze Soldier

The article scrutinizes the April 2007 Bronze Soldier incident in Tallinn, Estonia, as a struggle over interpretations of history and as a public drama geared at upholding the national dignity, both Estonian and Russian. The statue had become a site of ritualized performances, with diverging meanings attached to it by different groups. Bronze Soldier was a visual symbol of the Russian/Soviet interpretation of the WWII, which during the 1990s became increasingly incompatible with the Estonian narrative of Soviet era as an occupation. The clashing collective memories of Estonians, Estonian Russians and Russians constitutes a school-book example of Roger Brubaker’s ‘triadic nexus’ of nationalized politics. The Bronze Soldier incident highlights the ongoing shift of Estonian national narrative from victimhood to heroism. We argue that Estonian Russians have become marginalized both in Estonian and Russian narratives, as ritualized and politicized public commemorations diminish the space of private memory. By clinging on to their nationalized views on the WWII Estonian and Russia are standing out as exceptions in the European context. “There is no doubt that the April events concerning the Bronze Soldier will become a benchmark in the contemporary history of the state of Estonia. It is the bifurcation point, the point of division, separating ‘before’ and ‘after’. For Estonian society these events are even more important than joining NATO or European Union. Before April 2007 we lived in one country and now we are getting used to living in another one.” (Aleksei Semjonov, director of Legal Information Centre for Human Rights at Tallinn, 2007) On the night of 26-27 April 2007, the removal of the so-called Bronze Soldier, previously known as the monument for Liberators of Tallinn, from its original location in the city centre triggered violent riots in the streets of Tallinn, diplomatic conflict between Estonia and Russia and an aggressive but theatrical performance organized by the Russian youth organization “Nashi”. On 30 April the statue was re-erected at the Estonian Defence Forces