ESTONIA IN THE SOVIET PERIOD



STATUES

After the war in Iraq we saw the pulling down of the statues of Saddam Hussein. Along with a change of power not an unusual picture: people will wipe out in the memory the old authorities. This also happened in the Baltic countries with the most recent great change of power, the recovered independence. On postal attioneries and other philatelic material from the Soviet period we meet many statues and monuments. A lot of these 'heroes' and old authorities are now disappeared from the city scene of the Baltic towns.
Also streets get their old names with the renewed independence.
The war memorial in the centre of Tallinn on a soviet postal stationery, issued 6-8-1974 (6/VIII-74 on the backside of the cover).
The discussion about the past caused a conflict in modern Estonia around the statue.
The memorial is placed after World War II to commemorate the soviet soldiers, who were killed with the liberation in 1944. The memorial 'The Bronze Man' , has as central figure the bronze statue of a soviet soldier.

Original print size of this image: 16,468 x 11,828 cm (is something more as the postal item)
This picture and all pictures below on this page, if not mentioned otherwise: scanned about 300 dpi. Then set right and cut out - noted the actual print size-, resized 25 % of this image and saved as jpg.


The same memorial is pictured on card, with imprinted stamp, so a postal stationery, issued in the Soviet period.
Many Estonians wanted the removing of the memorial, but the local authorities dared not, because they were afraid for the reactions of the great Russian minority (2007: 25,7 %). As a compromide there were placed some trees between the memorial and the street, and the streets are changed: not the memorial but the National Library is the central point.



Original print size of this image: 14,944 x 10,702 cm (is something more as the postal item)


Despite the protest of the Russian minority (about 30 % of the inhabitants) and Russia, the memorial is removed thursdaynight 26-27 april 2007. This night and also after the removal there were violent rows in Tallinn. End of april it is replaced to the military cemetery in the city.



The other side with the imprinted stamp.





Also the fifteen soldiers of the Red Army, which were reburied on the old place of the monument, were reburied again on the military cemetery. With the rows there was one dead and 150 wounded, in three days were about 1000 people arrested.




In Tallinn all statues of Lenin are disappeared now.
Here you see the Lenin-statue, infront of the building of the Central Committee of the Estonian Communist Party.
This statue, here for decades, is now in front of the Museum of Modern Art of Pärnu, as an example of a characteristic statue of the end of the century.
Also a card with imprinted stamp.


Original print size of this image: 14,944 x 10,753 cm (is something more as the postal item)






The other side.




The description of the image.