Selected text
To cut a long story short: I became a Komsomol member. As for our school Komsomol leader, he even didn’t get a chance to finish our school. His family became subject to repressions in 1948. When he returned from exile, he became head of the Estonian organization of repressed people, and in the 1990s he was even nominated for election to parliament, and issued flyers with his biography, in which there wasn’t a word that he had been our school Komsomol leader. He has passed away already.
The 1948-49 repressions mostly concerned the farmers. A whole family became subject to resettlement, and they were those called ‘kulak’ in Russia. They were efficient and wealthy farmers. There were many of those in Estonia. Estonia was known for its agricultural products that it exported all over the world. Many farmers from the village where my mother’s relatives lived were resettled. Many villages lost their population. Fortunately, my mother’s brother remained safe.
There were also repressions in towns. Our school principal, a Hungarian, a very decent person, was well respected. He only worked for one year, when we heard that he had been arrested as an ‘enemy of the people’ [20]. It was beyond our understanding how a decent person could be an enemy of the people. This was quite a surprise to us.
The 1948-49 repressions mostly concerned the farmers. A whole family became subject to resettlement, and they were those called ‘kulak’ in Russia. They were efficient and wealthy farmers. There were many of those in Estonia. Estonia was known for its agricultural products that it exported all over the world. Many farmers from the village where my mother’s relatives lived were resettled. Many villages lost their population. Fortunately, my mother’s brother remained safe.
There were also repressions in towns. Our school principal, a Hungarian, a very decent person, was well respected. He only worked for one year, when we heard that he had been arrested as an ‘enemy of the people’ [20]. It was beyond our understanding how a decent person could be an enemy of the people. This was quite a surprise to us.
Period
Year
1948
Location
Estonia
Interview
Ester Vee