A shorter, 15 minute presentation of this material was given by me at the EANC annual meeting in Stamford, CT on 27 Sept, 2014. It was part of panel discussions covering 1) the past, 2) the present and 3) the future of Estonian community in the US. The panel discussion was moderated by Linda Rink, the executive director of EANC. My and Arne Kalm’s presentations jointly covered the past.
Our community includes people from many periods of migration. In the Czarist times Estonian men came to the West Coast and became lumberjacks. They ordered mail order brides from Estonia whom they met in the Portland railroad station, photo in hand. Others traveled to northern Wisconsin to farm. For communal life they built a church that still stands, though abandoned. Of course their passports stated they came from Russia.
During the Estonian independence period many came to escape unemployment. The lady, who sponsored my parents in 1949, came to escape her abusive alcoholic ex-husband. After the war, thanks to the efforts of the then president’s wife, US Congress passed laws allowing thousands of Estonian DPs to enter America among other refugees from East Europe. Most recently Estonians have come here to seek a greater arena for their talents, to further their education or by having married an American.
Thus our Estonian-American community is broader than just the people who were born in Estonia and share the experience of escaping in 1944. The “we” today means all the people who wish to associate with their Estonian heritage. The core group of our community came to the United States in late 1940’s early 1950’s numbered then around 10,000. It has contracted though deaths and assimilation. But it has also expanded through births and marriage with non-Estonians. They all are part of our community as much as they wish to be. We in EANC are hoping that they all feel welcome. We hope to broaden our community to include Estophiles as discussed in Arne Kalm’s study report “building a bigger tent.”
In the following recounting of the past the Estonian-American experience is deeply rooted in the 1944 diaspora. From it came the greatest portion of our community. This survey recounts the path here while Arne Kalm’s presentation surveys the activities of our organizations and resistance movement.
The people, who escaped from Estonia to the west in 1944, faced uncertainty and continuously changing circumstances. This required them to reinvent themselves and to find new direction as a community as well as individuals. Broadly there were six phases of reincarnation.
1. Escape
2. Surviving
3. Gathering
4. Dispersal
5. Resistance
6. New reality
Escape 1944
It is estimated that in 1944, 70,000 people left Estonia to the West as the Soviet army enered the country. They did not emigrate; they were running for their lives, without preparation, without knowing what lay ahead but anticipating the worst if they stayed. The threat was real based on the experience of the first Soviet occupation 1940/41. Anyone having fought against the Soviets or being perceived as anti-Soviet could expect arrest, sentences to hard labor in Siberia, or resettlement for having been “kulaks.” The fact that people left only when all hope of stopping the Soviet avalanche was gone is proof that leaving was not taken lightly. People left in the last minute. Still the universal mindset was that departure was only temporary. Most went to Germany, many to Sweden, while thousands perished on the Baltic Sea on their way.
Surviving 1944-1945
The refugees were now in foreign countries. The war was not over, and they had to survive. Those who dared the perilous stormy trip across the Baltic Sea to Sweden in fishing vessels, had perhaps an easier time to find acceptance, as did my stepbrother, but those who escaped to Germany were assigned to serve the German armaments industry (as were my father and my aunt) or forced into the military (as were my uncle and a cousin). All knew that Germany would lose the war and the hope for survival depended on ending up in western allied hands at the conclusion of the hostilities. The refugees did what they could to provide sustenance and shelter for their families. Each family or person coped best they could. Still, while the war lasted, Germans tolerated the refugees since they provided the much needed labor as German men were fighting and dying on all fronts.
Gathering 1945-1950
Everything changed abruptly when the war ended in May of 1945. The Estonians in Germany were no longer needed by the Germans and overnight became just extra mouths to feed and unneeded bodies to house. They were called ”verfluchte Ausländer” (Hated foreigners). The Germans were most encouraging for us to leave. My parents and I hid in a remote Bavarian farm rather than report at the designated collection spot for transportation to the East. Estonian leadership sprung up to protest forcible repatriation by the western victors to our Soviet occupied homeland. The ad hoc delegations lobbied with success the military administrations by explaining the reason of our presence in Germany.
