Easa Conference presentation

Inge Melchior, PhD student in Social and Cultural Anthropology Department

, ‘ ’ ?Memories of trauma a privilege of the experienced

Remembering and recognition of the Soviet deportations in Estonia

2 - . .I Melchior@vu nl

• :Brie f his torica l overview

• 1940: Augus t incorpora tion in the Sovie t Union• 14th 1941: of June mass deporta tion of families• :Exact numbers s till not es tablished

• 1941: 10,861 ( June people Bureau of the Regis te r of the Repressed of)Estonia

• 1939 – 1941: 100,000 59, 967 ( people of which never re turned ZEV committee- ).the Centre for searching and Returning the Deported Persons

• 1941: ( )Autumn of Nazi occupation s tarted also suffe red but les s• 1944: aga in incorpora ted into the Sovie t Union• 25th 1949: , 20,000 22,000 of March second mass deporta tion to people deported


• Politica l memory in Es tonia• : Sovie t period deporta tions no part of officia l his tory

• 1991: After part of officia l his tory

• His tory books

• Monuments

• Books with life s tories published

• Leinapäev: 14 th of June as na tiona l day of mourning• Today we keep in our memory those who have become victims to

. , the deporta tions We will not forge t them we will not leave them, ( , 1998).a lone those who did not leave us a lone Lennart Meri


• Reception of this politica l memory in Es tonia• Leinapäev :organised by

• , , Memento Liit Vabadusparte i Mäles tuskeskus Ris tite ta Hauad

Own picture – 14th of June 2010 Eesti Päevaleht – 14th of June 2010


• Why is leinapäev ?important for these people• To nationa lize the ir persona l s tories ( . )Geoffrey M White

• Sharing suffe rings with othe rs provides meaning and( ) ‘ ’ a perce ived truth to traumatic experiences

• Sharing the common goa l to perpe tua te the ir persona l s torie s within the community

• To emotiona lize the na tiona l s tory ( . )Geoffrey M White

• Emotiona l s tories are more like ly to be unders tood and remembered by those who did not experience a

certa in event themse lves ( )Nancy Immler


• The perce ived indiffe rence of the youth• One of the main messages of the commemoration

• “ , Monuments do not speak for themselves we have the respons ibility to pass on our.s tories ”

• :Inte rview with one of the main organisers• “ . […] It was sad to see tha t you were the only young person present Narra ting has two

: . . s ides speaking and lis tening But young people are done lis tening Of course memories are printed in newspapers and books but the other thing is to te ll to young people directly

(what happened suuline mälu). These myths and legends are part of a rahvustunne (= , ). patriotism fee ling of a people But if they are not inte res ted then it is only the memory

.of those who experienced it themselves ”

• “ There is nothing worse than making the effort to speak of te rrible

things and be ing ignored” ( )Michae l Lambek in Cappe lle tto .• , In othe r words the commemora tion itse lf was inspired by ( fee lings

) of respons ibility and in the same time confirmed ( absence of )younger genera tions .the ir fee lings of be ing mis recognized


• ?Do younger genera tions care• Fie ldwork three years ago revea led tha t the

deporta tions a re very important to many young.Estonians

• , 28 : Sirje years old “I care a lot about the deporta tions because of

’ . my grandparents s torie s and because I am Estonian But you should [ a lso note how young people othe rwise than through public

] . commemora tions give meaning to these fee lings I for example go and .speak with my grandparents when I fee l sad about wha t happened ”

• / , On a nationa l public leve l the deporta tions seem ’ to be an important part of Es tonia s identity and

.the refore of the lives of younger genera tions


• :The perce ived lack of initia tive of the s ta te• Inte rview with one of the organize rs of leinapäev:

• “ The riik . does not a lways lis ten to the wishes of its citizens Sometimes it pre fe rs to lis ten to its friends in the wes t ins tead of to

.us ”

• (21 .), Commemora tion of the deported people Aug : foreman of Memento

• “ I would like to reques t tha t next year the riik organizes a na tiona l

day of importance for commemora ting the victims of the. , deporta tions Tha t for once they ask us to hold a speech ins tead of

. the other way around So tha t they take respons ibility and make the memory a part of the na tiona l community ins tead of only of the

.repressed themse lves ”


• – ?Memories of trauma a privilege of the experienced• : Paradox the people who experienced want to be unders tood by and

perpe tua ted within the ir community but in the same time they do not believe .tha t those who never experienced it can ever unders tand it

• “ ( 2005): Double victimhood” Cappelle tto victims of the deporta tions - .and victims of the non unders tanding of the ir compatriots

• ‘ ’ ( ) Does externa l unders tanding imbedding in group narra tive perhaps ?diminishes the harshness of the personal suffe rings

• “[ ] ‘ ’ ( 2005)N arra ting is a way to normalize the violent pas t” Cappelle tto

• “ , [ ... ] In an ironic way the violent event can exis t as such only as long , as it appears to s tand outs ide of the continuum where it remains

, , . ( 1988)apparently unmedia ted unframed and unass imila ted ” Young


• ‘ ’ Who counts as experienced depends on the context• Feeling of be ing misunders tood in Europe by Estonians of

a ll genera tions

• , 28 : Sirje yea rs “For us Nazism and Communism are BOTH .bad but Wes te rn Europe is not ve ry eager to comprehend it ”

• Organize r of leinapäev: “ They can know what happened but not understand, because of the uniqueness of the

.Holocaus t ”

• : Representa tive of IRL “Within Es tonia much has been done , to mee t the wishes of the repressed but the problem lies in

, finding recognition outs ide Es tonia especia lly in Wes te rn.Europe ”


• As a Wes te rn European anthropologis t• / More black white s tories

• Deporta tions more important

• Misrecognition might yie ld profit for me

• High expecta tions


• Concluding words• :Ques tions of recognition

• ‘ ’ ?Who has the right to suffe r

• To what extent can officia l recognition contribute to ?perce ived recognition

• ?Can it ever be acknowledged

• To what extent does officia l recognition exclude?others

• : Simultaneous ly Jea lousy of othe rs

Documents

Easa Conference presentation