12 pages of nonfiction BALTIC book reviews!
WScholarly Journal. O News Magazine. R Nov. 2008. L Vol. DI:1 S From the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) Sociology as a stepping stone A conversation with Piotr Sztompka
Bernd Henningsen The Baltic Sea as a model region Arne Bengtsson
photo: monica strandell Vilnius’ dark holocaust history two essays
susanne lundin: organ Trafficking Max engman: triangular drama during the napoleonic wars 2short takes
A book, a seminar, a blog, and a research project.
Trademarks Humanities in Baltic A unique community from the and a different time worlds time of Catherine the Great outreach in blogs diplomacy Baltic worlds also exist in ”blog worlds”. Johan ”Crossing Perspectives” Selander, respected is the title of a project journalist who contribut- headed by former Danish ed to Svenska Dagbladet Foreign Minister Uffe for many years, has a Ellemann-Jensen, Swedish-language blog, Chairman of the Baltic Södertörn University Library. ”Eye and ear”, where he Development Forum. writes about events and Among other things, An international seminar on the task intellectual experiences the project addresses the and relevance of research in the from the Baltic region, question of how cultural humanities will be taking place at understood broadly. Here tourism can be integrat- Södertörn University on December 1st. one can find, to name ed with economic and ”The humanities are still neglected,” just one example, entries developmental strategies. we read in the invitation. ”At the same from a trip to Wroclaw/ Gammalsvenskby, 100 km from the estuary of the River Dniepr. Central in this context time, the humanities constitute the Breslau. is the notion of ”Baltic- unique space where questions about Selander has been In early October, the archaic Swedish from the 1780s. The ness”, for example, how the entirety of the movement, direction, particularly interested in Swedish Royal Couple rest have switched to Russian, Ukrain- this term can become a values, and priorities of scientific culture the human consequen- visited Gammalsvensk- ian, or German. Swedish traditions brand and a component can be brought to light, interpreted, and ces of the displacements by in Ukraine. For over are nonetheless kept alive. Around of what today is called critically reflected.” of large numbers of 200 years, remnants 1930, an attempt was made to get the public diplomacy, or ”out- people that took place in of a group of Swedes entire population to move to Sweden. reach diplomacy”. From the program: several of the Baltic Sea have lived there – people Of those who took the chance, many Environmental and Simon Critchley, professor of philoso- countries during the 20th descended from those returned, having encountered distrust museum projects are phy at the New School, New York, will century. who, during the time of and prejudice in what for them was part of this effort, which introduce the seminar with a talk about Address: johanselander. Empress Catherine the a foreign country. Once back in the is focused on the areas the humanistic disciplines of the future. blogspot.com ≈ Great, were enticed to USSR, the Soviet security agencies of surrounding the River Irina Sandomirskaja, professor of move from the island of course kept an eye on them. Daugava/Dvina. This Cultural Studies at Södertörn University, Hiiumaa (known in Swed- For a couple of years, research- geographic focus means has chosen to speak under the rubric ish and German as Dagö) ers at Södertörn University, under the that Belarus will also be ”L’engagé: a faculty for unnecessary off the Estonian mainland direction of professor of history, David included. The project has things”. ”The existential turn in the to recently conquered Gaunt, have been surveying the life been administered by the humanities” is the theme addressed Russian territory at the stories and linguistic relationships found Cultural Tourism Institute by Pawel Markowski, a professor of Dnieper River. They were in this unique community. Linguist in Norrköping. literature from Jagiellonska University, promised their own land Aleksander Mankov’s report The scientific anchor Krakow. and exemption from Gammalsvenskby: The Unique from the Swedish side is The seminar is open to the public. taxes. But of the one Multilingual Community can be found Professor Erik Hofrén. To ensure a seat, send an e-mail no thousand people who in the research database at Södertörn In 2009, the project will later than November 15 to emigrated, only a few University. ≈ be presented in book [email protected]. ≈ hundred made it with form. ≈ The City Hall in Wroclaw. their lives intact, and what they found when they arrived was a deso- late steppe region. The population in Gammalsvenskby has never exceeded 800 inhabitants. Today only a few people in the vil- lage — all elderly — speak Swedish, though it is an BALTIC note of intent 3 W O R L D S It was a long way to Liepaja colophon contents
12 pages of nonfiction BALTIC book reviews! reviews ”Occupation” and ”genocide”
S D L R O W Scholarly Journal. News Magazine. Nov. 2008. Vol. I: 1 From the Centre for Baltic and East European Studies (CBEES) 12 in the Baltic area — contested ill : adam ulveson S o c i o l o g y as a stepping concepts. s t o n e A conversation Different opinions on Ignalina with Piotr Sztompka 23 — now and then. How did Finnish researchers B e r n d He n n i n g s e n The Baltic Se a as a model region 16 interact with the Nazi scientific Arne Bengtsson Vilnius’ dark holocaust history community? t w o e s s a y s
SUSANNE LUNDIN: ORGAN TRAFFICKING MAX ENGMAN: TRIANGULAR DRAMA DURING THE NAPOLEONIC WARS features Editor-in-chief Students from Belarus on the Anders Björnsson 04 move — an exile university? Editorial advisory board Holocaust experiences in Rebecka Lettevall, 12 nowaday’s Lithuania. Report When Tomas Tranströmer wrote his poetry suite Bal- Baltic Worlds is now setting out on a Board Chair. CBEES. from a once Jewish Vilnius. tics (Östersjöar, 1974), there was no indication that the voyage that has actually been long an- Sari Autio–Sarasmo, Do we own our bodies? people inhabiting the islands and coastlines of this in- ticipated. The academic collaboration Aleksanteri-Institute. 23 A research project. land sea would be coming into closer contact with each between the Baltic Sea nations has in- Ole Elgström, Lund other. ”Nowhere the lee-side. Everywhere risk”: tensified for every year that has passed University. Michael interview since the end of the Cold War. Research- Gilek, CBEES. Ann- The notion of class is still It deals with places where the citizens are controlled, ers from old and new neighboring states Cathrine Jungar, 11 relevant, says Piotr Sztompka, where thoughts are built with emergency exits, are self-evident participants and sources CBEES. Anu-Mai Köll, Polish sociologist. where a conversation between friends is really a test of of inspiration in the Swedish university Director, CBEES. Thomas what friendship means. environment. Our societies are drawing Lundén, CBEES. Jens essays And when you’re together with somebody you don’t closer, culturally and scientifically. E. Olesen, University Organ trafficking from know well. This creates the obligation to draw of Greifswald. 12 Moldavia. Swedish ethnologist up a statement of accounts. Specialists Editorial staff Susanne Lundin tells. Not only in foreign countries but in the poet’s own Swe- from different disciplines, institutions In this issue: Sven Hort, Can the Baltic attract economic den, as well, a government was spying on its own citi- and fields of activity need a forum where Ann-Louise Martin, 12 and political investment? zens. Baltics was published one year after the so-called they can discover one another, commu- Lucette Nobell, A little war, long past, between IB-affair — the Swedish government’s illegal monitoring nicate with one another. An interested Pontus Reimers, 44 Russia and Sweden. Is there of political affiliations — had shaken public opinion. It public wants to be able to follow the Anna Lena Ringarp, anything to commemorate? was the end of innocence. But repression in the Baltic progress made in fields it can’t easily MarieLouise Samuels- area was unevenly distributed. keep an eye on. son, Nils Johan Tjärn- misc. ”It’s a long way to Liepaja”, Tranströmer wrote. This is why this periodical has been lund. Homosexuality and Swedish historians Kristian Gerner and Klas-Göran launched. The Baltic Sea Foundation is Design 8 masculinity. Karlsson argue that the Baltic Sea could be seen, his- its financier, the Centre for Baltic and Lars Rodvaldr, The many faces of torically, as the Nordens Medelhav (Mediterranean of the East European Studies its publisher. art director, Oktavilla. 23 Aksenov. North) — the title of a book they co-published in 2002. BW has two faces. Half of the content of Lena Fredriksson, What to do with the This perspective forces those dealing with the area to the periodical is meant to be academic Oktavilla. 16 NGOs? abandon ”a territorial determination with clear geo- in nature, supervised by a scientifically Illustrators graphical borders in favor of a definition in terms of and scholarly qualified editorial board. Riber Hansson. Artist The next issue of BW is scheduled to communication structures and networks”. The rest will have the character of high- and political cartoonist. appear April 1, 2009. It is the inten- It was precisely these types of structures and net- quality news reporting, produced by re- Ragni Svensson. Editor- tion of CBEES that within a year it will works that were restored, or opened for the first time, nowned professional writers. ≈ in-chief of the student become a quarterly publication. when the old system in the East collapsed. Many people magazine Victor. in the West were startled to discover new worlds. Some Adam Ulveson. Chair- BW welcomes commentary and were perhaps surprised. Many began to do research. anders björnsson man of the artist collec- critique. Address correspondence to Of course everbody knows that the shallow Baltic poses tive Detroit (Stockholm). [email protected] dangers to the navigator. Phone: +46-(0)8-608 40 00 or +46-(0)73-438 03 39
How do we define what is part of the Baltic Sea? The Dutch, the sea-faring nation, were a Baltic state for many years. 4 essay feature interview reviews
transplants and organ trafficking ill: istockphoto 5
”do we own our bodies, or are we our bodies?”
It was on a Thursday morning that she received ing of the seventeenth-century philosopher Locke. exchange, be spared the relatives. This is the beginning the hospital notification for which she had been waiting ”In the liberal tradition that Locke represented, the of a slippery slope. for half a year. The notice that meant that a kidney was right to ownership meant the right to use something; if In Sweden, the person who donates blood is given awaiting its new owner. A motorcyclist had had a col- one laid claim to and used land, one owned it. But this a few crowns and a cheese sandwich; the sperm donor lision and had been thrown off his motorcycle in such means that one owns one’s body. How else could one does not even get that much. But one should not take an unfortunate way as to break his neck. He had been grasp the hoe, hitch horses to the plough, be able to it for granted that this applies to all Western countries. declared brain-dead when he arrived at the hospital. establish one’s claim to the land — or own anything at Why is it acceptable to buy blood in some countries, This young man was to rescue her to a new life, for all”, says Fredrik Svenaeus. He adds: but not all? her own kidney function had decreased dramatically ”This became a problem for the liberals when they ”In Sweden, the fact that both blood and sperm are during the past year. In the wallet of the dead man lay were forced to take a stance on slavery. It was necessary renewable has influenced the official position. The do- an organ-donor card. Not only his kidneys could be to repudiate the idea that people could sell themselves, nation does not really involve the loss of something that transferred to someone else, but his heart, cornea and even voluntarily, for if they could sell themselves, then affects your health. A kidney — that type of donation by lungs as well. others could buy. I can, to be sure, sell my work power, a living person cannot be reversed”, answers Fredrik It seems so self-evident: one signs a paper that says but not permanently. This amounts to a paradox in the Svenaeus. that one will donate one’s serviceable organs after one’s liberal view on ownership. It was necessary to make an death, and that is all there is to it — it becomes one’s last exception: we own our body but cannot sell it as we can gift, left behind to someone in need. our other possessions. But it is difficult to find a reason But none of this involves the illegal sale of organs, At least, here in Sweden. That is how the medical for declaring someone’s claim to the right to sell his or which is implied in trafficking. Susanne Lundin is pro- and natural sciences view the matter, not least since her body invalid. Another sort of contract is needed.” fessor of ethnology at Lund University, and the ques- 1988 when the concept ”brain-death” was established, tion of trafficking is one of her areas within the research something that opened up new opportunities for trans- project. She will look at what attitudes and practices plants. The alternative is to say: ”I do not own my body, are manifest when one speaks of the body as a commo- But there are other concerns around organ trans- I have another relationship to my body than owner- dity in the different countries to be investigated, with plants than the purely medical and technical. Philoso- ship — I am my body.” an emphasis on Lithuania. Could it be that the many phers, ethicists, jurists and religious scholars have also But how is one one’s body? years of Soviet rule and the subsequent transition to a mused on questions which arise in connection with ”One is one’s lived body, one has corporality even capitalist system have influenced people’s view of the transplants. if one can only wink one eye, and we exist, even think, body? Within Western medicine there is broad agreement through our corporality. No human can lack corporal- ”No one speaks of body organs as resource or com- that the donation is a gift. That is how we would like ity; a non-corporal person would be — a god?” modity, at least not officially, and especially not when it to be. But increasingly refined transplant techniques Fredrik Svenaeus returns to the kitchen table after it comes to one’s own body. But there exists an illegal and a growing demand for organs have heightened the this mental excursion and notes that thinking in terms traffic in organs. In Europe’s poorest country, Moldo- risk that such organs may be viewed as a resource or of ownership makes it difficult to prevent people from va, young men sell their kidneys in order to get a job commodity. This means that there is a greater need selling their organs — if one starts with the right to own- in Russia. The kidney is transported to someone who for more diversified knowledge of bio-medicine within ership, one will never be able to give an adequate an- has ordered it, perhaps in Israel or the Philippines or the humanities. The shortage of organs, not least, has swer to why one must not sell one’s body or any body Japan or — for that matter — anywhere at all. The lad is increasingly appeared on the political agenda — how is organ. And then it can be bought. then told that he will get no money, his stay at the clinic this problem to be handled? How do the concepts ”donation” or ”gift” come to or the care he received there has eaten it all up. He gets At Södertörn University, a project has been initiated elide into contrary concept of ”resource” and, in ex- to return home, short of one kidney, without money with the lengthy title ”The Body as Gift, Resource or treme cases, ”commodity” or ”product”? and without access to the kind of health-care that such Commodity: Organ Transplants in the Baltic Area”. Its ”A state with strong legal powers nourishes the an intervention requires.” leader is Fredrik Svenaeus, professor of philosophy. concept of organs as resource. In China, useful organs Susanne Lundin sighs a little. Poverty changes one’s His working hypothesis is that there may be differences are extracted from condemned prisoners before their perspective when it comes to selling one’s body. And between the Baltic States. execution. But to see organs as commodities is related the buyer? ”It may be that the experience of living in a social- to a perverted, hypertrophied market economy. Capi- ”When it comes to one’s own body, all rules are ist state which has made the transition into a market talism, when unrestrained, flourishes in the impover- voided. It is one thing to have principles, but when one economy may affect people’s view of the body”, says ished Third World. Organ-trafficking happens in coun- is staring death in the eye, moral norms are put aside.” Fredrik Svenaeus. tries like Moldavia, Turkey and Pakistan”, says Fredrik We are sitting at his kitchen table, discussing the Svenaeus. large-scale, four-part project that has just been started. But there is, at the same time, an enormous need Her own engagement in the issue has led her and Fredrik Svenaeus will be researching the philosophical for organs for transplant. Is there not a danger — even a medical colleague to initiate collaboration with the issues and writing the concluding report. Perspectives here in the West — that attempts will be made to influ- Moldovan government for the country’s Victim Pro- culled from cultural history, the history of ideas and ence relatives, so as to make it possible quickly to take gram. (See essay on page 6.) ethnology will be added, where Södertörn University care of the brain-dead patient and thus make sure that One may wonder about the possible influence of re- will collaborate with Lund University. the… ”resource” remain usable? Fredrik Svenaeus ligion on this type of thinking. Brain-death is a concept One of Fredrik Svenaeus’s key concerns is our rela- has already answered this question in an article in the upon which most nations agree, but it was accepted in tionship to our own body. Initially, the question he asks Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet in the Spring Swedish legislation only twenty years ago. One could may sound oddly formulated: ”Do we own our bodies, of 2008. There exist Transplant Coordinators who re- imagine priests pointing an admonishing finger a hun- or are we our bodies?” ceive bonuses according to how many organ exchanges dred years ago, but today even the Pope says OK, albeit In order to fully appreciate the importance of this they manage to coordinate — not in Sweden, perhaps, with many reservations. How can Orthodox Jews, who question, one should know something about the think- but certainly in Spain. The cost of the funeral may, in want to be buried with all their organs intact, still agree
Poverty is the mother of invention. But not all roads to riches are acceptable. 6 essay feature interview reviews
to receive organs? Receive, but not give? And what does the Imam have to say? The Valuable Body. Ulf Görman (professor of ethics and the science of By susanne lundin religion at Lund University) has written a good deal about different religions’ attitudes towards new bio- medical and genetic technologies. There is much activity on the website of Dialysis & the Moldovan capital, Chisinau. In addition, there were ”It is a complex question, not so easy to answer. Is- Transplant City. Here, people with a special interest meetings with various others including teachers, po- lam encompasses both modernists and traditionalists, in transplantation meet. For example, someone with lice officers, and social workers in one of the Moldovan where ‘tradition’ does not always mean referring to the the signature ”Lojackd” places the following adver- villages that is most affected by organ trafficking. written sources, but to just that - traditions. This way tisement: ”I am a potential donor, contact me for This article seeks to provide insight into the crimi- of thinking is to be found in Saudi Arabia, among other arrangements.” ”Babybutterflyblue” is not selling, but nality surrounding one of the largest types of coveted places. The modernist does not turn away from the Ko- rather looking for a kidney, and writes: ”I have heard commodities in short supply — cells, tissues, and vari- ran. Rather, he or she searches — and finds — statements many people suggest looking for a kidney transplant ous types of organs. Connected to the illegal activity that can be used as arguments for, for instance, organ overseas. Many suggested India or the Philippines. and resulting destitution are basic ways of thinking transplants.” Does anyone have any information?” Other special of- that bear on how the organ trafficking takes place. It Is it possible to imagine that attitudes both to one’s fers can be found at www.liver4you.org, which promi- is these connections between people’s sense of them- own body and to organ donations might change with ses kidneys at a price of between $80,000 and $110,000 selves, their ideas about the body, and social relations an increase in Muslim immigration to the old Eastern — which includes both the operation and the fees of the that are the focus of this discussion. European countries? surgeons, who are licensed in the U.S., Great Britain, or ”Certainly. We will see changes in several different the Philippines. directions. There may be an increase in conservative The development of organ transplantation technol- The trade in organs follows a clear pattern that voices; but Muslims integrated in the West may, on the ogy is an extraordinary achievement that has saved the can be described in terms of a social but also a geogra- other hand, take different stances. There will be more lives of many, but which also has created an endless phical flow. Organs are retrieved from poor countries discussion, not only in this area. During the past ten need for body parts. Globally, the need for transplant- such as Argentina, Brazil, India, Moldova, and Russia years, more and more religious arguments have been ed organs is outstripping the availability of organs. In to be transplanted into people from richer countries heard in the debate”, says Ulf Görman Europe alone, 60,000 people were waiting for a new such as Israel, the United States, Germany, Great Bri- This is not the first time humanists attack issues re- kidney in 2007. It is to these people that www.liver4y- tain, and Japan. The operations take place in yet other lated to organ transplants, but this project differs in the ou.org and other intermediaries target their offers to countries — for example in the Philippines, Turkey, or sense that it tries actively to combine knowledge from bypass hospital waiting lists. Highly qualified care and a country in South America. It is not surprising, then, different perspectives — the illegal trade in organs, the complete legality are promised. The recurring guaran- that it is people from rich countries who buy the or- legal transfer of organs, historical parallels with the tees about lawfulness should be seen in the context of gans and people in poor countries who sell them. sterilization laws of the twentieth century, and a phil- the emerging market in organs. The market includes This structure becomes obvious after an examina- osophical elucidation of our concepts of personhood both a kind of organ trafficking where people sell their tion of what takes place on Internet websites as well and body. The ethics of organ transfers – are they clear organs, which then, via so-called organ brokers, are as in the ”real” world. Some of these people — far from to us, considering the rapid changes that modern bio- sold to a third party, as well as what is known as medi- www.liver4you.org and the discussions on Dialysis & medicine has engendered? Body parts as a gift – is it cal tourism, which exists in a legal gray area. Transplant City — who have already sold or are about to really that simple? According to the WHO, around 50,000 kidney sell organs are in Moldova. Moldova, which since 1991 ”Yes, given that one takes the perspective that one is transplants that can be traced to medical tourism take has been an autonomous republic bordering Ukraine one’s lived body”, responds Fredrik Svenaeus. place each year, of which thousands are estimated to and Romania, was, in the Soviet era, the main supplier What does this perspective say about exchanging involve kidneys obtained via illegal trade 1. One of the of wine, vegetables, and fruit to other Soviet republics. body parts? more high profile cases in recent times is discussed in Today, the country is destitute, and of its approxima- ”The difference between your body and mine is not the report from 2006, by former Canadian Secretary of tely 4 million inhabitants, around 1 million have had to as great — the gift idea becomes more valid, we are in the State, Asia-Pacific, David Kilgour, and Canadian lawyer leave the country in order to find work.4 In many cases, world, together, as lived bodies. The gift is so strange, it David Matas, on a large scale theft of organs in China 2. the work done abroad involves illegal activities — black can never be reciprocated, it is given without any after- The kidneys of imprisoned practitioners of Falun Gong labor and prostitution, but also the selling of organs. thought of repayment, it is the finest thing that one can were taken and sold at high prices. The WHO’s ongoing People in the countryside, the agricultural regions that do for another human being.” survey of the global trade in organs indicates a rapid ex- previously were relatively prosperous, are particularly Advances in bio-technology have meant that trans- pansion of organ trafficking in Asia and South America. affected. The countryside is also where organ brokers plants today involve technological know-how at a level But, of course, trade in organs is not restricted by geo- go to try to entice people to sell their kidneys. For it never before experienced. And yet one may feel that graphic boundaries but flourishes wherever economic is largely kidneys that are the most internationally the idea of moving body parts is really quite primitive misery and governmental corruption exist. In recent marketable biological commodity, the main reason in its way. years, the WHO and others have received reports that being — and this is also one of the brokers’ recruitment ”It is quite possible that this will be seen as a mere the trade in organs is increasing primarily in the former pitches — that people have two kidneys but can get by parenthesis in the future. One catches glimpses of fu- Soviet states. It is this that is the focus of my article. My with just one. ture chances to do alternative things, like create organ empirical starting point is Moldova — a republic which banks. To me, growing organs from the patient’s own is one of Europe’s poorest countries and which has 3 On a sweltering cells seems completely ethically acceptable.” ≈ been greatly affected by organ trade . In August 2008, morning in August, I am with the I did fieldwork in Moldova that was part of a pilot study Moldovan association, the Renal Foundation, in a vil- for a newly started project on trafficking in Eastern Eu- lage in Orhei, about 60 kilometers from the capital, ann-louise martin rope. My data consists of interviews and discussions Chisinau, to participate in a discussion with teachers, with people from the Renal Foundation, the Center for doctors, the head of the post office, police, and others MSc. For 25 years, worked in the Arts and the Prevention of Human Trafficking, the Organization from the region.5 The Renal Foundation organizes re- Science Department at the Swedish Radio. for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OECD), the gular meetings with key people in rural areas in order Previously, researcher (limnologist) at IVL International Organization for Migration (IOM), as well to prevent organ trafficking, but also to provide help (Swedish Environmental Research Institute). as discussions with doctors at the transplant clinic in for those already affected via their ”victim program”. 7
Org a n Tr a ffick i ng i n E aste r n Eu rope .