The allied military administration generosity fed us and then provided housing to extract us from the German economy. The category of Displaced Persons (DP) was created to define the refugees eligible for support. My parents were admitted to what used to be German Army barracks near Berchtesgaden. In time the care shifted from military to a UN suborganization for refugees (IRO). DP’s were increasingly collected into larger camps. Geislingen, a city in south Germany became the largest of all-Estonian centers. There 4000 Estonians were housed in duplex houses vacated of German inhabitants for us by the American Military administration.
Spontaneously Estonians in camps formed organized communities with administration, newspapers or newsletters, schools (trade and public), churches, Boy Scouts and theater. YMCA sponsored summer camps were held, confirmations and sports events were organized. For the youngsters this was an exciting time. We were cut off from the rest of the world: from the Germans by a decree issued by our school director and from our homeland by an iron curtain. Thus we were a close community without distraction. However, for the adults it was different. Estonia remained occupied and to stay in Germany was not an option for most. An alternate direction had to be found. Who would take us? The United States’ annual immigration quota for Estonians was 160. Still optimistic men read books how to start chicken farms should they make it into the US. I learned how to create leather art objects besides attending our Geislingen Estonian Gymnasium.
Dispersal 1948-1951
Eventually different countries began taking in DPs. England wanted nurses, Belgians unmarried men to work in coal mines, some went to Australia. My aunt was received by Holland, a country that itself was devastated in the war. United States came last. To apply for entry to the US one could not have been a Nazi, had no communicable diseases and had to have a sponsor who would guarantee that the émigré would not become a burden for the state for two years. This meant that we had to have a job and a place to live in on entry. Now with the help of relatives, friends and religious organizations something like 10,000 refugees were able to enter the US who then promptly dispersed from coast to coast.
Österväg on the way from Sweden to Canada
Parallel to what was happening in West Germany, Estonians in Sweden feared the Soviet friendly policies of their government, and many crossed the ocean in small ships for greater safety. They were called the modern day Vikings. Initially some boats were allowed to enter the US. But when the US closed the doors for them then the subsequent Vikings headed for Canada as did my stepbrother.
The immigrants to the US had to reinvent themselves again. Many who came found the provided jobs often inadequate. All had to find eventually suitable employment despite language and age handicaps. Previous professions were of little help. Many young people did not continue schooling because they needed to earn money for the family.
My parents and I were given a summer cottage to live in near Danbury, Connecticut. Unlike our experience in Germany, in the US the neighbors, teachers and schoolmates were very helpful and sympathetic. To our surprise an Estonian family who had emigrated here before the war sought us out and offered generously furniture and transportation. A member of that family is in our audience here today. Once we got our feet on the ground we sought out other newcomers by word of mouth. Danbury had only a small number of Estonians, perhaps two dozen. The initial gatherings centered on monthly church services. When my parents acquired an apartment, all gathered there for our first Estonian Independence Day celebration. How newcomers gathered and organized themselves in larger will be described by our next speaker, Arne Kalm. But I know that despite New York being 60 miles from Danbury, we participated in activities in the NY Estonian House as soon as we acquired cars. We were also connected to the emerging larger community through the weekly newspaper Vaba Eesti Sõna.
Resistance
The Estonians in the US we were now dispersed in a country 200 times greater than our country of origin. We were immersed in an English speaking community with established institutions, and so gradual assimilation was inevitable for younger folks in order to take advantage of education, job and entertainment opportunities – and to develop friendships and form families. To retain contact with our community church services played a large part. Festivals and the gathering for Independence Day celebrations were important. In larger cities Sunday schools were formed to encourage the use of Estonian language by our youth. Newsletters were started in many communities. US wide political organizations were formed. In my years after college I was preoccupied with my family, my job, and nightschool. I was barely aware that EANC was formed in 1952; the first West-Coast Estonian Days, a biannual event was held in 1955; to coordinate political action between the Baltic nations, JBANC was formed in 1961 just to name a few important ones. The varied ways the communities grew depended on the concentration of people. I am waiting with great interest for Priit Vesilind to complete the book “Estonians in America,” which is sponsored by EANC. So stay tuned!
In Sweden an organization supported incarcerated dissidents in Soviet prisons and their families in Estonia. Many in the US supported that too, including Vello Karuks in Seattle, who knew that as long as registered letters arrived in Soviet prisons the guards treated them better. People sent food and clothing to the relatives of prisoners. Once letters from the west became less dangerous for the recipients in Estonia, non-political letters describing our life gave a moral boost for many.
