Marek Tamm - What Do We Remember From Estonian History?

When asked about the most important episodes in Estonian history, most Estonians tend to bring out similar events. The professor of cultural history Marek Tamm claims that on the one hand, this can be attributed to the revolutionary importance of these events. On the other hand, it comes from our shared common memory, which helps us remember the story of the Estonians’ everlasting fight for freedom.

We have come to know our history quite well in the recent past, it is time to get to know the source and the logic behind the formation of our historical knowledge – our historical culture.

For years, Marek Tamm has conducted a questionnaire among his students, asking their opinion about the most important historical events in Estonia. The answers are roughly similar, the most frequent being about the episodes concerning our independence and freedom, from the Baltic Crusade (known as the “Fight for Freedom” in Estonia) and the St. George’s Night uprising up to the declaration of independence and the Estonian War of Independence.

Why do we remember and value similar events from the history of Estonia?

The reasons should not be sought from the sheer importance of these events, but rather from the peculiarities of the Estonian collective memory. We learn as children that our ancestors have always yearned and fought for independence, and the Republic of Estonia, declared in 1918, is the logical result of this freedom fight that lasted for generations. All losses or stoppages in the fight have been anomalies, which have not deterred us from our path to independence.

Our common memory is held together by a simple story of an age-spanning quest for freedom, which started with a loss at Ümera and ended with a win at Võnnu.

This is the story that writers, artists and historians have been telling people for nearly a century and a half and it has become one that remembers itself for us. It has become the backbone of the collective memory of Estonians and enables us to see ourselves as a common and sustainable nation. It lets us connect scattered events into one meaningful whole, instead of showing Estonians and Estonia as the sum of random occurrences.

Which other great stories should we tell?

This is a question that demands a much bigger discussion, but one thing is sure – our vision of our past, and therefore our present, will become more rich and varied, if we can tell ourselves as many different stories as possible.

Photo: Christian August Lorentzen / Wikimedia Commons