The meeting that morning is rather intense, and the themselves as victims than men in the same situation . 8 here in Moldova, and still believe, though we know it’s participants sometimes interrupt one another in order Men — be it men who were sexually exploited or men no longer true, that the State shall provide us with that to get their views across. From my partner in the Re- who were deceived by organ brokers — try not to end which is our right, such as calling us in for our regular nal Foundation, who is interpreting for me, I learn that up taking on the role of the victim, a role that leads to check-ups, giving us work, telling us it is time to go on the participants at the meeting agree that a great many very different experiences of humiliation than those vacation”.11 Perhaps it is these supposed rights of the people in the village have sold a kidney. For many of experienced by women. Some of the male organ sell- individual that — regardless of the repression exercised them, what happened was the following: They were ers say they see themselves as ”worse than prostitutes, by the Soviet dictatorship — contribute to the reluctan- contacted by an organ broker who promised large sums since we can never get back what we have sold” 9. ce of Moldovan men who sell their organs to let them- of money and described the operation as routine, and selves be defined as victims. Ultimately, these feelings with no risk for medical complications. The operations of shame and unwillingness to be identified make it are carried out in Turkey, and after approximately two In order to get an understanding of how the per- difficult to understand how widespread organ brokers’ days, the organ sellers return to Moldova. They earn ception of the individual — male or female — can have networks and activities really are.12 on average $2,500, or much less, since the promised different implications for organ trafficking, it is useful sum is often reduced, and, moreover, they must live for to compare other affected areas. It turns out that in the rest of their lives with the sequelae that result from the Philippines, just like in Moldova, certain parts of On the international stage, there is consensus the absence of follow-up care. Other examples are men villages or cities have become ”organ seller regions” that the exploitation of the body is something that can- who have been enticed to Istanbul with the promise of and that the trade occurs because family members not be permitted. There are a number of recommen- a job by so-called agents. Over several weeks, they are share their contacts .10 In contrast to Moldova however, dations and statutory prohibitions against all forms of held under lock and key, and in the end learn that there male organ sellers in the Philippines don’t hesitate to trafficking in body parts. For example, the European is, in fact, no job waiting for them. However, getting talk about their experiences. One can speculate about Council decided that, in light of the massive demand home is not so easy, since the agent demands money whether the historical experiences of belonging to a for organs, there is an obvious need to ”defend the for travel and living expenses. Payment is made in the culture marked by colonial domination and oppres- rights and freedom of individuals as well as thwart the form of a kidney.6 This pattern is confirmed by the ex- sion leads people — regardless of gender — to identify commercialization of body parts”.13 Furthermore, in perience that the Renal Foundation, as well as the IOM, more readily with the role of the victim than those in 2008, the Transplantation Society and the Internatio- has had in other villages. It turns out that many of these societies with a different history. One of my contacts at nal Society of Nephrology drafted a directive to combat people, the sellers, also fall victim to depression and the IOM says that ”in our minds, we are all still Soviets the trade in organs.14 The directive has been accepted alcoholism. The complications of the operation are ap- parently not only physical: the individual’s self-image and basic sense of self are also affected.
Towards the end of the meeting, there is some commotion. Through my interpreter, I learn that the group has decided to ask one of the organ sellers to contact the Renal Foundation and their Victim Pro- photo: sus a nn e L un d in gram and the boisterous discussions concern whether it will be possible to persuade this person to come to the meeting. ”Everyone in the village knows”, as my partner in Renal Foundation says, ”who the ones are who have sold a kidney, but they also know that these people do not want to make themselves known”.7 The villagers — as well as my contacts at the Renal Foundation, the IOM, and the OECD — agree that it is primarily men who sell their organs. These are poor men, aged 18 to 30, who are trying to create an eco- nomically tolerable life for themselves and their fami- lies. Instead, they are deceived in two ways: they re- ceive a lifelong blow to their health, and the economic gain proves to be insignificant. To have fallen victim to a twofold deception of this sort makes the men feel ashamed — which ultimately results in their not wanting to talk about what happened to them. There is much evidence to suggest that these feelings of humiliation involve not only material and physical vulnerability, but also a sense of there having been an attack on their gender identity. One of my contacts at the IOM, a psychologist who has met many victims of both sexual trafficking and organ trafficking, points out that it is often easier for women who have become sexual commodities to see
Everyone knows but few want to be known. Negative fame. 8 by the WHO and is expected to be significant interna- rity of individuals and the objectification of the human on trafficking in human organs worldwide. http://www.gtz.de; tionally. Nonetheless, there is much to suggest that di- body is to legislate that transplants shall be based on al- N. Sheper-Hughes, ”Parts unknown: Undercover ethnography rectives of this kind are not enough. One reason is that truism. In Sweden, as in most other countries, financial of the organ-trafficking underworld”,Ethnography 2004: 5. 4 Swedish Institute for International Affairs’ country database, the criminal networks and the different links in the pro- compensation for organs is thus prohibited.17 Trans- Landguiden — Länder i fickformat Online
the socialist systems. Homosexual men The material is from contemporary earn more than men, and can be regar- Powerless have also experienced difficulties when Lithuania, and is based largely on inter- ded as the main breadwinner in half of it comes to revealing their particular views with men in both categories. all Lithuanian families. In today’s Lithua- Men disposition. They are often forced to ”The pain the workers experienced nia, there are five times as many chro- Male workers adapt to a tough heterosexual norma- because of their dethronement was nic alcoholics among men as among in post-Soviet tivity or even take over a macho way often so traumatic that they found it women, the suicide rate is five times societies have of behaving in order to avoid detection difficult to verbalize it”, says Tereskinas. higher in men than in women, and the often gotten the and ostracism. In this group, as well, They remained silent, and suffered. average life expectancy is twelve years short end of the there is much pain and suffering be- Their income situation was precarious; less (65 years vs. 77). stick in the eco- cause of the shame of being regarded most had illegal jobs, without any kind nomic and social as ”abnormal”, different. of social security. Their superiors had For the gay men, the humiliation con- game, and they In both cases one can speak of nothing but contempt for them, and sists rather in overcompensating their themselves sense powerlessness – of something that has often didn’t even say hello to them. masculinity, wearing a social mask. For Stachanov — the their own desti- been lost, and something that feels very They felt marginalized, and understood these men, liberation from the Soviet super-hero of work tution. They feel remote, that is: being respected for the quite well that they could be replaced system has in fact gone too slowly. in the Soviet Union. ashamed of their person one is. at any time. Lithuania was the slowest of the free lost masculinity, They quite simply experienced a Baltic states to abolish punishment for not only in public life, but also in their These are some of the conclusions of great injustice, as one informant put it. homosexual acts (1993), and the preju- own families. In many cases, they have a research effort by Arturas Tereskinas, For them, state socialism might have dices from the Soviet era remain. ≈ ceased being the breadwinners. Their from Vytautas Magnus University in meant a smaller degree of humiliation in decline is all the greater since men from Lithuania, presented at a seminar at everyday life. the working class had been heroes in Södertörn University in the early fall. According to statistical data, women 9 Left to remember? The network of Cold War memorial sites in the Baltic region
n May 27, 2008, a rather vious — likewise with the places where in Poznán and Gdynia, parliamentary Despite objections involving exact unusual seminar was held executions were carried out, and per- representation in Vilnius (which is as- boundaries and definitions, the issue at Humboldt University’s haps even the bomb shelters from the sociated rather with the end of the Cold of memorials and relics of the Cold War O Department for Northern time when there was a very real threat War, with an almost bloodless transition is important. Far too much has been European Studies. Two gentlemen of nuclear war. But is Brezhnev’s house to an initially warm peace). destroyed, deliberately or through from Western Pomerania, Rainer Stom- in Palanga, Latvia, or a supermarket There are several aspects to the issue neglect, and much else may have to be mer and Andreas Wagner, presented a for the Communist nomenklatura and of preservation. Many of the facilities destroyed in order not to pose a danger. collective project about the Cold War foreign ”dollar tourists” part of the clus- are gigantic, and constructed with However, aging relics and memorials memorial sites in the Baltic region. For ter of Cold War phenomena? Isn’t this outdated technologies, which in many have a tendency to be neglected and a Swedish audience, the period is filled rather a function of the ”real socialism” cases makes them difficult to maintain, thus disappear, both from the lands- with memories of the everyday life of of Soviet society? Is the gigantic Prora especially if they are to be open to the cape and from our memories. The the ”folkhem” (the Swedish welfare on the Rügen, which was built for the public. In other cases, the memory itself network is currently seeking contacts in state, literally: ”home of the people”), Nazi Kraft durch Freude movement, is controversial. The Bronze Soldier the research world, where people from along with a few unpleasant incidents, but which was taken over by the armed of Tallinn can be seen as a historical several different disciplines may be in- but for the country’s neighbors, the forces of the DDR, part of the Cold War? relic, a tribute to a hero, or a symbol of terested in the many aspects of the time time was filled with looming danger. Absolutely, but it points to how the Cold oppression. For self-evident reasons, that many might prefer to forget. ≈ The Cold War left behind no battlefield War has roots in a hot war, a connection the various countries bordering the or cities in ruins. But the marks dug into which of course by no means should be Baltic have different orientations to thomas lundén the countryside are deep, and in many ignored. history — and in Germany, moreover, Professor of Human Geography at cases startling. This is not a place to there are two dividing lines, a historic Södertörn University which war tourists make a pilgrimage, one dividing the Nazi period from the there are no people playing soldier, en- The brochure also mentions post-Nazi period, and one rooted in the gaging in battle reenactments. memorials and buildings associated geographic division into two states. It References The memories of the Cold War are with the zeitgeist. The Bronze Soldier is thus perhaps not surprising that the Brochure: Historically valuable installations and something else entirely, and they them- of Tallinn actually belongs to periods debate about memorial sites is parti- sites from the Cold War period. Langeland’s selves are quite varied: giant under- both before and after the Cold War, cularly heated in Germany. Netzwerk Museum and the Initiative Group. December ground facilities with discreet entran- and even if the Stalinist architecture, Erinnerungsorte aus der Zeit des Kalten 2006 Netzwerk Erinnerungsorte aus der Zeit des Kal- ces, such as the Swedish radar stations with its ornaments rich with Soviet Krieges is working to broaden interest ten Krieg im Ostseeraum. http://polmem-mv.de. and bomb shelters; secluded Soviet mo- symbolism, belongs to the Cold War in Germany and strengthen contacts Contact: Rainer Stommer (Prora Zentrum e.V) del cities, such as Sillamäe in Estonia, era and is worth preserving, one may with similar organizations around the Andreas Wagner which is like a sanatorium in Crimea, wonder whether these artifacts are as- Baltic Sea (as well as in Norway, which but whose purpose is to gather together pects of a more general world history. in the Cold War context definitely took the nuclear war skills and knowledge The network also lists the locations of the position of an advocate of peace in of the Soviet military; touched up Nazi important events, the riots/uprisings the region). facilities, placed within the armed forces of the DDR against an enemy in the West; earthen huts with covered en- trances — the desperate attempt of the Prora. A Nazi and, later, condemned Baltic Forest Brothers to Communist vacation hold out in anticipation of help from the paradise on the Isle of outside which never came. Rügen — a previous Swedish possession.
Starting with an initiative of the Museum of Langeland in Denmark, located at a fortification from the era, a network of interested parties has formed to call for the preservation of memories from a time when the Baltic Sea would be ”a sea of peace”, but when forces on either side — and few in the middle — prepared for the worst. What constitutes a Cold War me- mory is of course open to discussion. Examples are given in a brochure pu- blished by the initiators. Facilities that are clearly military would of course count, for instance the remains of a Soviet missile base in Lithuania, and the underground forts. When it comes to civilian buildings, the connection to the Cold War is often weaker. In the case of Sillamäe, the connection is ob- 10
A BALTIC WORLDS feature Separate worlds In Vilnius ”Juden raus” is heard on streets that saw the Yiddish culture bloom and die.
Zemaitijos Gatve was part of the old ghetto. Here the Holocaust is still an open wound between Jews and Lithuanians. Separate essays feature interview reviews 11 worlds Darkness had fallen over Vilnius, but in Geliu Street a woman continues to sweep autumn leaves with her birch broom. Summer is definitely over, the trees have faded and the side- walk becomes lifelessly clean in the dull gleam of the street lights.
On the other side of the street stands a dilapidated brick edifice that no one would have noticed had it not been for the sheen of the street light falling on a worn, sheet-metal copula. The despoiled house on the slope leading down to Pylimo Street was once a well-known synagogue. The old woman sweeps up leaves in a quarter that has seen the Yiddish culture bloom and die. To wander down Geliu in the evening dusk, to enter onto Pylimo, turn off towards Rudninkai, cross over to Mesiniu, cross German Street and step through the old gate leading into Jewish Street is to wander through world history. These quarters made up the heart of East European Jewry. Once it was said that one should go to Lodz if one wanted to make money and to Vilnius if one want- ed wisdom. Vilnius was alive with people versed in the Scriptures. According to legend, the city had 333 learned men who all knew by heart the Jewish scripts of wisdom, the 64 volumes of the Talmud. In actuality Vilnius had more than one hundred syn- agogues and houses of worship, and dozens of schools for rabbis. Old paintings and photographs of Zydu Gatve ( Jewish Street) and Stikliu Gatve (Glass-Blowers’ Street) with their crowds of people, shops and colon- nades make one think of quarters in Jerusalem’s Old Town.
