Soldiers of memory : World War II and its aftermath in Estonian post-soviet life stories / / edited by Ene Kőresaar.

• TeilnehmendeR: Kõresaar, Ene.
• Year of Publication: 2010
• Language: English
• Series: On the Boundary of Two Worlds 27.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (439 p.)
• Notes: Description based upon print version of record.

Soldiers of Memory explores the complexities and ambiguities of World War II experience from the Estonian veterans’ point of view. Since the end of World War II, contesting veteran cultures have developed on the basis of different war experiences and search for recognition in the public arena of history. The book reflects on this process by combining witness accounts with their critical analysis from the aspect of post-Soviet remembrance culture and politics. The first part of the book examines the persistent remembrance of World War II. Eight life stories of Estonian men are presented, revealing different war trajectories: mobilised between 1941 and 1944, the narrators served in the Red Army and its work battalions, fought against the Soviet Union in the Finnish Army, Waffen-SS, Luftwaffe, the German political police force and Wehrmacht, deserted from the Red Army, were held in German and Soviet prison and repatriation camps. The second part of the book offers a critical analysis of the stories from a multidisciplinary point of view: what were the possible life trajectories for an Estonian soldier under Soviet and German occupations in the 1940's? How did the soldiers cope with the extreme conditions of the Soviet rear? How are the veterans’ memories situated in terms of different memory regimes and what is their position in the post-Soviet Estonian society? What role does ethnic and generational identity play in the formation of veterans’ war remembrance? How do individuals cope with war trauma and guilt in life stories? Offering a wide range of empirical material and its critical analysis, Soldiers of Memory will be important for military, oral and cultural historians, sociologists, cultural psychologists, and anybody with an interest in the history of World War II, post/communism, and cultural construction of memory in contemporary Eastern European societies.

Table of Contents

Preliminary Material -- Introduction: Remembrance Cultures of World War II and the Politics of Recognition in Post-Soviet Estonia: Biographical Perspectives / Ene Kõresaar -- Estonians in World War II. A Chronology / Tiit Noormets -- My Biography: Memoirs of Childhood, Study Years, Territorial Defence Army and War, German Prison Camp and Time Spent in the Soviet Prison Camp / Aleksander Loog -- Between the Cogweels: Victimized by the Course of History / Heinrich Uustalu -- My Life in the Twist of History / Reinhold Mirk -- Hope of Staying Alive / Boris Raag -- Wonders of Living / Ailo Ehamaa -- Born Under a Lucky Star / Lembitu Varblane -- My Youth in the Turn of History / Boris Takk -- An Islander’s Life Story, Along with Interesting Things that Happened to Him / Ylo-Vesse Velvelt -- Aleksander Loog – Searching for One’s Way: The Opportunities and Choices of Estonian Men during the Political Changes of the 1940's / Aigi Rahi-Tamm -- Boris Raag – Hope of Staying Alive: Survival Strategies of a Soviet Soldier / Olaf Mertelsmann -- The Estonian-Minded Person in Soviet Reality: Double Mental Standards in Ailo Ehamaa’s Life History / Aili Aarelaid-Tart -- How to Remember? The Social Framework of Reinhold Mirk’s Reminiscences of War / Rutt Hinrikus -- The Lucky Star and Discernment: The Positioning of the Self and War in the Life Story of Lembitu Varblane / Tiiu Jaago -- Boris Takk – The Ambiguity of War in a Post-Soviet Life Story / Ene Kõresaar -- When is the War Over? Ylo-Vesse Velvelt’s Life Story and Surviving the ‘Czech Hell’ / Tiina Ann Kirss -- Heinrich Uustalu – Between the Cogwheels: Stigmatised Family Relations in the Life Story of a Repressed Man / Terje Anepaio -- Notes on the Contributors -- Authors Index -- Word Index.