The core activity became the exposition of the Soviet illegal annexation of Estonia. When the Estonian folk dancers performed at Seattle festivals, we started them by expressing thanks for US policy of non-recognition of Soviet annexations of Estonia. Through the office of then EANC president Juhan Simonson my son had an internship with JBANC to inform US Congress of the Molotov-Ribbendrop pact. While we in the west tried to support the aspirations of Estonians in Estonia, the Soviets tried to create wedges in our communal life through the KGB controlled VEKSA activities. This challenge was met in Seattle though with some pain.
New reality
In the 1980’s the political conditions in Estonia changed. Well before formal independence the traveling to or from Estonia became easier. In 1988 a boys’ choir from Estonia was allowed to visit the US and in 1990 a joint Canadian and American folkdance group and choirs were allowed to participate in the Song and Dance festival in Tallinn. Academics were invited to advise Estonian government officials as the country was reversing the communalization of real estate and economy. The widening of the door meant that we in the West no longer had to depend on our own resources to charge our “Estonian batteries,” but could visit Estonia or invite performers from there to our festivals.
The unintended consequence of us becoming dependent of talent brought in from Estonia was a dilution of efforts to nurture our own cultural resources. For example at the recent ESTO held in San Francisco – ballet was performed by dancers from Tallinn, which was greatly appreciated. However, Lembit Beecher’s miniopera “And then I remember” won first prize in 2010 of Opera Vista’s worldwide contest. This would have been an appropriate substitute. Lembit Beecher ‘s grandmother (Taimi Lepasaare) left Tallinn in 1944 on one of the last ships to depart and thus Lembit is “one of us.”
As a consequence of Estonia regaining independence, our community has gone through a fundamental change. Diminished are the numbers of the activist groups of people who share that common bond of having left their homes as refugees. Their descendants do not always have a “fire in their bellies” to work for Estonian causes, which now has been reduced to retaining our culture and language. But having met earlier today many newly elected EANC council members, we still have many.
The character of our community has changed. Our ranks have been replenished by young people who have immigrated here for job opportunities, to study or be married to an American. They travel back to Estonia often and they get their news via the Internet. Locally they meet mainly to talk in their birth language. The attendance of cultural festivals is steadily shrinking. Our Estonian language newspaper, Vaba Eesti Sõna is struggling to field 1000 copies weekly. Many local newsletters have been discontinued.
This was a survey of our past and thus an accounting how we got here to America and to the present state of our community. Our journey has been successful; we have endured the difficulties since leaving our homeland. We have done what we could to benefit the people and the land that we left behind. But now that less is demanded of us, our active participation in all manners of activities related to Estonia has shrunk. EANC sent out 4400 ballots for the just concluded election of representatives to the EANC council. Only about 20% of the ballots were executed. What do we have to trade off to increase or just retain cohesiveness of our community? Our language? The way we communicate? Are our cultural festivals enough to bind us? Our many incarnations of the past challenge us to reinvent ourselves again. I am looking forward to the comprehensive book of “Estonians in America” that Priit Vesilind is compiling under the sponsorship of EANC. By examining our past we will increase our understanding of the trends in our community and help us through the current transition.
My personal feeling is that the best activities that tie us are those that bring together our youth: folk dancing, choral singing, summer camps, scouting activities to which they can also bring their non-Estonian friends, this all with less reliance on language. I hope that EANC will continue to support all such activities.
A footnote
Thank you, EANC executive committee for choosing me to give this talk. I find it gratifying to look back on my life and see how lucky I have been. My life has been shaped by wise decisions made by my parents, by the help from friends and relatives, the Estonian-American community and by the sympathetic reception of my family by Americans. Some things just happened by luck, others by the choices made by my father. The lucky part is that in 1944 I was old enough to have acquired a sense of my birth country, but yet I was not old enough to be drawn into the conflict. I am sad for the many youngsters who had to leave with only one parent or less and did not have the support that is needed to form an Estonian identity. Of course I am an American now, but whenever I visit Estonia I feel that I am part of it.
Arved Plaks
(Retiring member of the executive committee of EANC)