An 1897 census of Vilnius’s population shows that the city then had 63,831 Jewish inhabitants, making up more than 40 percent of the population. Now it is quiet and empty on Jewish Street. I see only a couple of youths walking their dogs on the stretch of grass where the Strashun Library once was. This was the heart of Vilnius’s rich intellectual Jewish life. Do the photo: arne bengtsson youths have any idea that they walk on holy ground? Do they realize that behind the library stood one of 12 essays feature interview reviews
Europe’s most sacred Jewish edifices, the magnifi- Its history ought to make Vilnius a bulwark against ”In the Soviet era, everyone was taught the equal cent Grand Synagogue that dated back to the 1630s, a neo-Nazism and xenophobia. But between the more value of all Soviet citizens. Today Lithuanian society Renaissance building in stone that could hold nearly than century-old buildings of the town’s proud and finds it difficult to accept its own multiculturalism, with four thousand people, and which had a magnificent ark newly renovated grand boulevard, Gediminas, an respect to its history, culture, and social life. One rea- in which the scripture rolls were kept? alarming echo can be heard: ”Juden raus, raus, raus.” son might be that deep down in the hearts and minds What was left of Jewish culture and of the Jewish In March 2008, on Lithuania’s national holiday, a of people there are layers of Catholic teaching, which quarter after the Nazis’ devastation was shortly there- couple of hundred Lithuanian right-wing extremists has historically been predominant and therefore lacks after razed by the Soviet Communists — among other marched through the old capital of Yiddish culture experience sharing its existence with others”, Ruta Pu- things, the ruins of the synagogue. In its place stands chanting ”Out with the Jews” in Hitler’s language. The isyte says. a day-care center, Soviet gray. On the other side of Jew- march lacked public authorization, but the police did Fanja Brancovskaja works as a guide for visitors ish Street lies a basketball field. Most often it is desolate not prevent it. to the Poneriai forest as well as to Vilnius’s old ghet- and the baskets have no nets. This district was demol- to quarter, where she as a teenager joined the Jewish ished in order to admit light and air, but in vain. It is dif- partisans who fought the Nazis. When the ghetto was ficult to breathe here, and a dark historical shadow lies ”This is not the first time”, says Fanja Brancovskaja emptied in September 1943, the then 21-year-old Fanja, over the desolate courtyards around Zydu Street. dryly when I ask about her reaction to the Nazi march. together with a friend, managed to get out before Ger- If one walks along Jewish Street towards the north- The 86-year-old woman is hardened. She knows the man soldiers surrounded the quarter. east, one crosses Glassblowers’ Street, which once, in deepest meaning of ”Juden raus”. Her family was trans- ”I fled down the stairs and out through the yard”, the Jewish heyday, teemed with craftsmen and market ported out of Vilnius’s ghetto and exterminated. she says, as we stand outside the house where she saw stalls. Nowadays one finds some of Vilnius’s most beau- ”Are anti-Jewish sentiments growing in Lithuania?” her family for the last time. tiful hotels, guest houses and shops in this intersection. I wonder. On her way out of Vilnius she saw the Germans close Charmingly renovated, they almost conceal the area’s ”It may be the case”, answers Fanja Brancovskaja in on the ghetto, whose inhabitants were to be led away cruel history. The Lithuanian author Tomas Venclova defiantly. and exterminated. has stated that this quarter is generally liked, ”but actu- She is an old partisan, and I can imagine her telling After having fled, Fanja and her friend made it to the ally is our national shame”.1 off a neo-Nazi, more or less as Astrid Lindgren did in partisans in the Rudninkai forest outside of the city. This quarter is where the heart of East European the famous picture where she pulls at a skinhead’s sus- Here Fanja participated in the fight against the German Jewry used to beat, but it also contained the portal to pender. But some of Fanja Brancovskaja’s old friends occupation forces as a member of Battalion Mstitel the Holocaust — Vilnius’s two ghettos. The Nazis’ sys- from the ghetto era are fearful. There are those who (Avengers). In July 1944, the Germans were driven from tematic extermination of Europe’s Jews started here. now regret having stayed in Lithuania after independ- Vilnius. There is a sad tone to Vilnius’s lure and seductiveness. ence rather than going abroad. In the spring of 2008, Lithuanian newspapers ac- Ruta Puisyte, who is Assistant Director of the Yid- cused Fanja Brancovskaja of having committed war Vilne, Vilne, undzer heymshtot, dish Institute at Vilnius University, believes that nega- crimes as a partisan. On the basis of this information, Undzer benkshaft un bager. tive attitudes towards minorities are gaining strength the public prosecutor launched an investigation. in Lithuania. ”Here they write all sorts of nonsense in the newspa- Vilnius, Vilnius, our hometown, ”Some 18 years ago I could not imagine that some- pers. It is not true!” says Fanja Brancovskaja. Our hope and our comfort. body would celebrate Lithuanian Independence Day By then 83 individuals had been questioned as wit- by marching through the capital’s main boulevard with nesses. Thus went the Yiddish song among people who for ge- swastikas and slogans like ’Juden raus’ and ’Russians Rimvydas Valentukevicius is Chief Prosecutor at the nerations had found security here. But the words were go away’.” Department of Special Investigations at the Office of to change and the music was to turn into nameless the Prosecutor General of Lithuania. He rejects all al- despair: legations of politically motivated investigations. There are about three thousand Jews in Vilnius ”We are investigating criminal activities, which S’firn vegn tsu Ponar tsu, today, less than one percent of the city’s population. could be crimes against humanity. The information has S,firt keyn veg tsurik. One of them is 28-year-old Arnon Finkelstein, whose to be checked. It is a normal procedure. I see nothing grandmother survived the Kaunas Ghetto. political in that”, he says. All roads lead to Poneriai, ”I believe that 99 percent of those in the march have Chief Prosecutor Valentukevicius finds it strange There is no way back.2 not met a Jew, but they still hate us”, he says. that he gets so many questions from foreign journalists Arnon Finkelstein is disturbed by the inaction of the about Yitzhak Arad and Fanja Brancovskaja. police at the illegal demonstration. ”Why is there so much interest in them? Is it only be- It was in Poneriai outside of Vilnius that the city’s ”But the most shocking thing was that the politi- cause they are Jewish? We have many different nation- Jews were exterminated. Here the pits of death and me- cians did not react. They are thinking of the coming alities in our investigations — Lithuanians, Belarusians, morials fill the forest. More than 100,000 people were elections.” Ukrainians, a few are Jewish. But everyone is equal be- murdered here, around 70,000 of these were Lithua- Not until there had been international reactions did fore the law”, says Valentukevicius. nian Jews. It is estimated that 94 percent of Lithuania’s President Valdas Adamkus speak up, while other lead- But the world sees Lithuania’s inability or unwilling- almost 220,000 Jews were killed in the Holocaust. This ing politicians more or less tried to smooth it over, or ness to deal with its Nazi criminals as a fundamental means that Lithuania probably lost a greater propor- blamed ”Russian provocation” against Lithuania. problem. The Jews ask: Are the victims to be persecut- tion of its Jews than any other European country that To condemn anti-Semitism does not win votes in ed while the perpetrators go free? was occupied by Nazi Germany.3 Lithuanian society. The Lithuanian-Jewish Professor Irena Veisaite has
Yiddish Professor Dovid Katz speaks about a ”witch-hunt” against former Jewish partisans like 86-year-old Fanja Brancovskaja. She survived the ghetto in Vilnius after having been driven from her home near the synagogue in Pylimo Street.
Multiculturalism: Is it a curse? It is difficult to give weight to minorities. essays feature interview reviews 13
Ruta Puisyte from Vilnius Yiddish Institute documents the story of a Jewish Holo- caust survivor in Ukraine. photo: the y i dd ish institute pointed out that the Holocaust hardly figures in the col- Around 200,000 Jews Lithuanian guerrilla movement’s fight against the So- lective memory of ethnic Lithuanians.5 Baltic people viet regime, i.e. Soviet militia. were not transported to the ghetto and gas chambers were murdered, but only In Sweden, the Forum for Living History has been but rather to KGB’s torture-chambers and Siberia’s criticized for its concentration on crimes against hu- work camps. For them, the long years of Soviet repres- three Lithuanians have manity under Communist regimes, but the Forum sion have overshadowed the memory of Nazi domina- been prosecuted for has in the past at least ventured into a comprehensive tion. The Gulag overshadowed the Holocaust. investigation of the Holocaust. In Lithuania, the Holo- Since its independence in 1991, Lithuania has there- their participation in this caust has never really been properly raised as an issue. fore taken much greater pains to hunt down Soviet war crime, and none has For half a century, the Lithuanians received no criminals than Lithuanian citizens involved in the mur- schooling in Jewish history. Under the Soviet regime, der of Jews. Around 200,000 Jews were murdered, but served time in jail. Jewish cultural and religious life was circumscribed. only three Lithuanians have been prosecuted for their Jews were being discriminated against and in some participation in this crime, and none has served time are trying to shirk their responsibility for the Holocaust cases persecuted. Their fate was practically eliminated in jail. Instead, it appears that the Office of the Public by means of a campaign within the European Union. He from history teaching. The Holocaust was made into Prosecutor spends its time and resources investigating condemns the current discussion in the EU Parliament, the murder of innocent ”Soviet citizens”, ordinary vic- whether Jewish survivors committed war crimes after initiated by, among others, Baltic representatives, with tims of fascism and Nazism. Some generations of school they had managed to flee the ghetto. the aim of finding a definition of genocide that can be children and students in Lithuania grew up without used for both Nazi and Communist crimes. gaining real knowledge of the Holocaust. Andrius Ku- ”Throw out the misguided and underhanded mix- bilius, former Prime Minister, has stated that he, until Dovid Katz is Academic Director of the Vilnius Yid- and-match Nazi-Soviet declarations”, is professor 1990, had been ignorant of the fact that there had been dish Institute and professor of Yiddish language, lite- Katz’s advice. a Jewish ghetto in Vilnius. rature and culture at Vilnius University. He talks about A couple of the Lithuanian institutions that Katz a ”witch-hunt” against former Jewish partisans, which criticizes are the International Commisson mentioned is part of a greater political process, one that Katz has above and the Lithuanian government’s Genocide and Ruta Puisyte was brought up in such igno- dubbed the ”Holocaust Obfuscation Movement”. Resistance Research Center. The official objectives of rance. Her journey in life was to become symbolic of ”It cunningly seeks to minimize or deny the Holo- the Research Center are to ”establish historical truth Lithuania’s long and painful journey towards the truth caust via the mechanical, automatic, and frequently and justice”, but, as a symptom of its one-sided re- about the Holocaust. devious juxtaposition of Communism with fascism.” search and information, Katz quotes the fact that the Research on the extermination of Jews got a gingerly ”No other genocide has had the same scope as the Center’s show window displays 18 books devoted to start in independent Lithuania. Its pioneers had to fight Holocaust”, says Katz. He is convinced that the efforts Soviet crimes and 2 devoted to various aspects of the against ignorance, prejudice and open hostility when to equate Nazi and Soviet crimes is meant to relativize, Holocaust. they began collecting material from the abundance of minimize and, in the end, ”spin-doctor away” the mur- In November 2007, the Genocide and Resistance Re- sources that had become available. Ruta Puisyte extols der of the region’s entire Jewish population. search Center arranged the exhibition War after War those who chose to take up the fight.6 According to Katz, several Eastern European nations at the Army Museum in Stockholm. It presented the ”The results of the Holocaust research were like 14 essays feature interview reviews
islands: The publication of new documents here, an ocaust was not prioritized as a research subject. The able”, says Simon Davidovich, Director at the Sugihara article there, an interview. It was far from being a com- suffering of the Lithuanian people in Soviet exile was Museum in Kaunas, which is dedicated to the Japanese plete picture”, says Ruta Puisyte. given priority. She also faced a certain hostility, which diplomat who, in the same spirit as Raoul Wallenberg, was expressed in private with a comment about Jews saved thousands of Jews from the Holocaust. being ”Stalin-lovers who started the Communist revo- But the change in attitude is an extremely slow proc- One of the pioneers was a retiree, a former lawy- lution”. ess. When the topic of World War II comes up, Lithua- er, who developed an interest in the fate of the Jews in Due to the resistance she met at the KGB archives, nian media are more often subjective (anti-Jewish) his own home town. He wrote a paper on the subject, Ruta Puisyte had to switch from Holocaust research in a than objective. In the schools, both the Holocaust and which he presented in 1996. Ruta Puisyte was present specific region. Instead she chose to write her Master’s the Gulag are supposed to be taught, but in reality the at the presentation, and subsequently began searching thesis on psychological portraits of local perpetrators. crimes of Communism dominate. for literature on the Holocaust in Lithuania. She found She received a poor grade on the finished thesis. The former partisan Fanja Brancovskaja has lectured that most of the available material was in English and to For two years, during her Master’s program, she had about the Holocaust in German and Austrian schools, be found at the Jewish Museum. been an intern at the Jewish Museum. This, the univer- but she has not been asked to do so in Lithuania. Soon ”I read every book I found on their shelves. It had a sity did not appreciate. there will be no survivors left to do this. In any event, depressing effect on me. In the moral sense, I somehow ”But I wanted the witnesses, the living history”, says they would not find it easy to do so in Lithuania, where realized that I, who belong to the third post-Holocaust Ruta Puisyte. they risk being accused of having Soviet affiliations. generation, am connected to those people, the perpe- She felt closer to the Holocaust survivors, who could ”Soviet tanks, which fought the Nazis, did liberate trators, as a Lithuanian and as part of this nation. I can- teach her something about her subject, than to the pro- the handful of remaining Jews, whether they were in not get away from the fact that this is my heritage too. fessors, who were just on the verge of learning the pain- Auschwitz, in the Rudninkai forest or hiding in the It was a relief to know that neither of my grandfathers ful truth. ghettos. Are Lithuanians ready to forgive the Jews this had gotten involved in the shooting of Jews. They were ”Anti-Soviet partisans and Nazis got rid of the Red ’guilt’?” Ruta Puisytes asks rhetorically. both simple men, like those who did get involved. They Army. But within a week or so, the same people, the Irena Veisaite is a linguist and professor of the his- could have grabbed a gun, as others did.” same hands, the same rifles turned against the Jews. tory of theater. She is a member of the Board of Direc- Ruta Puisyte decided to concentrate her research Archival documents and testimonies prove it. They tors of the Soros-supported foundation Open Society on events taking place in her father’s native town, Jur- murdered civilians. They could not be heroes! During in Lithuania. She has had to fight against anti-Semitism barkas, which is located near the border with the for- those years, this fact was difficult to accept, not only for her whole life and is the only one in her family who sur- merly German East Prussia, now Kaliningrad. Hitler’s ordinary people but for university professors as well”, vived the Holocaust. Before the ghetto in Kaunas was troops invaded Soviet Lithuania from across the East Ruta Puisyte points out. cleared out, she was saved by a Catholic Lithuanian Prussian border on June 22nd 1941. One week later, on woman, Stefanija Ladigien, who had six children of her July 3rd, the mass murder of Jurbarkas’s Jewish popula- own. This woman took in Irena as part of the family. tion began. She was a solitary student who did not have ac- ”We did not know that Irena was a Jew”, her stepsis- In her Bachelor’s thesis, Ruta Puisyte named almost cess to the whole historical account. But the facts that ter Marija Ladigait tells me. 700 of the more than 1,900 Jewish victims in Jurbarkas. she had uncovered had shaken her. And society’s reac- For reasons of security, the children were kept ig- But she also named more than 30 local perpetrators, tion was disappointing. norant of Irena’s background. They were merely told including a few high school students. In Lithuanian his- ”Among other things, there was an apologizing ap- to treat her like a sister. A disclosure outside the home torical research this was novel, and it provoked strong proach to the Holocaust at the Genocide Center. Some could have led to death at the hands of the Nazi occupi- reactions.7 publications praised the Nazi police, and the Holocaust ers. Some professors at the Historical Faculty of Vilnius survivors were not acknowledged as sources of infor- For Marija Ladigait, as a Catholic, the memory of the University, where Puisyte was a student, found it diffi- mation. All this was unacceptable.” Holocaust is like an open wound. cult to acknowledge that many Lithuanians who fought A decade has passed and the atmosphere has ”It is terribly painful, that this happened in our for Lithuanian independence on the 23rd of June 1941 changed somewhat. Some years ago Ruta Puisyte country, that so many innocent people were killed.” also participated in the mass murder of Jews. Ruta Pu- heard one Genocide Center historian acknowledge, as This strong reaction is not common among Lithua- isyte was repeatedly faced with their argument: ”Do an obvious fact, that Poneriai was the place of terrible nians in general. The Holocaust is not a natural part you dare claim that the Lithuanian partisans shot the atrocities and genocide. of the Lithuanian collective memory, as Irena Veisaite Jews?” ”Previously, arguments that served to diminish points out. Ruta Puisyte’s efforts were met with little under- the number of victims were common, as if a smaller ”But if you want to get rid of the burden, you have to standing. It was claimed that she had chosen the ”Jew- number would make the crime as such less terrible.” talk about it”, she says. ish side” by focusing on the Holocaust in her studies. The Yiddish Institute where Ruta Puisyte now works The truth hurts, but silence kills. This was the slogan ”Some of the comments were indeed unpleasant. has a good reputation in international academic cir- of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Privately, when we could not be overheard, a respected cles — something she hopes will guarantee its contin- Africa. university professor would assure me: I will hang you, ued existence. Author Tomas Venclova objects to the claim that believe me!” Even outside the university the climate is now less the Jews were murdered not by the Lithuanians but by However, in 1997, her thesis was accepted at the constrained. ”dregs”. ”He who wants to be a true nationalist cannot university. When Ruta Puisyte wanted to broaden her ”Twenty years ago you could not mention the fact get around taking responsibility in the name of his own research on the Holocaust, she needed to gain access that Lithuanians took part in the Holocaust, but today it people”, Venclova believes.8 to material from the recently opened former KGB ar- is easier. Fifteen years ago you could not get hold of reg- According to Venclova, it is the duty of the Lithua- chives. But here she was turned down because the Hol- ular books about the Holocaust. Today they are avail- nian state and its intellectuals to illuminate the ques-
Ruta Puisyte has researched the period when the dilapidated brick edifice on Geliu Street was a well-known synagogue and when Japanese consul Chiune Sugihara saved thousands of Jews with visas at his desk in Kaunas.
Jaan Kaplinski — an Estonian who speaks good Swedish. With Jewish roots — hardly vengeful. On Yom Kippur, worshippers gather in the synagogue on Pylimo street. 15
changed when the comforting reassurance of the Yid- dish songs was silenced:
Unter dayne vayse shtern Shtrek tsu mir dayn vayse hant, Mayne verter zaynen trern, Viln ruen in dayn hant.
Through your shining stars give me Your comforting hand, my words are but tears, only in Your embrace will I find solace.
