Back Tarībėnė karė pamėnklos Estėjuo BAT-SMG Бронзавы салдат Byelorussian Бронзовият войник в Талин Bulgarian Soldat de bronze de Tallin Catalan Bronzesoldaten Danish Bronzesoldat von Tallinn German Bronza Soldato de Talino Esperanto Soldado de bronce de Tallin Spanish Pronkssõdur Estonian Pronssisoturi Finnish

Bronze Soldier of Tallinn

The Bronze Soldier monument, with the stone structure reconstructed, at its new permanent location, June 2007

The Bronze Soldier (Estonian: Pronkssõdur, Russian: Бронзовый солдат, Bronzovyj soldat) is the informal name of a controversial[1][2] Soviet World War II war memorial in Tallinn, Estonia, built at the site of several war graves, which were relocated to the nearby Tallinn Military Cemetery in 2007. It was originally named "Monument to the Liberators of Tallinn"[3][4][5] (Estonian: Tallinna vabastajate monument,[6][7] Russian: Монумент освободителям Таллина, Monument osvoboditeljam Tallina[5]), was later titled to its current official name "Monument to the Fallen in the Second World War",[8] and is sometimes called Alyosha, or Tõnismäe monument after its old location. The memorial was unveiled on 22 September 1947, three years after the Red Army reached Tallinn on 22 September 1944 during World War II.

The monument consists of a stonewall structure made of dolomite and a two-metre (6.5 ft) bronze statue of a soldier in a World War II-era Red Army military uniform. It was originally located in a small park (during the Soviet years called the Liberators' Square) on Tõnismägi in central Tallinn, above a small burial site of Soviet soldiers' remains, reburied in April 1945.

In April 2007, the Estonian government relocated the Bronze Soldier and, after their exhumation and identification, the remains of the Soviet soldiers, to the Defence Forces Cemetery of Tallinn. Not all remains were reburied there, as relatives were given a chance to claim them, and several bodies were reburied in various locations in the former Soviet Union according to the wishes of the relatives.

Political differences over the interpretation of the events of the war symbolised by the monument had already led to a controversy between Estonia's community of polyethnic Russophone post-World War II immigrants and Estonians, as well as between Russia and Estonia. The disputes surrounding the relocation peaked with two nights of riots in Tallinn (known as the Bronze Night), besieging of the Estonian embassy in Moscow for a week, and cyberattacks on Estonian organizations. The events caught international attention and led to a multitude of political reactions.[9]

  1. ^ Sinisalu, Arnold. "Propaganda, Information War and the Estonian-Russian Treaty Relations: Some Aspects of International Law". Juridica International. Retrieved 4 April 2009. The Bronze Soldier memorial was erected to the soldiers of the Soviet Union who presumably died in conquering Tallinn in 1944. It is a historical fact that when withdrawing from Tallinn on 22 September 1944, the German Army did not engage in any battles with the Red Army heading for the city. Instead, the advancing Russian units encountered the Estonian flag flying in the tower of Tall Hermann, a symbol of State power in Tallinn, there were no casualties.[permanent dead link]
  2. ^ Bulletin of international news. Royal Institute of International Affairs, Information Department. 1944. p. 825. Estonia. Sept. 21. - Patriots in Tallinn reassumed Estonian control over Cathedral Hill, with the Government buildings, and proclaimed a national Government headed by Otto Tief, who ordered the German forces to leave and appealed to the Russians to recognize Estonian independence.
  3. ^ Eiki, Berg; Piret Ehin (2009). Identity and foreign policy: Baltic-Russian relations and European integration. Ashgate Publishing. pp. 56. ISBN 978-0-7546-7329-3.
  4. ^ Wertsch, James V. (2008). "Collective Memory and Narrative Templates". Social Research: An International Quarterly. 75 (1): 133–156. doi:10.1353/sor.2008.0051. S2CID 141826300.
  5. ^ a b James V., Wertsch. "A Clash of Deep Memories". Profession (8). MLA Journals: 46–53. ISSN 0740-6959.
  6. ^ WWW.KARLSONS.NET, All content (c) KKEK, Website by. "Kaasaegse Kunsti Eesti Keskus / Pealeht". CCA.ee. Retrieved 26 April 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  7. ^ "Parnupostimees.ee". Archived from the original on 13 February 2013. Retrieved 26 April 2017.
  8. ^ "ПАМЯТНИК ПОГИБШИМ ВО ВТОРОЙ МИРОВОЙ ВОЙНЕ В ТАЛЛИННЕ", from the Estonian Embassy in Russia website (in Russian)
  9. ^ "Soviet Memorial Causes Rift between Estonia and Russia". Der Spiegel. 27 April 2007. Retrieved 27 April 2018.

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