Estonia and Russia have seen rioting this week over the decision by the Estonian government to remove a memorial to Soviet soldiers who died during the Second World War. In the west we regard the battle to defeat Hitler as being victorious, but in the east the picture isn’t quite so clear, as Soviet soldiers brought, not freedom to Estonia, but the rule of Soviet Russia under Joseph Stalin, someone as bloodthirsty as Hitler. Many Estonians regard the war memorial as a reminder of their subjugation by Russia, while the 300,000 Russian speakers among Estonia’s 1.3 million people see it as a sacred memorial.
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These problems are the situations left over from the old Cold War Empire of the Soviet Union. The old problem of nationalism vs. history is showing its head over this problem. On one side, you have the nationalism of the new democratic nations, while on the other side, you have the fact that the old Soviet Union spent a lot of energy in the form of blood to win the WWII. The real question is there any way to satisfy both side to this question.
Wow, this deabte is actually very tough. Things to consider:
1) Would Stalin have realized his full capacity to victimize and terrorize other nations had Hitler not invaded the Soviet Union, giving him the legitimate reason to deploy troops throughout eastern Europe?
2) This one is in the eyes of each individual, but does the monument symbolize the individual soldiers themselves, or the sign of an oppresive Stalin (obviously this is what the debate is about).
We know that Stalin wasnt just interested in defeating Hitler, and that his motivations also lay in spanning communist influence (see USSR’s Korean campaign ca. 1945, or the Comintern).
For many, the story of tyranny and oppression ends at in 1945, but there are many eastern European countries that still faced this for decades to come (see Hungary ca. 1956 and Prague ca. 1968).
Was the Red Army saviours or invaders? Who was the greater enemy, Hitler or Stalin?
tough call…