According to Katz, Zionism set out to create ”a new Jew”, who would resemble the ancient Hebrew-speak- ing Israelites far more than the Yiddish-speaking mod- ern European Jews of Lithuania. There was a feeling of shame for the Diaspora Jew, and Yiddish was seen as an inferior language of the Ghetto. In Palestine the Hebrew-speaking secular Zionists felt contempt for the Yiddish-speaking religious Jews who came, many v eig B engtsson of them from Vilnius and Lithuania, to study the Torah and pray in the Land of Israel, but who refused to take up arms to fight for it.11
P hoto: S ol The dusk that descended on Vilnius was the har- binger of what was to become Europe’s darkest night, Have Palestine and ”I have met many Lithuanians who loved the Jews which at the break of dawn would make way for the and who are sorry for what happened. The Lithuanians genesis of the Jewish state Israel. But daybreak and dusk Israel been the world’s have a special word for a person who kills Jews, they are simultaneous on our planet. The Jewish war of lib- focal point for six decades talk about Jew-shooters (zydsaudas).” eration became a catastrophe for the Arabs. Those who Irena Veisaite, who lost her entire family in the Holo- wish to gain an understanding of today’s Middle East because Yiddish caust, but who was saved by a Lithuanian family, be- cannot ignore Vilnius’s history. Have Palestine and Isra- culture was not allowed to lieves that Lithuanians and Jews bemoan their respec- el been the world’s focal point for six decades because tive tragedies without listening to each other. Yiddish culture was not allowed to exist in Vilnius? ≈ exist in Vilnius? ”They have to stop competing to be the ones who were most victimized”, she says. arne bengtsson tions around the Holocaust once and for all, without Irena Veisaite will never forget her mother’s and passing over anything in silence and without self- other relatives’ fate. But she has not survived in order references 1 exoneration. ”I am certain that we will not become to take revenge. She has learned from the Holocaust. ”I Tomas Venclova, Former av hopp [Forms of Hope], Lund 2001, full-fledged members of the world’s democratic com- have learned that it is unethical to compare sufferings. p. 57f. 2 From the songs ”Vilne” by L. Volfson and ”Shtiler, shtiler” by munity until we free ourselves of this psychological Everyone’s suffering is worst.” But above all, Irena Vei- Shmerke Kaczerginski respectively. 9 burden.” saite’s horrible experience makes her a living warning. 3 The organized mass murders were, in Lithuania, committed Irena Veisaite hopes that, in Lithuania, the next gen- ”I went through this so that I would never do the same during the summer and fall of 1941, one year before the exter- eration will find it easier to talk about the Holocaust. It to anyone. Hostility towards others is dangerous.” mination camps in Auschwitz and Treblinka in Poland came takes time to open a dialogue and reach mutual under- into use. standing, she believes. She points out that in Germany 4 In July 2008, at least four previous partisans had been questio- it has taken three decennia to break the silence sur- It was not one single ethnic group that murdered ned or were wanted for questioning. 5 Irena Veisaite, The Perception of the Holocaust in Lithuania, rounding the Holocaust. Lithuania does not yet have an Jews. The executioners were Europeans. When Yiddish Presentation at an international conference on the Holocaust entire generation which has lived in an open society. culture was eradicated, the concept of Europe changed in Riga, Latvia, October 2000. But the hopes are not supported by scientific re- for all time. After the Holocaust we can no longer speak 6 Solomon Atamukas offers a presentation of Holocaust re- search. According to a poll presented in March 2008 by of European values in the same sense as before. Europe search development during the 1990s in Lithuanian Quarterly the Center of Ethnic Studies, negative attitudes against shrank spiritually. The desolate and dreary backyard at Journal of Arts an Sciences, No. 4, 2001 (http://www.lituanus. ethnic minorities are more common among youngsters Jewish Street in Vilnius symbolizes Europe’s poverty. org/2001/01_4_03.htm). 7 than among seniors in Lithuania. Its desolation stands in stark contrast to the old pain- Holocaust in Jurbarkas: The Mass Extermination of Jews of Irena Veisaite talks about the Holocaust in a manner tings and photographs of the blooming Yiddish culture Jurbarkas in the Provinces of Lithuania during the German Nazi Occupation, B.A. Thesis, Tutor: Prof. M. Subas (Shub) that has upset both Lithuanians and Jews. She does not that teemed in the alley-ways of pre-Holocaust Vilnius. Head of the Center of Judaic Studies, Vilnius 1997 http://www. mince matters when she speaks about the Lithuanians’ When Europe’s Jews were exterminated, something shtetlinks.jewishgen.org/yurburg/bathesis.html responsibility, but she strives for mutual understand- essential to Europe was destroyed. The Estonian wri- 8 Tomas Venclova, Former av hopp, p. 57. ing through dialogue. Her words grate on many of those ter Jaan Kaplinski (of Jewish descent) claims that in Is- 9 Tomas Venclova, ”A Fifth Year of Independence: Lithuania, who, like her, have survived the Holocaust. rael one can see ”the Jews’ revenge on Europe, which 1922 and 1994”, East European Politics and Societies, Vol. 9, ”You can not expect people to be heroes. There was forced to get along without their intellectual No. 2, Spring 1995, p. 362ff. 10 was such confusion. It was so terrible. Everything hap- capital.”10 Sjunger näktergalen än i Dorpat? En brevväxling mellan Jaan Kaplinski och Johannes Salminen [Does the Nightingale still pened so fast.” ”Israel would have been created without the Holo- sing i Tartu? A Correspondence between Jaan Kaplinski and Irena Veisaite resists labeling people and groups as caust, but without the Holocaust the Yiddish culture Johannes Salminen], Stockholm 1990, p. 13. guilty because of some individuals’ misconduct. She is would have been the most living culture in Eastern Eu- 11 Dovid Katz, Words on Fire: The Unfinished Story of Yiddish, New careful to differentiate between miscreants and inno- rope”, claims Yiddish Professor Dovid Katz. York 2004, p. 310ff. Quote from the Yiddish song ”Unter dayne cents, between tormentors and ordinary people. Not only Europe but also the Jewish culture was vayse shtern” by Avrom Sutskever. 16 essay feature interview reviews
EHU A light in the darkness of bel arus 17
Belarus is one of the darkest corners of our conti- the Scandinavian countries) and Lithuania. That this better future for their country, they take great personal nent. The contacts with the outside world are limited, project suddenly popped up came as a complete sur- risks. The Belarusian authorities are the worst prob- the opposition is harassed, human rights are not respec- prise, and was a positive challenge: lem, they show a great interest in EHU’s activities, and ted, mass media is heavily censored. In June, a new law ”Only once in a life-time does one get a chance to the students are closely monitored at the border.” on the mass media was approved that strictly regulates establish a university anew.” The distance between Minsk and Vilnius is only 75 Internet journalism and forbids media outlets from ac- He tells the story of how it all happened: kilometers, so the trips themselves are no great prob- cepting foreign money. The law also mandates up to ”Both Lithuania and EU came to us in the spring lem — but the border is. two years of imprisonment for journalists who repro- 2005 and asked us if we could handle the administra- ”The students have not been put in jail for enroll- duce foreign media reports that ”discredit Belarus”. tion of the project. We felt this was a way of support- ing in EHU, but some have been arrested and ques- But there is a shining light in this darkness: the ing the process of democratization in Belarus together tioned about their political activity, and some have European Humanities University (EHU), which started with EU. The Council of Ministers supports EHU in Ex- been forced to leave Belarus, but most of them can still up in Minsk in 1992 and operated until closed by the re- ile because of its special role: the only Belarusian uni- travel. The treatment of students and teachers is in ac- gime in 2004. Since 2005, the EHU has been operating versity in the world that is free. We cannot accept that a cordance with general developments in Belarus, and in Vilnius, where it prepares young people for a better university is closed down because it wants to give a free conditions have become noticeably more difficult. The future for their country education, according to Western criteria.” United States Embassy has been reduced to a hand- This university in exile is, at present, the only one Teppo Heiskanen has been part of the entire process ful of diplomats, and in March the authorities cracked of its kind. Its Vice-Chancellor, Vladimir Dounaev, can in Vilnius. The project to develop the university so that down on journalists.” cite a few earlier, historical cases. One was the Baltic it could gain the approval of the Lithuanian authorities University that was established in Germany after the was carried out together with the American Macarthur Second World War. It did not remain open for long, Foundation which had already leant support to the EHU Teppo Heiskanen has enjoyed his time in Vilnius. since it could not gain recognition for the degrees it when it was located in Minsk. Among other things, an ”It is a pretty city, very compact. It takes 45 minutes awarded. The New School for Social Research in New international board of directors has been established, to walk from the one end of the old city to the other. York was founded, in large part, by Jewish scholars which is to hold its first meeting this February. The Great changes have taken place, particularly during the forced to leave Germany during the Hitler years, in- board’s chair is Per Unckel, currently county governor twentieth century, but also during the five years I have cluding Hannah Arendt and Leo Strauss. It later be- of Stockholm County, but formerly Secretary General lived here.” came an American university, but maintained a strong of the Council of Ministers and thereby well-acquainted ”The democratic institutions are in place, and now European flavor. with the entire process. values and norms are also undergoing change. Here, More than 500 undergraduate students are living Norden has much to give. We can, through with our and studying in Vilnius. The BA students live in the presence here, demonstrate a certain way of function- dormitories and are engaged in ”face-to-face” studies The board of directors also includes Olli Loukola ing. Finland and Denmark can be felt to be quite differ- in classes. About 200 graduates continue on to their from Helsinki University, who is in the process of esta- ent from one another, but here in Vilnius one sees that master’s degree with intermittent intensive sessions. blishing an international network for students of phi- they have a good deal in common.” In addition to the BA and MA programs, hundreds of losophy, of which Loukola is the coordinator. Helsinki Lithuania has a lot to give the world, as well. students participate in long-distance learning and low- University and Södertörn University are the foreign ”No one granted Lithuania its freedom; it was the residence programs. universities who have the broadest contacts with EHU. Lithuanian people who took it. The Lithuanians were Eighty percent of the teachers in EHU are Belaru- A project agreement with EU on support for EHU so determined, and did it without shedding blood — it is sians. The rest are mostly Lithuanians, who are espe- has been concluded. The next step will be to establish one of the great stories in Europe and in our time.” cially numerous in the languages. a trust fund for EHU able to coordinate the foreign Now Lithuania is going forward. There is, to be To visit EHU is a truly refreshing experience. It shows support. The fund was created on the initiative of Be- sure, a certain interest in borrowing from Norden; the that dedicated people can achieve a lot when they com- nita Ferrero-Walder, EU Commissioner for foreign Lithuanian system of ombudsman is directly taken bine their resources: the teachers do not give up in the relations. The support comes from EU, but also from from Norway. face of dictatorship, the students are not afraid to take individual countries such as Sweden, Finland, Norway, ”The concept of Norden is perceived 110 percent risks and the foreign donors work together for a better Hungary, and France, and Teppo Heiskanen believes positively in Lithuania. Norden has no historic burden European future. that the number of donors will grow. The fund will be of guilt — unlike Russia, German, and Poland.” Behind the EHU is a truly international effort. The administered by the Council of Ministers. At the same time, Heiskanen notes that the Baltic Nordic Council of Ministers coordinates the assistance, The Council has the advantage that it is already es- state societies are rather conservative when compared to the European Union is the biggest donor, and private tablished in the Baltic countries, and had its structure foundations and universities participate in the work. in place. But all the decisions are made by the dedicated people Sweden is the largest single donor country, and that founded the university in the 1990s. gives money through at least four channels — through After visiting EHU I am convinced that this univer- the Council of Ministers and EU, and bilaterally through sity, its students and its teachers, constitute the best Sida and Södertörn University, which collaborates by, hope for the future of Belarus. among other things, contributing lecturers. It is not easy to establish a whole university in a for- eign country. It was done, moreover, within a short The Nordic Council of Ministers and its office in time — only a year. That the EHU is approved as a uni- Vilnius played a key role in the establishment of the Eu- versity here means that the programs and diplomas are ropean Humanities University in Vilnius. This was not Lithuanian and acknowledged in all of EU. They have only a matter of financial aid but also one of offering worked hard within EHU and learned a lot during the help in adjusting teaching plans to the Lithuanian sys- process, they have been able to develop their programs tem and to the Bologna Process. so that they meet Lithuanian demands. Here, much help was to be had from Office Director It has also involved a good deal of extra work for the Teppo Heiskanen, who had a good deal of experience office of the Council of Ministers, but Teppo Heiskanen Teppo Heiskanen is Office Director of the Nordic Council in Finnish university administration. He had no idea of says that it is very motivating. of Ministers’ office in Vilnius and Arturos Vasiliauskas is the usefulness of this experience when he arrived in ”It is always refreshing to meet students. When we one of his colleagues. Vilnius in 2003; his task was to take care of what were talk with them we understand why we are doing what primarily cultural contacts between ”Norden” (that is, we do. They are willing to sacrifice a good deal for a
Academic activity is seen as something that involves ”going across borders”. At times, this crossing of borders is quite concrete. 18 essay feature interview reviews
those of Norden. There are, for instance, problems in re- to Belarus. There, they work in NGOs, in the independent ognized university in our country. It was very attrac- lations to minorities and concerning equal treatment of press or as independent lawyers. Their degrees are not tive and also people in the government, parliament men and women. Here, Norden has something to give. recognized in Belarus, which is the only country in Eu- and even KGB were happy to send their children to us. ”Norden could re-learn from the Baltic countries rope that is not taking part in the Bologna process. We were recognized by local authorities as an experi- about the drive that people have here, they want to do mental institution for the development of education things themselves and create something. Life is pretty according to a European model.” easy in Norden, we have, perhaps, forgotten what it The European Humanities University has its means to give our all.” roots in the nineties, when Belarus became indepen- dent. The Chancellor of the university, Anatoli Mikhai- All this changed after the presidential election in lov, describes the sorry state of higher education in the 2001. Polls had shown that only 5 percent of the stu- Arturos Vasiliauskas works in the Vilnius office country at that time: dents in the state university intended to vote for Alyak- of the Nordic Council of Ministers with contacts with ”The natural and technical sciences and mathemat- sandr Lukashenka. After the election the management donors to the EHU. Up to now there has been a compli- ics had been well developed in the Soviet Union, but of the state university was changed. A new chancellor cated system with different contracts with the different in social sciences all was developed in confrontation was nominated for the EHU — the only autonomous donors — perhaps things will be simpler once the trust with the basic values of European civilization in a very university in the country — as well. Neither students nor fund starts operating. He is a historian, and his other peculiar way. Everything connected with the West was faculty, who had elected Mikhailov, accepted his demo- position is as teacher at the University of Vilnius. But criticized as bourgeois or imperialist.” tion. The result was an open conflict with the regime, his studies are perhaps of more use than his work at the A second problem was that the upper echelon of particularly during the last months of 2003. The next EHU for the task he performs for the Council of Minis- higher education was concentrated in Moscow. All spe- year the university was closed on grounds that were, ters: he has a Master’s in Modern History from the Cen- cialized institutions, such as the Institute of Europe, according to Dounaev, completely illegal. tral European University in Budapest and a Ph.D. from were located there, as were the big scientific libraries. ”Some months later Lukashenka, speaking to stu- the United Kingdom, all of which means that he has had ”After the collapse of the Soviet Union all this re- dents in Brest, openly admitted that the closing of EHU much experience in encounters between cultures. mained in Moscow, we were left on our own. Not much was his own decision and that the reason was that our ”This gave me a competence on the European and research was done in Belarus.” university trained a national elite that would lead the international level, an understanding of Eastern and After independence, the management of the Be- country to the West.” Western attitudes. I’m a typical ’new Lithuanian’, un- larus State University wanted to continue as before. A restoration of the Soviet system for higher educa- derstanding the post-Soviet way of thinking.” EHU’s Vice-Chancellor Vladimir Dounaev, another of tion followed next. New national standards were intro- This is useful in a project where many different cul- the founders of the new university in 1992, describes duced, which included ideological indoctrination and tures meet — not only the cultures of Belarus, Lithuania the situation. political control. and the Nordic countries. ”We worked in the Belarusian State University and ”After EHU was closed many of our students got a ”You have to recognize both political and cultural encountered a lot of problems and very strong resist- chance to go to Western universities to continue their aspects and also know the bureaucracy of the Euro- ance when we tried to make reforms. We decided that education — we got strong support from universities in pean Union.” the best solution was to establish a new university ac- the EU and the United States.” Arturos Vasiliauskas finds it meaningful to work cording to a Western model, with both undergraduates ”Our staff decided to continue our work under- with Belarus, not least because of its medieval past as and graduates, based on academic freedom and uni- ground. We got an Internet provider in Vilnius for long- part of the Lithuanian commonwealth. versity autonomy.” distance courses. Very soon the Lithuanian govern- ”Now we can help Lithuania to come back till to the ”Our decision to start something new became ment proposed that we re-establish EHU in Lithuania family of nations that have escaped from the Soviet em- even stronger because of the behavior of some of our as a Lithuanian university.” pire.” colleagues in the state university, who fought for the ”It’s interesting to compare the students at EHU continuing dominance of Marxism-Leninism. Their ar- with Lithuanian students. The students from Belarus gumentation was like in 1951, not in 1991, it was like in This was done. The achievement has, in many ways, have much stronger motivation. They take risks play- Stalin’s time.” been a success story. But Dounaev reminds us that it is ing games with the authorities. The Belarusian leader Chancellor Mikhailov admits that the decision to difficult to survive in exile. Alyaksandr Lukachenka complained that the EHU is start a new university was not easy: ”It’s a challenge for us all, it’s an experiment. The educating a new elite who would lead Belarus to the ”It was probably, and is still, a crazy idea. Since the faculty stays in Belarus and come here perhaps for one West and therefore the university was shut down in communist idea had destroyed critical thinking we week a month. For those mostly living in Belarus there Minsk. And he was right.” had to create something new from nothing. But it was are risks in the country and at the border. For many of A BA degree from Belarus is not valid in other coun- clear to us that without such an initiative the situation those living in Vilnius it’s pretty sad to live outside their tries. This is why many young people who wish to would be worse still. First of all we needed intellectual native country.” pursue higher-level studies come to EHU. Some of the potential. Our idea was to create conditions where the He stresses that the university’s mission lies in Be- students there are engaged in politics, while others are creation of such a potential could take place. It was a larus. primarily looking for a better education, independent painful transformation, we had to overcome ourselves, ”It’s now even more important to prepare a new of government control. all routines, traditions, etc.” generation of intellectuals who will lead the country in The language requirements are strict. At the end of The group planning the new university gained sup- a different direction, to the European future. Even now the second year, the students are expected to speak port from the head of the Belarusian orthodox church, we contribute to the development of Belarus by giving both English, and either German or French. This who hoped for a westernization of the church, as well education in the national language.” should, according to Arturos Vasiliauskas, give them an as from the Academy of Sciences, according to Vice- The university is important not only for the stu- impulse to open up to Western values. Chancellor Dounaev: dents. ”We expect EHU to stay here only temporarily, even ”Mr. Mikhailov went to the Minister of Education ”We are hosting almost a hundred academics from if we don’t now when they can move back. At that point and the Ministry joined us as founders, but their sup- Belarus, many of whom have been expelled from their EHU will be an institution that can be an example of port was not financial, only moral. Step by step, how- institutions. We encourage intellectuals to be inde- Western working methods. Here in exile it has not only ever, we got international support, from the Soros pendent, even if it’s not always welcomed. If you want been surviving, it has improved its culture, it’s more Foundation and others. We began cooperating with the to be an independent intellectual you are challenging open now, and it’s growing, offering better conditions French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Science Po, we the authority by your independence. The university also for its professors and teachers.” established institutions for German Studies, Scandina- should be a free space for discussions. We welcome According to Arturos Vasiliauskas, more than 90 per- vian Studies and American Studies with international everybody to discuss what they think about the future. cent of the first students that graduated last year returned partners. Pretty soon our university was the most rec- This is very natural for academic culture.” 19
”We are also a research center for Belarus. We publish books that could not be published in Belarus. One exam- Stunned into silence ple is a history of the Belarus People’s Republic which ex- The experience of being Travelogues, poetry, and reference isted for one year, 1918–19 — it was not a success story. We part of a bigger world philosophy. Testimonies have also published a lot of other scientific works.” in a fairly small setting about the literary produc- Anders Hammarlund, The financial situation for the university is not is not a new one for tion of people in China ”På kant med Königs- good. people living in the Baltic and Peru, in Samogitia berg — staden, tiden och ”It’s pretty difficult for the university to survive. Sea area. According to and Lapland, in Green- staten” [On the Edge Every time before the admission of students we dis- cultural historian Anders land and New Zealand with Konigsberg — the cover a situation of uncertainty. Last time we admitted Hammarlund, eighte- and the Empire of An- City, the Time, and the paying students for the first time, but they were only a enth-century Königsberg, nam — people browsed State], in Johan Dietsch small proportion of all students.” today’s Kaliningrad — the and talked in Kanter’s et al (eds.), Historia mot ”We are now starting to cooperate with State Uni- home-town of the once bookstore. People could strömmen. Kultur och versity of New York, a leading university in distance influencial philosopher also at times be stunned konflikt i det moderna learning. They have found that our quality in this field Johann Georg Hamann, into silence when strange Europa [History against is as high as their own. Our goal is to be not only a na- also known as ”Der Confucian characters the Current: Culture and tional, but regional center in this field.” Magus in Norden” — bo- jumped up like stiff Conflict in Modern Euro- Chancellor Mikhailov praises the teachers of the asted a small bookshop fold-outs from the newly pe]. Stockholm: Carlsson university. which gave you a sense bound volumes. Stories, Bokförlag 2007. ”They have families and apartments in Minsk, Brest of being connected to poetically depicted sto- and Grodno, but continue their work here despite the distant continents. In ries, about dead empe- complications for their life. The authorities try to cre- Kanter’s bookstore, rors and loving couples ate obstacles and threaten them, KGB asks them not to ”there were books in and bleak fates....” ≈ come here. They are expelled from other institutions, German of course, but they are subject to intimidation and harassment.” ≈ also many in English, French, Spanish, Latin, peter lodenius Italian, Polish, Russian. ca n on e hav e Too m a n y u n i v e r s ities? The answer is yes, at least in is weak, yet it manages to fulfill this of Fine Arts. And why couldn’t the Uni- important thing is what people publish the view of certain Lithuanian function.” versity of Agriculture and University of in their own country, according to local and Finnish experts. It is inte- ”They can do a good cultural job in Medicine, both in Kaunas, be parts of rules. This is natural when the subject is resting to see how the discus- the region, even if they do not produce Kaunas University of Technology?” Lithuanian, they say. But if you work ac- sion of how best to organize famous scientists. We can’t expect But even if the units in Kaunas, cording to local rules it’s quite possible academic education can take them to be like Oxford, Cambridge, or Klaipeda, and Siauliai are given a partly for you to lag behind the rest of the similar forms in countries Harvard, but they are important for the ”local” character, including some local world by 20–30 years.” with different historical back- region. This idea of regional universities financing, a major part of their funding There is also some debate within the grounds. was accepted by the state.” must come from the state. Lithuanian academic world about how ”I’m personally in favor of direct best to choose a college or university The question of the number of univer- Almantas says that he has been a little allocations, there is not enough local chancellor. sities is the first thing that Almantas suspicious of the idea of increasing money to enable a college or university ”I belong to the group of people who Samalavicius mentions when I ask him university size. to maintain an international standard. I believe that a chancellor should be ap- about pressing problems in Lithuania’s ”I met some specialists in the United do not find a single Lithuanian university pointed, not elected by the professors. academic world. Kingdom, the only country in Europe on the list of 500 world universities. But When the people elect their leader they Almantas Samalavicius is a man with without problems regarding higher Lithuanian universities have potential, usually don’t elect the best, there is many roles within academic life. He education – both France and Germany they are not worse than universities in often some conformism at work.” ≈ teaches architecture, art and culture at have such problems. In the UK they Prague or Warsaw.” Vilnius Technical University and litera- have 20 types of universities. The peter lodenius ture at Vilnius University. He has also smallest has only 200 students, while Almantas Samalavicius has acted as a worked as an expert investigator on the University of London has between state expert in evaluating the quality of Lithuania’s college system. He is, more- 200,000 and 300,000 students.” social-science teaching. over, a member of the editorial board of Compared to that giant, Vilnius ”In some cases it’s not so difficult to the journal Kulturos barai. Technical University, with only 10,000 measure efficiency, but how can you ”We have fifteen state universities, students, is small; but Almantas is do it when, for instance, it comes to and seven or eight private universities satisfied with its resources. philosophy?” or colleges. That is far too many in a ”Not a single private university can When Almantas evaluated the huma- country as small as ours. We could compete with the state universities nities and social sciences he encounte- have two or three universities, each of when it comes to the quality of the red two schools of thought. He himself them strong research universities, and research.” belongs to the school that stresses in- The Nordic Council of Ministers (NCM) has complement these with regional univer- Almantas Samalavicius believes six ternational standards: one should count been an important facilitator in the adop- sities that have a cultural importance for or eight universities would be sufficient the number of publications in internatio- tion of the European Humanities University their surroundings, as in, for instance, for Lithuania. nal as well as national journals. to Lithuanian standards. Klaipeda and Siauliai. A recent investi- ”The Academy of Music and Theatre ”The other group strongly oppo- gation shows that Klaipeda’s faculty could be combined with the Academy ses this thinking. For them the only 20CBEES-talk
An ongoing search for new national identities. ”Our mission is to be a source of knowledge”
fter the end of the Second European Studies, CBEES, was estab- free markets, with the concomitant pri- researcher creates his or her own con- World War in 1945, the Baltic lished. Anu Mai Köll assumed the post vatizations and deregulation, as well as tacts. The Center also has close coop- Sea became a moat between of Director in October 2006. the study of how this affects society. eration with international centers of A West and East. The same ”Our mission is to be a source of ”In the 1990s the economy was poor learning, as well as institutions such as waters that for centuries had consti- knowledge”, she says. ”We see that the in the Baltic nations and in Poland, but the Alexanteri Institute in Helsinki, the tuted a shared in-land sea, promoting Swedes’ knowledge of the Baltic Sea re- since then their economic growth has Norwegian Utenrikspolitisk Institutt the region’s trade and culture, now gion has its shortcomings. Swedish atten- accelerated. At the same time, we have (NUPI) and the Nordeuropa-Institut at divided people in a way unprecedented tion has long been directed towards the seen increased differentiation between Humboldt University in Berlin. in history. The Nordic countries began West, and there is even fairly wide-spread rich and poor, as well as examples of ”We are currently working to expand to orient themselves towards the West, ignorance about Finland’s history.” groups who have ended up outside the our cooperation to more centers of and old networks around the Baltic Sea successful development. This might learning in the Baltic nations and in Po- broke down. provide nourishment for instability, land, and we are determined to create ”The period 1945–1989 is unique, in Moreover, the public still has a rather and creates problems with the concept an additional exchange of researchers that the border became so hard”, says distorted picture of the countries on the of humanity and increased gender and post-doctoral positions in the next Anu Mai Köll. other side of the Baltic Sea. We travel inequality. All of this might, in time, few years.” Then, when the Berlin Wall fell in more often to the Baltic nations and to weaken democracy”, says Anu Mai Köll. The recruitment of new collabora- 1989 and the Cold War Poland today, Anu Mai tors and doctoral students is going well, was over, Sweden was Köll concedes, but do but one problem is the lack of knowl- suddenly faced by a not do this so much to The view of traditions and values edge of foreign languages. The many number of new neigh- discover the culture as to also varies within the Baltic Sea area. languages of the Baltic Sea area are both bors in a transformed sea-bathe or to buy cheap This might, for instance, concern one’s a strength and a hindrance, as many world. The need for new alcohol and tobacco. attitude towards building a family and Swedish students cannot even speak
knowledge and research photo: moni c a s t r andell ”The Baltic Sea area is to sexual equality, and questions such German any more — historically, the re- became acute. not the subject of much as free abortion and prostitution. This gion’s most important language. ”We knew, then, very political debate, either, type of variation makes the region ap- Right now, cultural multiplicity is little about our Baltic and it has been many propriate for interdisciplinary research in itself a salient research topic, and is Sea neighbors. We had Professor Anu Mai Köll. years since Swedish politics and comparative studies. And it is here included as one of the thematic studies earlier had a tradition of Director of CBEES. concerning the Baltic na- that CBEES plays an important role, that the Center has initiated: ”Kosmopo- close cooperation with tions were controversial.” Anu Mai Köll tells me. lis, Cultural Technologies and Cultural Finland, but we knew less about Poland Still, there should be greater interest ”We coordinate research projects Spheres”. and East Germany, the Baltic nations in and curiosity about the area’s devel- and doctoral studies and participate ”But we do not focus on differences. were completely neglected and Russia opment. Swedish enterprises are direct- in creating new arenas of cooperation It is, rather, a matter of finding common appeared to be an alien society.” ing extensive investment to all the coun- between the centers of learning in the patterns in artistic mediums, in the It then became important quickly to tries around the Baltic Sea, and high- countries around the Baltic Sea.” mass media and in the fast-growing area organize cooperation between social quality knowledge about the region’s Some twenty researchers and teach- of information technology. There is an science and humanities researchers in development would benefit the Swedish ers are directly tied to the Center, and on-going search for new national identi- the changed Baltic Sea Region. As early economy and, in the end, the welfare of there are, in addition, some 40 doctoral ties in the countries around the Baltic as 1994, the Swedish government estab- individual Swedish households. students in a number of different dis- Sea that makes it a very exciting area to lished the Baltic Sea Foundation, whose Economic development looks very ciplines, including history, ethnology, research”, notes Anu Mai Köll. ≈ mission was to establish a first-class different in the different Baltic Sea coun- sociology, political science, environ- research environment at Södertörn tries, and they are at different stages of mental science and the languages. nils johan tjärnlund University. The Foundation then di- change. An important part of on-going rected support to building up the Baltic research is, therefore, concentrated on Contributor to Sveriges Radio and East European Graduate School. following the on-going transition, the International exchange occurs on [Swedish Radio], and writer for Swedish In 2005, the Center for Baltic and East transition from planned economies to two levels. On the basic level, every professional journals and daily press.
