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I think it was good for the Soviet Union to break up, and our Estonia to gain independence [18]. Each country should live its life and decide what kind of life it is going to be, and what kind of peoples it is going to have. The war in Chechnya has been going on for quite long [19]. Chechen people simply want to live their life without dictatorship. Why should they not have that opportunity? So much blood has been shed, and will be shed…
Now we are free, but so many people long for the USSR, saying that life was better at that time. Of course, our independence has been newly gained, and we have to learn how to be independent. Anything can happen in such conditions and dishonest people might take advantage of that. We have quite many rich people who came into money dishonestly. Now we find out about that, and it is very unpleasant. Though, contrary to the Soviet times, you can read about everything in the newspapers. Now, I am not very much interested in politics. I understand that they are fighting for power and, frankly speaking, I do not care about that.
Of course, anti-Semitism is there even now. It has been cultivated in peoples’ minds for quite long and it is hard to eradicate it. Unfortunately, it is coming from Russian speaking people in our country. My friend, an Estonian, lives not far from the cemetery. Once, she told me in horror that it was written on a grave in Russian: ‘Death to Jews.’ Those words were deleted, but then the same words were scratched on a bench. Of course, it is terrible. I am sorry for those people. They have poor souls!
Now we are free, but so many people long for the USSR, saying that life was better at that time. Of course, our independence has been newly gained, and we have to learn how to be independent. Anything can happen in such conditions and dishonest people might take advantage of that. We have quite many rich people who came into money dishonestly. Now we find out about that, and it is very unpleasant. Though, contrary to the Soviet times, you can read about everything in the newspapers. Now, I am not very much interested in politics. I understand that they are fighting for power and, frankly speaking, I do not care about that.
Of course, anti-Semitism is there even now. It has been cultivated in peoples’ minds for quite long and it is hard to eradicate it. Unfortunately, it is coming from Russian speaking people in our country. My friend, an Estonian, lives not far from the cemetery. Once, she told me in horror that it was written on a grave in Russian: ‘Death to Jews.’ Those words were deleted, but then the same words were scratched on a bench. Of course, it is terrible. I am sorry for those people. They have poor souls!
Period
Location
Talinn
Estonia
Interview
Ester Khanson