during the Soviet period, and, in the early 2000s, — a combination that is somewhat uncommon, but The people of BW coordinated a project on communist regimes that was which guarantees wide distribution among laypeople initiated by the Swedish Research Council. as well as professionals. Anu Mai Köll is an economic historian with a Ph.D. The design has been composed by Lars Rodvaldr, from Stockholm University. She currently holds a As director of CBEES, she was a natural choice for- who is ranked as one of Sweden’s leading designers. professorship in history. the Baltic Worlds’ editorial advisory board. The board Editor Anders Björnsson has a background as a Her research has focused on agrarian conditions in is headed by Rebecca Lettevall, Swedish historian scientific member of staff at Sveriges Radio [Swedish Sweden and the Baltic states. Her dissertation was a of ideas, who wrote a doctoral dissertation on Kant Radio] and Svenska Dagbladet, and was editor- study of the relationship between technological and and the international republic. The advisory board will in-chief from 2001–2003 of the biweekly Dagens social change in the Swedish countryside. Another serve as a guarantor of the scholarly quality of BW’s Forskning [Research of Today]. For seven years in the monograph deals with Estonian agriculture during the articles. Other leading researchers at CBEES, as 1990s, he was part of the board of directors of the first phase of independence (Peasants on the World well as representatives of sister institutions and other then Research Council for the Humanities and Social Market: Agrarian Experience of Independent Estonia Baltic region specialists, are also part of the advisory Sciences. ≈ 1919–39 [1994]). She has also conducted research board. on the collectivization process in southern Estonia BW is both a learned journal and a news magazine
The German language has vanished as the lingua franca of the Baltic Sea. Can it be revived? 21
Baltic Russians. Why was the Greifswald. ”right of blood” chosen? The city of impulses
n connection with the change-over These showed that parties with strong in Uppsala’s Johan Skytte Chair of loyalties to the Soviet Union had won in Eloquence and Government — the constituencies with a Russian-speaking Iworld’s oldest chair of political majority. The result was an abrupt science — a Festschrift was published, turn-about among the most influential a kind of state of the art, which illumi- Estonian and Latvian politicians. Their nates the scope of subjects to which intention to anchor their newly-won interest had been devoted during the freedom in the West was jeopardized by former professor’s, Leif Lewin’s, thirty- the Russian minorities. This is why the six years of tenure. An article by Lewin’s latter were excluded from the next elec- successor as Professor Skytteanus, Li tions, in 1993, in accordance with new, Bennich–Björkman, is of particular in- restrictive constitutional stipulations. terest. It is entitled ”Vägen västerut — så This was hardly a backwards-looking blev Baltikumryssarna statslösa” [The strategy of revenge, Bennich–Björkman way towards the west — how the Baltic argues. It was, rather, a conscious de- Russians became stateless]. It is an at- termination to join Western economic tempt to understand the logic behind and security structures as quickly as the politics of citizenship that the Esto- possible. The voters’ behavior was the nian and Latvian governments adopted determing factor: Russian-speakers, shortly after their liberation from Soviet it was believed, lacked — at least at rule. the time — the necessary orientation These re-established states did not towards the future. It was a matter automatically grant citizenship to the of ”fleeing to the West at any price”. Russian-language population that had The price included deviation from settled in their countries after the Soviet democratic principles, with a stateless conquest in World War II. The princi- minority population as a burden of ple invoked was the so-called ”right of debt waiting to be paid off. In time, as blood” or hereditary citizenship (jus integration with the West turned out to sanguinis). This was chosen in prefer- be extremely successful, and also very he fourteenth annual celebra- pher Thomas Thorild was deported ence to the more inclusive ”right of secure, the enforcement of the ”right of tion of Swedish History Days from the Kingdom towards the end of territory” or birth-right citizenship (jus blood” principle of the early 1990s has, was held this year in Greif- the 1700s, he ended up as a dissident in solis). The latter principle was applied professor Bennich-Björkman observes, T swald, October 10–12. The this northern German city. by, among others, Kazakhstan, where become less and less strict. ≈ event has also been held in the Baltic Professor Jens E. Olesen, a member the Cossacks had been reduced — after Sea Region on a number of occasions of BW’s editorial advisory board, spoke more than 70 years of Soviet rule — to in the past: Turku (1999), Tartu (2002), of Pomerania as a significant force in the less than 50 percent of the population. reference Riga (2007), and the Swedish Baltic cit- power struggle between Denmark and Nor did Lithuania or any other succe- ies of Kalmar (1997), Stockholm (1998), Sweden over a hundred-year period photo: Reinha r d von Tu emplin g sor state choose the route taken by the Statsvetare ifrågasätter. and Sundsvall (2005). lasting until 1721, when first Denmark, Estonians and Latvians. The latter’s Uppsalamiljön vid tiden för profes- Because of the Swedish conquests and then Sweden, ceased to be the dom- decision to apply jus sanguinis has, in- sorsskiftet den 31 mars 2008. in northern Germany in the mid-17th inant power in the Baltic Sea Region. deed, caused consternation and certain century, the University of Greifswald, From Södertörn University, there dismay in neighboring countries. [A Political Scientist Poses Questions: founded in 1456 (twenty-one years were two participants: ethnologist Why was the ”right of blood” cho- Uppsala at the Time of the Change- before the university in Uppsala was Petra Garderding, who has written a sen? Over of Professors]. founded) was for some time the old- dissertation on the 20th century Swed- Bennich-Björkman rejects one com- Compiled by Sverker Gustavsson, est higher institution of learning in the ish composer Kurt Atterberg and his mon explanation, which holds that Jörgen Hermansson & Barry Holm- Swedish Realm. relationship to Nazi Germany, and the choice is connected to revenge. An ström. Uppsala University 2008. Texts Germanist Birgitta Almgren, who spoke important motive is to be found in the published by the Political Science about Stellan Arvidson, educator and attempt to ensure judicial continuity, Department at Uppsala, 170. Obviously, the history of the uni- social-democratic politician, who fol- that is, establish a clear constitutional versity was an important theme for this lowed in Thorild’s footsteps and who connection between the present and year’s History Days. After Pomerania wrote the lengthy, detailed biography the countries’ first eras of state sover- had become a Swedish province, it was about him. ≈ eignty. In this perspective, the Soviet natural for Swedish students to go south period becomes not only an unfortu- to better their skills and knowledge, nate paragraph in social development while Greifswald also conveyed contem- but an unforgivable encroachment porary continental intellectual tenden- on state activity and political culture. cies to the kingdom in the north. Initially, both countries’ popular fronts During the interwar period of the had sought to mobilize all domestic 20th century, as well, the university forces against the encroaching power. was a popular academic destination for Then, in 1990, just before liberation, the students from Sweden and other Nordic first relatively free elections were held. countries. When the Swedish philoso- 22 a triangular drama at the periphery of a world War
By max engman illustration Riber Hansson essay feature interview reviews 23
The Napoleonic wars brought enormous changes to seven centuries of Finnish integration under Swedish his advisors bore names such as Nesselrode, Czarto- northern Europe. Of these, the disintegration of the rule — the end of Finland’s and Sweden’s common his- ryski, Capo d’Istria, Stein and Laharpe. For Finland, Holy Roman Empire in 1806 and the drastic elimi- tory. the union with the Russian Empire — an empire that, in nation of German political entities have stood the One can view the epoch of the French Revolution the words of Zachris Topelius, reached ”from the rocks test of time; so did the creation of the new entities and Napoleonic Wars in many different ways. It is in- of Åland to Sitkas” — opened up new opportunities. at the northern periphery of the continent, that is, herent in the logic of historical narration that different Russian Alaska has had two Finnish governors; ”the fa- Norway and Finland. Other political units created perspectives create new narratives with new climaxes, ther of the Finnish elementary school”, Uno Cygnaeus, by Napoleon and the Vienna Congress, such as Il- main characters and environments.3 found employment there as Russian Alaska’s first Lu- lyria, the United Netherlands and the Grand Duchy The Thirty Years’ War was a devastating European theran priest. Looking back on his Russian years, Mar- of Warzaw, proved more ephemeral. civil war. So were the Napoleonic Wars. These, how- shal Mannerheim noted in his memoirs: ”New views ever, also represented a globalization, a move in the and conditions had opened up for me, which gave me direction of the World Wars of the twentieth century. a broader outlook on things than I could have gotten Napoleon invaded Egypt and occupied Moscow. There in Finland in the decades around the turn of the cen- were rebellions in the Caribbean. Haiti became inde- tury.” Those who stayed at home also had their out- pendent in 1804; this was a first step on the path to- looks broadened, at least those who lived in the larger ”The Nordic rockade” divided the declining great po- wards independence for the South American colonies, cities. While Sweden, in the years between 1809 and wers, Sweden and Denmark. Sweden lost Finland, but which followed a few decades later. England acquired the mass emigration in the late nineteenth century, was was united with Norway in a loose-linked union. Den- the Cape Colony, Trinidad and Tobago, Ceylon and Sin- exceptionally introverted, Helsinki and Viborg could mark lost Norway, but kept its — originally Norwegian — gapore. be experienced as surprisingly multi-national. Within Atlantic possessions. These changes created, or laid the Even if one focuses exclusively on the regional, Swed- a short time, the capitals of the thoroughly Lutheran basis for,”the new North”. Norden, as it was called, gai- ish-Finnish context of the 1809 ”break-up” — riksspräng- Grand Duchy became home to two orthodox churches, ned institutional shape in the so-called Nordic Council, ningen, a term minted by the Finnish-Swedish historian a Catholic church, a synagogue and a Muslim house of instituted after Norway, Finland and Iceland had achie- Eirik Hornborg4 — one can or must, still, make a choice worship. ved independence in the 1900s. During the nineteenth among different historical perspectives: The birth of the Finnish nation. In 1809, Finland century, the Nordic nations had tried to create a com- The defeat of Sweden — which meant, for Finland, be- changed from constituting one-third of a centralized, mon identity and sense of community through a com- ing torn loose from a community that had in the words homogeneous state, to being a small (or at least thinly bination of Scandinavianism, old Norse literature and of J. L. Runeberg in ”Björneborgarnas marsch” (The populated) autonomous Grand Duchy within a great Viking romanticism. When all is said and done, howe- March of the Pori Regiment) been formed on ”Narva’s multinational empire. In one sense, the timing was for- ver, what did most to unite the three countries was, per- moorlands and Lützen’s hills” as well as through the tuitous. Russia under the early reign of Alexander I was haps, their strategic insignificance, their relative ethnic Finnish trade in fire-wood and Baltic herring in Stock- experimental or ”liberal”, a period interposed between homogeneity and the fact that they were small states holm. The peace terms were the most severe ever im- the two centralizing reigns of Catherine II and Nicholas located at the periphery of a continent that to a large posed on Sweden. The treaty sealed Sweden’s fate, fi- I. Alexander I actually consulted with representatives extent was dominated by multi-national empires.1 nalizing the decline that had begun at Poltava in 1709. of Russia’s minorities, that is, people such as Czarto- The new Norden was also new in that earlier, dur- Sweden lost about one-third of its area and population. ryski, Capo d’Istria and Gustav Mauritz Armfelt. ing the eighteenth century, Russia, Poland and Prus- Sweden could still call itself a rike, which can mean One must also remind oneself that a part of the sia had been included among the ”Nordic powers”, in both Kingdom and Empire, and it also kept Stockholm, Grand Duchy had been on the side of the victor. The accordance with an older, north-south division of the its old ”imperial” capital, but it lost both its dynasty and county of Vyborg, which the Russians after 1809 called continent. As the east-west division gained in salience, constitution. Bernadotte’s ”Little Sweden” — ”Lillsver- Old Finland, had become Russian in 1721 and 1743, and Russia gradually became the core in a slavonic Eastern ige” — was just as much of a new creation as was the au- had, in Petersburg’s shadow, oriented itself towards Europe, while Germany was seen as a part of Central tonomous Grand Duchy of Finland. the empire’s capital. David Alopaeus, the Russian am- Europe. The new Nordic countries were thus redefined A Russian victory — which meant, for Finland, uni- bassador to Stockholm and later peace negotiator in as a sort of residual category, with Finland as a border- fication with a multi-national empire. For Russia, the Fredrikshamn, was the son of Viborg’s cathedral dean. line case, linguistically as well as politically.2 conquest of Finland was overshadowed by the great While ”Swedish” or New Finland was allowed to keep For the Nordic countries, the most dramatic event struggle against Napoleon, described by Tolstoy in his its laws and its accustomed, Swedish social structure, had been Finland’s severance from Sweden during the epic War and Peace. Russia’s victory has been incor- Old Finland, which was with rather a hard hand added Napoleonic Wars. Norway’s separation from Denmark, porated into the master narrative of Russia’s growth to the Grand Duchy in 1812, was forced to conform to after three centuries of being part of the Danish com- in power, an expansion that was to make it Europe’s ”Swedish” conditions in Finland. monwealth, was also dramatic; but the new union with dominant power in the years between Catherine II and This was the basis upon which the subsequent Sweden had, after all, allowed the country to regain its Nicholas I, a period during which Russia — notwith- creation of Finnish institutions, state and nation was long-lost position as an individual nation. As a relatively standing the opinions of the Marquis de Cuistine — had, founded. As a result, Finland in 1917 had virtually all equal partner, the union also allowed Norway to exer- perhaps, a more Western outlook and image than it the features and institutions found in an independent cise a large measure of self-government. For Finland, had ever had before, or would have again. Few ethnic state — separate from Russia and to a great extent built being torn loose from Sweden meant the end of six or Russians advised Alexander I at the Vienna Congress; on traditions derived from centuries of union with Swe-
1 The subject was a theme at the Nordiska historikermötet [Nordic Meeting of Historians] 2004: Max Engman & Åke Sandström (eds.), Det nya Norden efter Napoleon [The new Norden after Napoleon], 25:e Nordiska historikermötet, Stockholm 2004. 2 Larry Wolff,Inventing Eastern Europe. The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment, Stanford, Cal 1994; Hans Lemberg, ”Zur Enstehung des Osteuropabegriffes im 19. Jahrhundert. Vom ‘Norden’ zum ‘Osten” Europas’”, Jahrbücher für Geschichte Osteuropas NF 33 (1985); pp. 48–91, Max Engman, ”’Norden’ in European History”, in Gerald Stourzh (ed.), Annäherungen an eine europäische Geschichtsschreibung, Archiv für österreichische Geschichte Bd 137 (Wien 2002), pp. 15–34; ”Är Finland ett nordiskt land?” [Is Finland a Nordic country?], Petersburgska vägar [Petersburgian Paths], Esbo 1995, pp. 275–298. 3 Max Engman, ”Vad och hur skall vi fira 2008–2009” [What and How Shall We Celebrate 2008–2009],Historisk Tidskrift för Finland 2007, pp. 156–167. 4 Eirik Hornborg, När riket sprängdes. Fälttågen i Finland och Västerbotten 1808–1809 [When the Realm Fell Apart: The Campaign in Finland and Västerbotten 1808–1809], Helsingfors 1955. 24
den. The creation of the new central bureaucracy laid the historian Yrjö Koskinen a century and a half ago, These two views can, roughly, be equated or the ground for the nation’s administrative organiza- but it is still legal tender, especially as time has relieved tied to the political dividing line that was created by tion. For several decades, the new central bureaucracy it of some of its metaphysical5 content. This approach Finland’s language issue and its political relations to embodied Finland. It became the frame within which emphasizes the nation as based on language. The na- Russia. Old Finns tended to emphasize the Finnish lang- both nation and civil society developed. At the national tion is virtually eternal and proceeds through an organ- uage and nation when establishing national continuity, jubilees celebrated in 1859, 1909, 1959 and 1984, Fin- ic process of maturation, according to its own specific while New Finns, and others with loyalties to Sweden, land’s government authorities stressed that the coun- logic. A nation can, like Sleeping Beauty, fall into cen- saw continuity as depending on the country’s parti- try has unusually old and unbroken state traditions, turies of enchanted sleep; but this is nothing more than cular legal legacy and state. The two groups differed dating back to 1809 — that is, they predate the nation’s a state of rest. In this view, the foundation of the Grand in their views of history. The Finnish-national concept independence. Duchy in 1809 is an important landmark, and yet is also found national continuity to extend far back into pre- The perspectives outlined above are not in them- a logical, necessary stage in a process that is almost law- history, at least as far as the Finnish people’s migration selves theoretical constructs, but rather reflect the bound. As Fabian Collan put it in 1841: into Finland is concerned. The Swedish conquest in the praxis of former jubilees, providing us with different early Middle Ages was, according to this perspective, a ”places of commemoration”. The Swedish defeat, But also [and] particularly with respect to misfortune that ended the Finnish people’s indepen- which Finland’s national poet J. L. Runeberg rede- the Finnish people’s national culture, the dence. In 1809, the nation of Finland was in fact libera- fined as a Finnish moral victory in his tremendously catastrophe of 1809 was of almost incal- ted from the Swedish — that is, alien — strangle-hold. For influentialThe Tales of Ensign Stål, can best be com– culable importance. With the knitting of the those who emphasized judicial continuity, on the other memorated in the battlefields. Amost all the battle- new bond, an older one had to be broken hand, Finland’s history began, and was set on its pro- fields have been given monuments, those raised before off; and the Finnish cultural spirit, which per path, when the Finnish tribes (these became ”the 1917 as part of an everlasting tug-of-war with the Rus- for centuries, without a direction of its own, Finnish people” only after the Swedish conquest) were sian authorities. The Russian victory is best commem- had walked in leading strings belonging to incorporated into Sweden on terms of equality with orated in Fredrikshamn, where peace was concluded an alien, who was superior to it, now found those who lived in the commonwealth’s center. This in- in September 1809. Finland’s birth as a nation is best itself thrown back on its own resources: it corporation into the West (the Western church, consti- celebrated in Borgå, where the lantdag (an Estates Par- was the child who must be weaned; for the tutional state government and free peasant population) liament, modeled on the Swedish four-estate Riksdag) time was now due. 6 provided Finland’s history with its content. In this per- swore allegiance to the Emperor and he, in his turn, spective, 1809 was a threat; for although the constitu- proclaimed that he had ”raised Finland to count as This weaning could have happened earlier, or later, tion protected a large and central part of the country’s one in the number of nations”; or in Turku, where Fin- and in other guises, but the nation would have taken legal legacy, it was not shared by the overwhelmingly land’s new state bureaucracy started its work in early equivalent steps sooner or later, because this was larger Russian Empire. Indirectly, its legal continuity October 1809. its destiny. Viewed from this perspective, 1809 is im- gave Finland the role of ”guardian in the east”, an The chief question really concerns the meaning of portant — yet it is just one episode in the nation’s long antemurale christianitatis, a role somewhat similar to the course of events that we could call ”From Tilsit to master narrative.”The national awakening” had to that claimed by the two noble-estate-based nations Po- Fredrikshamn”. In Finland, one can distinguish be- come sometime, because it has been programmed into land and Hungary in relation to Russians and Turks. tween three basic, sharply divergent but not necessar- the nation’s internal logic. If not Napoleon and Alexan- Even if the Finnish-national and the constitutional ily incompatible views on Finland’s separation from der in Tilsit in 1807, then somebody else at some other perspectives differed, or even opposed each other Sweden and unification with the Russian Empire (1808– time — History, or the National Spirit, would have found when it came to key points, they are identical in that 1809). One gains additional perspective if one adds the an appropriate tool. From this perspective, Russia both are essentialistist and teleological. Finland’s his- Swedish and the Russian views on the subject. The functioned as the National Spirit’s or the Finnish tory and the Finnish people have an essence, some- Finnish-national view (conception/paradigm) empha- people’s unwitting redeemer. thing that makes up the core of the nation’s existence sizes national continuity. This viewpoint was minted by The second variety of a narrative of continuity, and history — for history, in its turn, has both direction which might be termed the parenthesis conception, or and final goal. The essence can be either the nation, the the constitutional interpretation, focuses on continuity people or the legal legacy; the purpose of Finland’s his- on an administrative-judicial level. The continuity re- tory is the full realization of this potential. ferred to is the Swedish7 — or Western — judicial legacy, A perspective that emphasizes discontinuity, going which, according to this view, was in hibernation dur- so far as to explain the events of 1809 as the outcome ing ”the Russian parenthesis” (an expression minted of random chance, does not acknowledge this type of by Bernhard Estlander in the 1920s)8. From this point essence. It may be possible to include a sense of histori- of view, Finland did indeed belong to the Russian Em- cal direction, as provided by Russia’s increasing power pire for some time, but on terms that meant that the and penetration of the Baltic Region, highlighted, in country ”really” was, in fact, the fourth Nordic nation. its turn, by the foundation of Petersburg in 1703. But Despite the long period 1809–1863 (stadsnatt) when the Finland’s transfer to the Russian Empire was, after all, Diet was not convened and there were constitutional the result of accidental power shifts in great-power conflicts, the young republic was, in 1917, able openly relations, of political constellations affecting the rela- to resume its true historic path. In this perspective, tionship between Napoleon and Alexander — reminis- 1809 denotes an episode — a regrettable, but luckily cent of the constellations that produced the Molotov- non-decisive and temporary discrepancy. In this per- Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. In both cases, indeed, the spective, too, Russia emerges as a threat: it represented signing of an initial treaty was followed by a Russian at- a divergent tradition. tack on Finland. In neither case did Russia see Finland
5 Yrjö Koskinen, Oppikirja Suomen kansan historiassa, Helsinki 1869–1873, Swedish translation: Finlands historia, Stockholm 1874. 6 Helsingfors Morgonblad, 1841.01.04. 7 With ”Swedish” I do not mean something external to Finland, which comes from without, but that which the inhabitants in the old Swedish rike built up together. 8 Bernhard Estlander, ”Den ryska parentesen i Finlands historia” [The Russian Parenthesis in the History of Finland], Nordisk Tidskrift NS 2, pp. 53–75. essay feature interview reviews 25
as a primary or independent war objective. otherwise there never would have been a Finland — at or to accept Russian expansion without compensation. The outcome was something no one in Finland had least, not as we know it today. The old Swedish Realm It proved very difficult to get him to agree to the con- asked for, and something that — at least as long as the had been divided against the will of the inhabitants, tinued existence of a maimed Prussia, as a buffer-state Napoleonic Wars endured — might have been revers- and the Finns were given an embryonic state they had between himself and Russia; he did leave behind an ible. But once the outcome was certain, it was of de- never requested. This reality is not affected by the fact occupation force. At the same time, the Grand Duchy cisive importance. According to this view, 1809 is not that both sides, Swedes and Finns, soon convinced of Warsaw was created out of Prussia’s Polish posses- only an important turning point in Finland’s history, it themselves that the processes that had put an end to sions; this was to provide a French bridge-head against is the defining event — Year Zero. The year 1809 marks the entity in which they had lived for six centuries were both Prussia and Russia. Alexander, as the vanquished Finland’s birth as a nation. This was the year that the both unavoidable and beneficial – when the ”ultrama- party, had to content himself with the assignment of Finnish state came into being; and the state, in its turn, rine” possessions fell away, what remained was the forcing Sweden to join the Continental Blockade. defined the contours of the nation that grew up in its ”true” Sweden. As Ernest Renan pointed out, a nation Finland played no role in these deliberations, except shelter. Accordingly, 1809 is, indirectly, the year of birth is created, not least, by forgetting aspects of history to- indirectly. As a part of Sweden, its harbors, too, were of of both the Finnish state and the Finnish nation. This gether. course to be closed to the British; and any future Rus- meant that as of 1809 — or, to be quite exact, as of 1812, sian military pressure on Sweden could only be exerted when Russian or Old Finland was incorporated into the through Finland. These types of self-evident facts were Grand Duchy — Finland acquired a history, stretching The years preceding Tilsit had given Napoleon a not even written up in the minutes, either in the con- both backwards and forwards in time. The argument virtually unbroken series of triumphs. In 1805, he de- ference’s official documents or in secret agreements. was put into concrete terms in Topelius’s answer to his stroyed the third coalition against him, in his victories There is no indication, in the conference material, that own question, ”Do the Finnish people have a history?” at Ulm and Austerlitz. Napoleon initiated a new poli- Finland was even discussed. As a young Hegelian, he answered ”no” (that is, no his- tical order in Germany by raising Bavaria and Würt- The concessions in Tilsit were extremely unpopular tory until 1809, since Finland had not previously been a temberg to the status of kingdoms, and by assembling in Russian public opinion, not least because of the rapid state); as a history professor, he set out to write it. his vassals and dependents in the Confederation of the reorientation from British to French alliances and dis- After a short period between 1809 and 1812, during Rhine. Prussia opposed him, but Napoleon vanquis- appointment that the Danubian Duchies, which were which there was talk of ”both Finlands” — Old Finland hed the famous Prussian army at Jena and Auerstädt in occupied by the Russians, were not to be definitively (the county of Vyborg, which was united with the Grand October of 1806. The Prussian king fled to Königsberg, annexed by Russia. After the Empire’s expansion and Duchy in 1812) and New Finland — the geographical and where he was protected by the Russian army, at least strengthened international status under Catherine II, political/institutional entity emerged within which Fin- for a while; but after the inconclusive battle at Eylau the Corsicans had humiliated the country on the battle land’s history unfolded. It did so somewhat incongru- and the victory of Friedland on June 14 1807, Napoleon field and nullified the goals that had directed its foreign ously, as the country combined the traits of a nation- forced Alexander to enter into peace negotiations. policy for a lengthy period. Although one cannot speak state and those of an area within an empire. The his- Napoleon came, then, to Tilsit — at Njemen on the of ”Russian public opinion” in the modern sense, still tory of that new entity was now written — that is, it and border between Prussia and Russia — at the peak of his there were opinions held and aired in the army and its borders were now projected back through time. In power, as the ruler of Europe. Only one power stood the court; the discontented, assembled around the this perspective, 1809 is Finland’s Archimedian point. against him. The battle of Trafalgar in October 1805 had Emperor’s mother, held that Russia should not have From here, one can move the world; from here, a his- destroyed the better part of the French and Spanish given up, it should not have demeaned itself by becom- tory is constructed — as all history is constructed — both fleets. This had ruled out an invasion of England, which ing Napoleon’s tool in the north. This was not just a forwards and backwards in time. But the events of 1809 in its turn meant that Napoleon’s grip on Europe was question of Napoleon’s power, but of a tug-of-war: the also had their own repercussions. Out of the vagaries of under threat. Napoleon’s counter-strategy was eco- French made it clear that if Russia did not take meas- chance and construction there developed — under the nomic warfare — or ”liberation of the seas”, as he called ures against Sweden, it would get nowhere on the ques- protection of a manifold Empire — a reality so convinc- it. The Continental Blockade, formally proclaimed in tion of the fate of the Danubian Duchies. ing that Finnish nationalists were, after half a century, Berlin in November 1806, was to exclude English goods no longer able to imagine anything other than that its and English trade from European harbors, and thus center, the nation, had existed forever. force the country to its knees. In Tilsit, Napoleon made The resultant war was, likewise, very unpopular The emphasis on the political constellations includes sure of support from Russia and Prussia; but Portugal, in Russia. The Winter War of 1939 was overshadowed an implicit acknowledgement that Finland’s borders Denmark and Sweden remained to be persuaded. Por- by the Great Patriotic War; similarly, the Finnish war could have been drawn in other ways. In that case, that tugal was attacked by the French army in Spain, and was overshadowed by the great patriotic war against which we know, today, as Finland, might never have Denmark changed sides after the British attack on Co- Napoleon. It is striking that this war has not been gi- emerged. The deep woods had, as yet, no economic penhagen and the British confiscation of the Danish ven any standard name in Russian or in Russian his- value, and the Russians’ strategic interests directed fleet. But what about Sweden? tory; one speaks, rather generally, of the ”War of 1808– their attention to the southern coast. The Russian war- Napoleon, thus, had two closely related goals to 1809”, ”Finland’s unification” with the Empire; in some plans were premised, during much of the nineteenth achieve in Tilsit: to regulate his relation to Russia and contexts one finds the term ”the Finlandish war”. The century, on the idea that the inland was dispensible and Prussia, and to complete the Continental Blockade by French envoy in Petersburg, General Caulaincourt, re- the west coast indefensible. A border drawn according closing the last harbors that remained open to British ported that Petersburg opinion was ”strongly” against to these logics — say, from Turku to Kajana — would have trade. Alexander had very different goals. His priorities the war, and that all eyes were directed towards Wal- given us a completely different Finnish history. were Constantinople and the Duchies on the Danube lachia. In this perspective, which emphasizes the role of the (Moldavia and Wallachia). Napoleon spoke grandly of a The reactions to the conquest of Finland were also hand of Fortuna, or God, Tilsit becomes decisive. There common attack on India, of the division of Europe into negative. The acquisition was felt to be a ”gift” from was no main goal, and therefore, no alternative, substi- westerly and easterly empires, and of Russia’s future in Napoleon (the Beast of the Book of Revelations), and tute routes to this goal. It had to happen there and then, the East; but he proved unwilling to give anything away, many felt that an injustice had been done towards a triangular drama at the periphery of a wor ld Wa r 26
Russia’s former ally, Sweden. This feeling was appar- jesty sees himself thereby relieved from his to disturb the sleep of the ladies of Petersburg. What ently widespread, even among the common people. otherwise holy duty, to make reservations role this factor has played is unclear, but as Stalin noted Erik Gustav Ehrström was in Moscow, on a language concerning these things to the benefit of His in 1939, Russian strategists found it an unacceptable stipend, and was evacuated to Nizny Novorod during former Subjects. (Art. VI.) 10 thought that an enemy power — or any power which Napoleon’s attack. After the burning of Moscow and was not, beyond possible doubt, willing and ready to the meeting between Alexander I and Bernadotte, in The article was referring to the Diet (lantdag) at Borgå, guarantee peace and security — should have a national his new capacity as Swedish Crown Prince, in Turku in and meant that the Emperor considers his relationship border that ran so close to Petersburg. 1812, he wrote in his diary: to his new subjects as regulated, bilaterally, at Borgå; Just a few years after its founding, Petersburg, the this was no longer something that concerned Sweden. new capital of the Russian Empire, was a geopolitical I have scarcely spoken to anyone who has The Swedish King’s inability to affect the course of reality that could not be ignored, neither by those who not admitted that the Swedes are a brave events was veiled by the statement that the generosity sat in the Winter Palace nor by those who sat in Stock- people and who has not spoken respectfully and honor of the Emperor had, he felt, freed him from holm. As P.D.A. Atterbom put it in 1844, some hundred of the unfortunate Gustaf Adolf — ”Our his duties towards his earlier subjects. years after the founding of Petersburg: Government did the Swedes a great injus- On the other hand, precisely because Tilsit was a tice, by taking away Finland” I have many disappointment, and unpopular, it was important For from this moment, when the latter Em- time heard whispered. — The Swedes’ most that Alexander be able to show that Russia had gained pire had its new capital city situated right recent choice of Crown Prince made an something by the treaty — the Continental Blockade next to Finland’s border, the desire to gain unpleasant impression on the Russians, not benefitted only Napoleon. Caulaincourt emphasized power over Finland at the first suitable opp- only for political reasons, but also, and per- to Napoleon that Alexander really needed to be able ortunity, became, unwaveringly, one of the haps still more, for moral reasons. — ”Thus to point to concrete progress when faced with those Russian Government’s main goals […] In a will also this proud and independent Nation who accused him of being cheated at Tilsit. Evidently, few words: as soon as Petersburg lay at the bow down under Napoleon’s oke” was the Caulaincourt wanted to throw Finland as a bone to sat- gulf that is called the ”Finnish”, it became, general voice. — The more recent events jus- isfy the Russian ministers. The discontent among the for Russia, just as pressing a necessity to tify Sweden.9 aristocracy and the army should be stilled at Sweden’s only admit the Baltic Sea itself as its natural expense, not Turkey’s. border on the Swedish side, as it had for- The Swedes had, to be sure, chosen a French revolutio- This is what lies behind Rumjantsev’s proclamation, merly been for Sweden, to never let Peters- nary Marshal and one of Napoleon’s men for the Swe- which, after a month of war, declared that Finland had burg come into existence. 11 dish throne, but it transpired, in the end, that he — and been incorporated into the Russian Empire. This put the Swedes — had in fact chosen wisely. the invasion beyond the point of no return. This time, This view became, with time, as a consequence of the Russia did not intend to draw itself back after it had oc- politics of 1812, a piece of wisdom that the Swedes took cupied the country, or content itself with a little strip of to heart — to the extent that many of them doubted The Contintental Blockade was central to the Finland (as it had done in 1721 and 1743). whether Finland’s independence was at all possible, Peace of Fredrikshamn. The first two treaty articles This scenario unavoidably makes Finland seem like or, if it was achieved, whether it could be maintained. deal with the restoration of peace and concord. In the a sort of consolation prize. This is underlined by Alex- The former Foreign Minister Albert Ehrensvärd stated third, the King of Sweden promised — as a convincing ander’s complaint that they had tried to tempt him with in 1915: response to the country’s desire to establish a rela- ”a waste-land which no one wants”. The statement mir- tion of trust – to join the ”Continental System with the rors the Russian picture of Finland as an empty waste Tsar Peter’s choice of capital city has made adjustments the particulars of which are to be determi- consisting of granite cliffs and impenetrable woods. it a matter of life and death for the Russian ned” in coming negotiations between Sweden, France We have, thus, on the one hand, something that ap- Empire to be master of the Gulf of Finland. and Denmark. After ratification, the Swedish harbors pears to be a pure matter of chance: for lack of any- Finland’s endurance as an independent were to be closed to both British war and merchant thing better, and for the sake of the Continental Block- state will be possible only in a world where ships. Not until the fourth article do we read of stipu- ade, Alexander was forced into Finland. On the other the lamb and the wolves peacefully graze lations of territorial concessions of Finnish counties as hand — Alexander’s statement about Finland was part side-by-side. 12 well as Västerbotten as far as Torne River. The peace of his negotiation strategy; it was no sudden whim that treaty concerned itself strictly with the conditions of made the Russians attack Finland’s southern coast. Because vegetarianism had not yet become current peace and certain liquidation issues, but in addition among states, Russia, at least with its capital at Peters- the treaty quietly notes that the Emperor has already burg, and Sweden had contradictory interests when it regularized his relations to his new subjects. The acquisition of Finland in Fredrikshamn came to Finland. From a strategic perspective Finland looks quite different if one places it in an alternative was much more than an uninteresting wasteland. Of Since His Majesty the Emperor of all the narrative, a long line that could be called ”the issue this the Russians were fully aware in 1809. In an essay, Russians has already given the most ma- of Petersburg’s security”. In this perspective, 1703 be- as yet unpublished, Osmo Jussila has quoted a com- nifest proofs of the mercy and the justice, comes more important than either 1807 or 1809. The ment made by the General Lieutenant L.I. Golenitsev- with which His Majesty has decided to founding of Petersburg in our part of the world is one Kutuzov, a relative of the famous Field Marshal M.I. govern the inhabitants of the country He of these hinges upon which history turns. Once it has Kutuzov, who led the Russian army in 1812 at Borodino has newly acquired, in assuring them, ge- turned, nothing is like it was before. Petersburg’s eleva- and Smolensk. Golenitsev-Kutuzov noted in his diary: nerously, voluntarily and of his own will, of tion to the capital city and its rapid growth created the the free practice of their religion, their pro- need for an ever-larger security zone. Napoleon men- Monday, September 6. A great piece of perty rights and privileges, His Swedish Ma- tioned that Swedish canon fire should not be allowed news. Peace has been concluded. An illus-
9 The diary has been published in an unsatisfactory manner, here quoted in translation from the original in the Helsinki City Archives. 10 Translator’s note: translated from the French text. 11 P.D.A. Atterbom, Minnes-ord öfver högsalig H.M. Konung Carl XIV Johan talade i Upsala universitets namn den 31 maj 1844 [Commemorative words about the estimable H. M. King Carl XIV Johan, spo- ken on Behalf of Uppsala University on the 31st of May, 1844], Uppsala 1844, pp. 31, 26. See also Max Engman,”Fiktion och verklighet. S:t Petersburg i Finlands politiska historia” [Fiction and Reality: St. Petersburg in the Political History of Finland], M. Engman (ed.), Väst möter öst. Norden och Ryssland genom historien [West meets East: Norden and Russia through the years], Stockholm 1996, pp. 149–176. 12 Forum 1915.03.20, cited in Seikko Eskola, Suomen kysymys ja Ruotsin mielipide. Ensimmäisen maailmansodan puhkeamisesta Venäjän maaliskuun vallankumoukseen [The Finnish Question and Swed- ish Public Opinion. From the Outbreak of the First World War to the Russian March Revolution], Porvoo 1965, pp. 111–112. essay feature interview reviews 27
trious, honorable and really useful peace. ain did its empire, but in order to remove a Swedish If those who are dead knew, what has pas- threat and to secure Petersburg. The Russian war plans sed here, then Peter and Catherine would during the nineteenth century were based on the idea be joyous at what they then would see, that an attacker — who, when he landed, might be that their dearest dream has become rea- backed by Sweden — could be stopped at the earliest at lity — Sweden has been reduced to a nullity. Helsinki, and must be stopped at the latest at Vyborg. The conquest of Finland — is doubtless the With Finland’s southern coast secured, Russia be- most valuable acquisition since the taking came a satisfied power in the North, at least until the of the Crimea, because Finland is a border rise of Germany at the end of the nineteenth century. country, not to mention that it has value, This, and Sweden’s ”neutralization” after the political also, in itself. 13 events of 1812, created a favorable foreign relations cli- mate for Finland. If Sweden had, after 1809, decided to We are far, here, from the ”worthless wastelands” and follow a revanchist political line, as did, for instance, a shameful territorial expansion. Kutuzov evidently re- Hungary in the inter-war period, Finland’s nineteenth presented a minority opinion among his contempora- century would have been very different. The ”Pax Rus- ries, but it is, on the other hand, scarcely insignificant sica” of 1809–1914 was interrupted only by the British that this judgment was passed by a military man in a fleet’s attacks on the coast during the Crimean War, high position, used to thinking in terms of large-scale and was Finland’s longest period of peace. strategy. Both the Swedish ambassador Curt Stendingk The second precondition for the extension of Finn- The Possibilities and Caulaincourt — both of them generals — spoke in ish autonomy was the fact that Russia was not a nation- in the North their reports from Petersburg of Finland as something state but an empire, with its own logic and its own, Norway has no natural borders with the Baltic that Russia had long dreamed of taking over. long-established ways of dealing with territorial growth Sea. Norway is nonetheless — for both historical The eighteenth century laid, precisely because of and the co-optation of the elites in newly acquired ar- and cultural, as well as economic and political the founding of Petersburg, the basis for a sharpened eas. The Empire’s character as a conglomerate state reasons — part of the Baltic Sea Region. Sweden, struggle for control over, first and foremost, the Gulf made it possible to extend Finland’s autonomy on the for example, is Norway’s largest export mar- of Finland. The Swedish wars of aggression in 1741 and basis which had been laid during the six preceding cen- ket. In the Nordkalotten (literally: ”Cap of the 1788 and the building of Sveaborg fortress outside Hel- turies shared with Sweden. After 1809, Finland built North”) Cooperation, which includes the Baltic sinki demonstrate this. As the Russian historian Zlobin further on that foundation in its own direction, yet Sea states of Finland, Russia and Sweden, Nor- wrote, the Russian government paid particular attten- there is much truth in Harald Hjärne’s — perhaps overly way is the leading player. tion, throughout the eighteenth century, to the rela- drastic — statement, made in May 1918: ”It is the old ”Today there is a strategic axis that runs tionship between Sweden and Russia: Sweden that has arisen again, divided to be sure, but from Oslo via Karlstad to Stockholm,” says still, re-awakened to new life. […] Hereafter there exist, Norway’s ambassador to Sweden, Odd L. The reason for this was not Sweden’s power, we can with all justification say, two Swedish states, on Fosseidbråten. ”There is a concentration here or the extent of the trade relations between either side of the Bothnian Gulf; Finland and the mod- of tremendous knowledge and potential for these two relatively poor states, but the ern Kingdom of Sweden.”15 This view holds that the old innovation. And it is very easy to extend this circumstance that the Empire’s new capital Swedish rike that had gone under in 1809 had two suc- strategic axis to Helsinki and St. Petersburg.” city lay only a few versts’ distance from cessor states. To this should be added that Finland — in The development potential of the northern the border of that state, which more than addition, and with very significant consequences for regions is a particular focus of an anthology any other had suffered from our mother the country’s twentieth-century history — inherited that has been produced on the initiative of the country’s rapid growth and bloom and the security problems that Russia thought that it had Norwegian Embassy — Skandinaviska vägval which, in consequence, could not harbor solved in 1809. ≈ [Scandinavian Directions] (Atlantis, Fall 2008). friendly feelings towards us.14 Among the authors who have written texts for The essay is based on a lecture for the the volume are Professors Magnus Henrekson, In Swedish historiography, the wars of the 1700s, espe- Swedish National Committee for the Key Year 1809, Kjell A. Nordström, Francis Sejersted, Henrik cially the one initiated by the so-called Hats in 1741, are under the chairmanship of Foreign Minister Carl Bildt. Stenius, Sverker Sörlin, and Uffe Østergård. often presented as pathetic failures. But as Zlobin puts The Norwegian and Swedish foreign minis- it:”Finland’s position was such that it seemed to be ters have also contributed. ≈ made for an enemy landing with the intention to opera- te against St. Petersburg.” Zlobin repeated Napoleon’s words about Sweden as Russia’s geographical enemy. In 1788, Gustav III had — drawing on Swedish resources alone — threatened Petersburg. The fortification of the Kymmene-river line after the war, for some time un- a triangular der the leadership of Generalissimus Suvorov himself, showed that Russia took the threat seriously. drama at Finland was perhaps a consolation prize, but by no the periphery means a worthless one. Russia did not acquire Finland ”in a fit of absentmindedness”, as — supposedly — Brit- of a wor ld Wa r
13 Cited in Osmo Jussila, ”Från ärelöst till ärofullt. 1808–1809 års krig med ryska ögon” [From Infamy to Glory: The 1808–1809 War through Russian Eyes], Max Engman (ed.), Fänrikens marknadsminne. 1809 i eftervärldens ögon [The Ensign at the fair: 1809 Through the Eyes of Posterity] (working title, forthcoming). 14 K.K. Zlobin, De diplomatiska förbindelserna mellan Ryssland och Sverige under de första åren af kejsar Alexander I:s regeringstid intill Fin- lands förening med Ryssland [The Diplomatic Relations Between Russia and Sweden during the First Years of Emperor Alexander I’s Reign through the Unification of Finland with Russia], Stockholm 1880. 15 Reproduced in Hufvudstadsbladet, 1918.05.18. 28networks
Rhetoric constructs. Even Hell’s Angels and the Ku Klux Klan are part of civil society
not disengaged from the traditional po- litical sphere. Rather, they are to some extent dependent on its goodwill as well as on its resources. This is at least how it is in Europe, to say nothing of Sweden.
The research on civil society is marked by a far-reaching debate over where the border between civil society and politics actually runs. ”In the United States, nonprofit organizations often like to point out that they have no association with tradi- tional political echelons. Their websites proclaim: ’We receive no contributions from the government’.” This is an attitude that makes lit- tle sense, particularly from a Nordic perspective. In the Nordic nations, subsidies from the popularly elected establishment are taken for granted. They are not felt to be inconsistent with scanpix the concept of the NGOs’ influence and opportunities to affect outcomes. LSU, The National Council of Swed- o what extent are new regions searches, the years between 2000 and cal. But that risk is counterbalanced by ish Youth Organizations, for example, built with the help of rhetoric? 2004, the enthusiasm for various civil one’s being able to see that there is, at sees itself as a political force to be And how sustainable are such society networks and the so-called the same time, honest commitment, reckoned with, not least because its T constructs? Can the same NGOs (non-governmental organiza- real enthusiasm and a lot of energy in representatives regularly meet with rhetoric be used regardless of region, tions) that had characterized the early this regional cooperation.” whoever is currently Minister of Youth. regardless of geographic location? 1990s has diminished. During the first years, regional coop- Other networks, in Estonia, Poland and These are hardly matters that have ”In the early 1990s there was enor- eration was fueled not only by enthusi- Germany, work under entirely different short or clear-cut answers, but they be- mous enthusiasm, a force in the politi- asm and rhetoric, but by interest from conditions. There is still a curtain — in come more tangible in interviews with cal liberation in the East that created an traditional political centers as well, terms of differences in membership political scientist Marta Reuter. She has explosion of cooperation. And one may which brought with it resources. Politi- numbers and in resources — between used large project The Baltic Sea Area at least suspect that there was a certain cal interest has cooled, as well. East and West. Much of the rhetoric is Studies: Northern Dimension of Europe charm in the novelty of it, as well as net- ”When the politicians’ interests about ”bridging” the gap between East (BaltSeaNet) to examine the emergence working for the sake of networking.” move further east, the NGOs’ focus and West, but according to Marta Reu- of a transnational, intercultural civil so- also moves: towards Moldova, towards ter, the NGO networks’ own construc- ciety in the Baltic region. Belarus.” tion widens the gap. The Nordic contin- When we meet for our interview, NGOs were fashionable in the early And NGOs are, despite their name, gency, with its plentiful resources, takes Marta Reuter is fully occupied with 1990s, Marta Reuter points out. The on a big-brother role. The West takes in- preparing ”a conference paper” for a NGO concept has also produced a kind itiatives, knows what to do, while in the conference in Amsterdam on organiza- of ”NGO-speak”, its own language. It is formerly Communist countries there is tional research. not always appropriate, but it is used, a fear of contact which affects the will to It was Marta Reuter’s interest in nonetheless, in all sorts of work con- organize at all, to build associations. social issues and politics that led her texts. Marta Reuter has followed the Marta Reuter speaks of a mixture of to study political science. Her Master’s national committees that organize NGO idealism and brotherhood on the one thesis was on global civil society, and conferences around the Baltic Sea, and side, and, on the other, of strategic cal- her Ph. D. thesis was entitled Network- made note of how much time and ener- culation. ing a Region into Existence? Dynamics of gy is spent on solemn declarations that ”The most surprising aspect was, Civil Society Regionalization in the Baltic are sent to, for example, the Council of still, probably, the difficulty, the unwill- Sea Area. the Baltic Sea States — declarations that ingness to rise above nationality. Every- Her research qualifications can be make abstract, unrealistic demands, body is markedly anchored in his or her seen as a kind of illustration of her which create what could be called a national environment, and it is difficult topic: her mentor, Professor Bernd liturgy. It is inevitable that subsequent to escape national thinking because the Henningsen at Berlin’s Humboldt declarations express disappointment Marta Reuter. A young historian, well- networks are built up on the basis of University, was also the director of the that the Council has not fulfilled the known in several academic circles around representativity and national quotas. project — a network in itself, including a demands. the Baltic. One could instead, for example, have dozen major universities. ”As an outside observer, one does organized in accordance to areas of in- During the period she herself re- run the risk of becoming a little cyni- terest rather than nationality.”
There is New-speak and NGO-speak. And then there is the language of democracy 29
Heritage. Impressions The ruins of the Vyborg of Swedishness Old Cathedral.
”Democracy” is being discussed a the conditions of postgraduate t a CBEES seminar on Sep- good deal by NGO researchers: NGOs students in Sweden and Germany. tember 22, Ralph Tuchten- are, of course, not elected by the peo- ”Generally, one can say that in Ger- hagen, professor of eastern ple. many much depends on finding an advi- A and northern European his- ”Within the large Nordic organiza- sor — there is not the same institutional tory at Hamburg University, gave a talk tions such as LSU, one is accustomed structure as there is in Sweden. The entitled ”Between ’Deluge’ and ‘Good to working regularly and closely on ’in- majority of the German postgraduate Old Days’”. What he was referring to are ternal’ democracy. This is less natural students do not become researchers. the attitudes that were characteristic of to other, smaller, organizations, and if One wishes to take a doctorate because the memories of the Swedish presence the organizations have existed for less it furthers some other career.” in the eastern and southern parts of the than one or two years it also makes little Baltic region. sense.” Memory studies research can be de- Much of the research on civil society For her own part, she is very happy scribed as a subdivision of the history of has had a staunchly normative perspec- at Södertörn University, and to have mentalities. Since Pierre Nora launched tive, i.e., the point of departure has returned to Sweden. After her NGO the project Les Lieux de mémoire (1984– been that a strong civil society is good research, she will be involved in two 1992) about how France’s iconic nation- for democracy and development. This projects. One of these is concerned with al monuments, museums, and festivals is based on the example of ”good” or- policy processes in the regulation of have been used, reused and misused, ganizations, such as the Red Cross and chemicals on the EU level. The other is a the concept of ”lieu de mémoire” and Amnesty International, and ignores the major investigation of populism, where its English counterpart, ”memory site”, scanpix fact that Hell’s Angels, the Ku Klux Klan she looks at how various EU-hostile par- have gained currency throughout the and various sects are also part of civil ties view and talk about Europe. world, but have yet to take hold in the society. ”What I find exciting is the similarity Nordic countries. Professor Tuchtenha- In Poland, this tendency is even ”In the Swedish public debate, the in the point of departure, regardless gen would like to remedy this. stronger. For example, the siege of the right-wing think tank Timbro monopo- of the speaker’s nationality — that ’we monastery of Jasna Góra in 1655 be- lized the concept of civil society itself in this country’ are special. But the came, even then, emblematic of Potop during the early 1900s.” dissimilarities, as well — that Poles can In his inventory of sites linked Swedzki (”The Swedish Deluge”). This ”Civil society” has tended to im- describe EU as a social-liberal project, a to Sweden, he went through some of image was further fueled by Nobel Prize ply good, warm service providers, in threat against ’all that is sacred’, such as the most common forms of ”memory winner Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel contrast to the cold, impersonal state. the church and nuclear family, while the sites”, which need not be specific sites, Potop (1886), and was renewed by the Today, the view of civil society is more Swedish EU-skeptic views EU as reac- but can be individuals, or artistic works. movie of the same name (1974). This nuanced. One is, for example, aware of tionary and neo-liberal.” These can be categorized as national, ”memory site” thus contributed to the the fact that pre-genocide Rwanda had a Once again: rhetoric as building regional, or local, but also as social. still vigorous national victim myth, very strong civil society. blocks for a set of attitudes. And Marta In Finland, the presence of a Swed- where Serb war criminals can be repre- Marta Reuter is among the research- Reuter notes with interest how the EU ish-speaking upper class has prevented sented as ”tame lambs” compared with ers who have collaborated in a forth- Commission likewise tries to establish the emergence of a national memory the terrible Swedes. coming follow-up to the book Civilt ”a European identity” by means of image, even if there are ”memory sites” In Germany, the memory image is samhälle kontra offentlig sektor [Civil rhetoric and with the aid of symbols in Helsinki, Vyborg (which is now Rus- quite different — partly characterized by society versus public sector], which was and symbolic language that bring to sian) and Turku. ”jovial exoticism” (”Der Alte Schwede” published by SNS’s Publishing House in mind the nation-building projects of the In Estonia, there is a widespread bars), and partly by thoughts of faith- 1995. The historian Lars Trädgårdh is nineteenth century. positive image, often linked to Swed- based solidarity and enlightened ad- the editor of both books. For these reasons, Marta Reuter ish kings, who have taken on mythical ministration. ”In every nation, there is a lively hopes that her own research on the Bal- proportions. It should be noted that Historical memory tends to take debate on the state, the business sector tic area and EU will contribute to an il- this view rarely withstands the light of on a different form if one shifts focus. and the third force, civil society. One lumination of the influence of language, archival research. Professor Max Engman pointed out that speaks, often, of a global civil society, that is, of rhetoric: In Latvia, unlike in the countries in Finland one does not speak of the but the phenomenon is transnational ”The view of the geographical space, to the north, no Swedish minority re- ”Good Old Days” but of the ”Old Days”, rather than global. My chapter of the or rather the geographical-political mains, and it is difficult to find evidence and that Swedishness can be said to book discusses civil society’s trans- space, and how it is constructed with of memory sites, with the possible have ”nostrified”, to have merged with nationalization and how this interacts the aid of rhetoric, can become more exception of the Swedish gate in Riga. Finns’ own national memory identity. with parallel processes in other social nuanced.” ≈ Here, a part of the ”Good Old Days” Increasing awareness of the masks spheres.” perspective emanates from the contrast of the past — and of what lies behind She is convinced that the coming marielouise samuelsson with the German and Russian/Soviet them — has the potential to make a vital years will prove exciting for those in eras. contribution to the long trek towards Sweden who are doing research on civil Freelance journalist currently In Lithuania, positive associations European integration. ≈ society, and mentions Ersta-Sköndal focusing on research policy can be found (the Treaty of Kedainiai pontus reimers College and a ”strong little research and research funding. of 1655, between Karl X Gustav and the environment oriented towards research Protestant magnates of the Radziwiłł on the voluntary sector” at the Stock- family), but the memory of Sweden is MA in archeology. Specialist editor of the holm School of Business. nonetheless overwhelmingly negative, Swedish National Encyclopedia Marta Reuter’s personal experience since it is linked to Lithuania’s loss of [Nationalencyklopedin]. Former review makes it possible for her to compare status as a major European power. editor at the biweekly Dagens Forskning. 30 essay feature interview reviews a model region the baltic se a By bernd henningsen
The Mediterranean the year 2000, in the Danish city of Kolding. That was Petersburg). The deliberations concerning regional Union and the Baltic when Gerhard Schröder had described the region’s cooperation are increasingly directed more towards Sea Council prosperous present and important future, and de- Brussels than towards the Baltic Sea Council’s Stock- clared the German trade exchange with the countries holm headquarters. The French plans for a Mediterranean Union, decided of the Baltic Sea Region to be as significant as that with in Paris on July 13th as a (very reduced) version of the the United States. It was, therefore, high time that An- ”Europe is not safe Union for the Mediterranean — the European Union gela Merkel undertook her so-called ”Baltic Sea Trip” unless the Baltic and states situated along the Mediterranean’s southern to Sweden, Estonia and Lithuania, her first visit to these rim are included in the proposed union — have, in an countries as head of state. The conflict in the Caucasus region is safe” indirect way, also put the Baltic Sea Region back on the has, moreover, as could have been predicted, cast its The generally accepted idea that cooperation is some- political agenda. The Baltic Sea Region is, indeed, seen long shadow over the Nordic countries. thing that occurs in and with Brussels as a matter of as an instrument to counterbalance arguments advan- It was, of course, generally accepted that the era of course, and that regional cooperation should, there- ced by skeptics and opponents of Nicolas Sarkozy’s globalization has steadily increased the importance fore, only be accorded minor significance, is a fallacy. new (and quite costly) strategy.1 But this northern com- and incidence of regional cooperation on economic, Why should that which holds for the Mediterranean munity of interests has gained little from its use as a political and cultural matters. This has given many ob- not apply to the Baltic Sea Region, as well? The ongoing foil, if one measures its success in terms of political servers the impression that the Baltic Sea Council has conflicts and crises concerning the Baltic Sea gas pipeli- attention, concrete political engagement, and lasting vacillated between political hopefulness and actual in- ne, the Caucasus, and the recently concluded contracts benefits from these political strategies. significance, as, again and again, its right to existence is for American medium-range anti-missile stations in One might even get the impression that political called into question. Poland and the Czech Republic tell another story. If an strategies for this region are unwelcome in official, The Baltic Sea Council consists of representatives incident should occur, the regulatory powers of the EU political circles. Even the (co-)founder of the Baltic Sea from the countries of the Baltic Sea Region. For his- are very restricted; here, networks — sometimes, very Council (established in 1992), the former Danish For- torical and economic reasons, Iceland and Norway, as informal in character — play a much greater role. eign Minister Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, has given sober, well as the European Union, have seats at the Council The conflict in the Caucasus shows that Russia has unadorned expression to his disappointment in Dan- table. It is the only regional institution of significance not yet come to terms with the independence of the ish passivity and disinterest in matters pertaining to in which Russia is represented, with its own seat and former Soviet Republics. The Baltic nations are in the the Baltic Sea.2 Occasionally, German politicians voice voice, together with other, Western states. In 1995, danger zone, and their integration into regional, insti- similar criticism with reference to the German engage- the Baltic Sea countries Sweden and Finland became tutionalized networks is necessary for their survival. ment. It seems that the region’s every-day political members of the European Union. In 2004, they were Psychology plays a not unimportant role here. And so business includes the game pass the joker. followed by the three Baltic states and Poland, and the it is not by happenchance that Ukraine’s government The last time that a German head of government Baltic Sea thus became a European Union inland sea and state leaders, as well as those of the three Baltic appeared at a meeting of the Baltic Sea Council was (excepting, of course, Kaliningrad and the region St. states and Poland, traveled to Tbilisi in August in order
After the end of the Cold War, politicians prophesied about the ”return of the Hanseatic League”. The prediction did not come true. 31 ill: ragni svensson 32
to participate in a mass rally demonstrating both soli- stony paths for the energy sector, in ecology, in health- bers of Commerce, the so-called city-partnerships, darity with Georgia and a common rejection of Russia’s care policies, in security policies, in the fight against transnational university programs, and, of course, the geopolitics.3 For these countries, it was bitter to note international crime, in, of course, scientific and social Nordic Council. (as they did, not for the first time) that Paris and Berlin matters — and, last but not least, in matters of political From the countless instances of cooperation across showed more consideration for Moscow than for them; symbology. national boundaries, one can deduce that regional in the eyes of the new nations at Russia’s periphery, To return, again, to the contrast between the Baltic cooperation is also of psychological importance: It the European Union did not seem particularly force- Sea Region, and the Mediterranean, the fundamental shows the public of an individual state that it is depend- ful. Russia has stationed tactical nuclear weapons in political problem of competition can be found in the ent on its neighbors and that it must show solidarity.12 the Russian enclave Kaliningrad, that is, directly on the French argument for the southern union. Sarkozy’s ad- The neighboring countries’ angry responses to the gas doorsteps of neighboring countries,4 something which visor Henri Guaino used fairly heavy fire to promote pipeline plans may have been provoked by Russia and may give an inkling of the region’s security relevance his boss’s policies: It is here and nowhere else, he said, Germany violating this traditional multilateralism, and of the necessity of building up confidence and in- ”that the future of Europe is played out, whether the is- which gives the issue a psychological dimension. They stitutions, even if only — again — for psychological rea- sue is poverty eradication or control of the immigration had decided on the pipeline without consulting their sons. The recent weeks and months have shown that flow, environmental sustainability, or the battle against neighbors. There is also such a thing as obligatory soli- the Baltic Sea Region demands political attention. Now, terrorism”.9 One might wonder whether Guaino could darity. 13 as in the past, Madeleine Albright’s 1997 phrase holds not have used lighter artillery, and whether the fate of true: Europe is not safe unless the Baltic region is safe.5 the political union is, perhaps, being determined in a The Economic It does not, for these reasons, require an excess of different region. On the other hand, one cannot deny Dynamism of political imagination to understand how the Caucasus that he concerns himself with the solution of these conflict might affect views on the Baltic gas pipeline. problems, even if his political horror list, given the the Baltic Sea Region This mutual project of Germany and Russia — a project known problems, is drastically foreshortened. It has been known for years that the Baltic Sea Region which is disliked (to put it mildly) by the other Baltic- In any case, this intervention confirmed what one is a major economic power center.14 It has been ten coast countries — continues to become less popular. had found in the editorials of the main newspapers: years since Marion Dönhoff pointed to this region’s The current provocation has set seriously countervail- only bad news is good news. Places such as Iraq, Af- exemplary dynamics.15 The riparian states’ share in ing winds blowing against the soft course taken vis-à-vis ghanistan, Tibet and the Caucasus are now certain to world trade — and we are only including the northern Russia by Germany and the European Union, which the hold the global interest — regions, in other words, in and north-western parts of Germany, Poland and Rus- Union’s eastern members always found overly timid. which almost everything that can go wrong, politically sia here — is an impressive six percent, despite the Obviously, the opportunities provided by this forum and socially, has gone wrong. Political (and scientific!) area’s negligible share of world population. The share of Nordic consultation have been left unexploited. interest, money and military are more easily mobi- taken by Baltic trade is as much as ten percent for the Some political china has been broken. Germany’s need lized for these regions — quite easily, in fact. There is al- German Federal Republic alone, a total that exceeds to secure its energy supply can hardly justify the Bal- ways money for military crisis intervention, as Erhard the Republic’s combined exports to the U.S. and Japan. tic region’s loss of confidence in its politics. However Busek, former Austrian Vice-Chancellor and Head of Germany is one of the most important, if not the most unfair the anti-German accusations may be, the Baltic the Stability Pact for the Balkans, critically observed; important, trading partner for almost all the Baltic countries are drawing parallels, for instance, between whereas there is usually insufficient insight — and al- states. Though a mere 103 million people live in this present Russian-German relations, and the Molotov- most always, money — for engagement in an adminis- region, it boasts nine percent of the global gross natio- Ribbentrop Treaty. The mere fact that the accusation is tration of trust.10 nal product16 and an annual economic growth rate of leveled shows how much sympathy has been gambled The Baltic Sea Region, however, is a region of best 4.5 percent (2006).17 When it comes to productivity, away since 1990. practice. It has had and still has the character of a model Central European countries lag six percent behind the In 2007–2008, when Lithuania held the presidency region in more than one respect, and is often referred Baltic Sea Region countries; the latter’s positive growth of the European Council (which the Danes took over in to as such — but that has usually ended it. The Baltic re- figures are primarily owed to the economic catching- June of this year), the idea of Balticness was invented gion was united in 1989/91, after more than 40 years of up of the new transition countries. and utilized in an extensive cultural and political pro- separation. This region demonstrated (in many politi- Generally speaking, the key factor in the Baltic re- gram6 — a smart marketing strategy, a special region cal areas, indeed, the processes had been set in train gion is a well-diversified industrial structure. The area branding whose test-tube conception, however, can- even before 1989/90) how the process of political and boasts fully developed trade, service and information not be completely concealed. The newly developed economic transformation could proceed in a peaceful centers, networks of trade routes and traditional eco- structural plans are, consequently, likely to be of great- manner. Some political commentators and scientists nomic and cultural contacts. The industries, as well as er importance. As formulated during the Danish presi- predicted that the collapse of the Soviet Union would the service sector, boast a high technological standard. dency, these plans were to breathe new and enduring bring to the Baltic states a political scenario similar to Finland, and indeed Sweden, can be counted among life into the Council’s work.7 They would, however, not that which became bitter reality in the Balkans during the world centers of the IT industry. One example goes lead to substantially more stability in institutional de- the nineties — just as people, today, still sometimes con- a long way towards demonstrating this: Nokia. Estonia velopment, or to an increase in the Council’s budget. At fuse the Baltic with the Balkans. is another country in the area that richly deserves the present, the Council has a budget of one million euros, The fact is that the restoration of the sovereignty of title knowledge-based society 18 — a country in which that is, a sum that is far below the poverty level. (The the three Baltic states, the reinstatement of Finland’s Internet coverage is nation-wide 19 and where citizens’ original budget envisioned for the Mediterranean Un- freedom of political action and Poland’s political and access to the Internet is written into the law, a country ion was 16 billion euros….)8 economic transformation took place in a relatively civi- in which the government uses the computer as a tool in The lack of respect for and less-than-engrossing lized manner — at least compared to what the region almost all contexts. The citizens of Estonia vote with a interest in the Baltic’s regional, intra-European coop- had experienced earlier in the twentieth century. This click of the mouse on their home computer.20 eration (both trends which, of course, no one seems should lead us to ask what is different here, what we The Baltic region’s potential status as a global re- willing to acknowledge) are serious political mistakes. can learn from this. Erhard Busek11 notes that Europe’s search center has already been realized. More than There are several reasons why the Baltic region de- northern region is characterized by many regional ini- 100 universities and research institutes are located in serves greater public and political interest, as well as tiatives, something that has already become a rock-sol- its catchment area. Nor is this a recent development: a more stable political and institutional anchor both in id historical certainty for the Scandinavian north. some of the Continent’s oldest universities are found national politics and within the European Union. Among the innumerable instances of cooperation around the Baltic Sea, including Rostock (founded What is at issue here? It is an issue of a future con- across national borders, one can mention the Barents 1419), Greifswald (1456), Uppsala (1477), Copenhagen sisting of roads that lead steeply up-hill — steep and cooperation, the cooperation between different Cham- (1479), Königsberg (1544), Vilnius (1578), Tartu/Dor-
Herder, Copernicus, Linneaus, Kant, Brahe, Bohr, Kierkegaard. It’s the cultural heritage, stupid! essay feature interview reviews 33
pat (1632), Åbo/Helsinki (1640), Kiel (1665) and Lund Europe’s most modern water sports area.27 The Baltic They confirm and motivate environmental coopera- (1666). A mutual exchange of research results, profes- region has more passenger ferry lines than any other tion between the riparian states (a cooperation which sors and students has contributed to the North — that area in the world; the Baltic Sea’s transport figures are had, in fact, begun before the new state of affairs). In- is, the Baltic region — being far less peripheral, histori- growing enormously.28 deed, the joint successes on the issues of environment, cally, than might be expected. Both academic networks The Baltic region is characterized, more than any on the issue of clean water, on the issue of a secure sea, and scientific travelers have ensured a lively exchange other region, by — among other things — its diverse, have been substantial — if, still, no reason to rest on of ideas and people. Johann Gottfried Herder (born in even incalculable flora of NGOs (non-government orga- one’s laurels, as was shown by the experiences of this East Prussia in 1744, died in Weimar in 1803), began his nizations). These concern themselves with local and re- past summer. expedition of European exploration in Riga. The Baltic gional labor market issues, environmental protection First the good news: While new reports are in on region surrounded a multilingual, multicultural sea, issues, research and education, town partnerships and the presence of stinging jellyfish in the Mediterranean, where nationality was of little or no importance. interregional cooperation. The desire to expand coope- experts can advise that those wishing to avoid painful It was in this region that Nicholas Copernicus, Ty- ration beyond government-administrative institutional contact with that particular jellyfish take their vacation cho Brahe, Carl von Linné, Immanuel Kant, Søren Ki- levels is probably more marked here than anywhere at the Baltic Sea: the jellyfish that one finds there do erkegaard, Niels Bohr and many others lived and did else in the world. A civic culture reaching beyond re- not burn. 31 But then the bad news. Those who wished their research. The Nobel Prize has been awarded here gions and borders is manifest. It has helped cushion the to escape the Polish summer’s 30-degree heat by tak- every year since 1901. The region around Öresund impact of the post-1989 transformation process. ing a dip in the 20-degree water of the Gulf of Gdansk has, after the bridge was built, been the fastest grow- However, the civil culture predates 1989, as the re- could not do so. The blue-green algae saturated swell ing region in Europe — this development has extended gion already had a social network that reached across was full of dangerous bacteria. Just imagine — perfect to Mecklenburg-Vorpommern — and has become the the Iron Curtain. Professional associations had collabo- weather, yet no one can take a swim. And so indeed it home of expanding biotechnological and pharmacol- rated all along, and after 1989 their cooperation rein- was: The beaches were crowded, the water was empty. ogy industries, as well as research centers that earn forced and deepened existing personal relations. This situation is repeated every year — while millions the region the names Medicon Valley and BioCon Val- Because these NGOs and personal contacts have are invested in new hotels and tourism infrastructure ley. These industries and research centers contribute existed in the periphery of the institutional system, in the Bay’s hinterland. St. Petersburg’s Bay is not alone greatly to the region’s prosperity and above all to its and because they have worked on the development in posting signs warning people against bathing, and sense of optimism. of common interests, the widespread lack of transna- former Soviet bloc states are not the only ones that Signs of widespread economic confidence can tional institutions is of less dramatic importance. It is, pour untreated waste water into the Baltic. We have be observed, for instance, in the development of the therefore, by no means a stretch to see the Baltic Sea seen the annual algae photos and reports from Rügen, area’s harbors: in 2007, the Copenhagen harbor saw Region as a progressive laboratory for international co- from Jutland and from the Gulf of Bothnia. Finland and an increase in freight and passengers of ten percent. 21 operation. Sweden have now been brought before the European More than six billion crowns have been invested in The Baltic Sea Region could, in fact, function as a Court for violating the rules for the treatment of munic- the development of the harbor, where three new pas- model for the crisis- and conflict-ridden Mediterranean ipal waste water.32 In plain language, this means: many senger terminals have been built. In 2007, 11.3 million region. The latter cannot boast an NGO flora that reach- municipalities have no sewage treatment whatsoever. passengers passed through the terminals, which made es across the region, much less across the sea, despite The Baltic Sea is a sewer for the holiday cottages in the Stockholm the largest passenger port on the Baltic Sea. the initiation of the 1995 Barcelona Process. This alone archipelago. The region offers not just the most beauti- Stockholm harbor’s cargo-handling grew by five per- casts doubt on the sustainability of the French policy ful sceneries.33 cent to over six million tons, while its container-han- in the south. For years now, experts have warned that the Baltic dling rose by 19 percent. Christel Wiman, Stockholm’s But (as a fly in the soup) it must also be pointed out Sea is one of the most polluted, if not the most pollut- harbor master, terms the Baltic Sea the world’s hottest that such NGOs function optimally — as has been con- ed body of water in the world — despite being located growth region.22 clusively shown in expert, scientific assessments — only in one of the world’s richest regions, and a region, In Travemünde, similar developments can be found: in combination with both a strong Western will and moreover, which boasts an environmental profile. new piers are being built — the port is being expanded the requisite (Western) funding.29 It cannot be stressed The balance sheet is indeed alarming. Here, one must by 29 hectares, which is an increase of more than 50 strongly enough that the Nordic nations have been ex- take into account that virtually no industrial waste has percent over the current area.23 The federal govern- emplary in both respects.30 This is also a revelation de- reached the Baltic since 1989. Since 1990, emissions of ment estimates an annual growth rate of 4.8 percent rived from the transformation process: gentle pressure heavy metals like cadmium, mercury and lead have for the German RoRo ports between now and 202524. increases the willingness to cooperate. fallen by more than 50 percent, simply because there is In 2007, the shipping company Scandlines, which is the scarcely any coastal industry left.34 Nonetheless, more market leader in the southern Baltic, transported 20 The Best Prospects: than one-sixth of the Baltic Sea is biologically dead. million passengers and 4.3 million vehicles.25 Tallink On Stinging Jellyfish The main polluter is agriculture.35 The nitrogen input Silja, now the market leader not only of the eastern is still one million tons, phosphorus, 29,000 tons; the Baltic but of the entire Baltic Sea, has 21 vessels plying and Blue-green Algae period after the 1990s has seen a reduction of only five seven routes and a share-holding of 49 percent of the This year’s annual report on the Baltic Sea tourist in- and eleven percent, respectively, in these two pollut- total freight transport.26 dustry is once again expected to show an increase. As ants. The eutrophication — that is, the nutrient enrich- The Colorline’s superferries, which sail between the effects of global warming have become noticeable — ment of this very shallow body of water, which is a Oslo and Kiel, demonstrate a completely new concept something that favors rich countries and badly hurts mere 415,000 square kilometers (compare this to the in transportation, reflecting a changing market situa- the poor — the recent (and much criticized) investments Mediterranean’s 2.5 million square kilometers) — has tion. Cruises in and on the Baltic Sea have become a in hotel beds, ferries, cruise ships and communication reached intolerable levels. The Baltic Sea has long been very popular leisure activity, also among overseas cus- infrastructure, etc., have been shown to be wise. It is unable to cope with, much less reduce, this over-ferti- tomers. The historical attractions of Tallinn, Helsinki, getting too hot to spend the holidays in the south; rising lization; the renewal of the water of the Baltic Sea is a St. Petersburg, Visby, Stockholm, and Copenhagen temperatures make the north more attractive. The Ger- long-drawn-out process, taking place only through the have laid the groundwork for unprecedented growth man Baltic Sea beaches, Poland, the Baltic and Scandi- Danish straits and requiring, for a complete replace- figures: the Baltic Sea is now third among the world’s navian countries, all benefit from an extended holiday ment, no less than 35 years. Yet this is the only way in most popular cruise regions, trailing only the Carib- season. which salty, oxygen-rich water can enter into the sea. bean and the Mediterranean. Those who observe the That this is a somewhat ambivalent source of joy is At last year’s meeting of the Helsinki Commission summer life along the coasts will readily believe tourist evident, this year, from experiences on the ground, (Helcom) in Krakow, the Commission, which is the En- managers who claim that the Baltic coast has become which have had immediate political repercussions. vironment Coordinator of the Baltic Sea, voted for the a model region: th e ba ltic s e a 34
first time (!) and with the unanimous vote of all partici- to clean up the mess.40 The Prestige had taken in cargo ians were reducing the cultures of the past, not only pating governments (!) — for a significant reduction of in St. Petersburg, and then sailed through the eco- Lübeck, to ashes and ruins. (Braudel did not witness nitrogen emissions (by 135,000 tons) and phosphorus logically vulnerable Baltic Sea. There had already been the Lübeck Palm Sunday night of 1942, when the city emissions (by 15,000 tons), to be enacted by the year small accidents; a disaster on the scale of the Prestige was destroyed: Lübeck received its first prisoner-of- 2021.36 This will be achieved by constructing sewage would have brought Baltic Sea tourism, an industry on war on April 1, that is, two days later. Braudel, who was treatment plants and by reducing agricultural waste which the area is heavily dependent, to a halt. initially imprisoned in Mainz, arrived at the Hanseatic water (here, again, the key word is eutrophication).37 Those responsible for environmental safety in and city in June; the prisoner-of-war camp Oflag Xc was lo- In order to grasp the dimensions of this dream, as the around waterways are well aware of this danger, and cated outside of the city proper.) Commission’s Chair characterized it, it helps to know efforts have been made to improve safety. Safety stand- When it comes to the origin of civilizations, we now that it costs 150,000 euros to reduce phosphorus emis- ards implemented during the last years include the de- have a better understanding of why it seems so diffi- sion by one ton. The huge chicken farms in St. Peters- mand that tankers be double-hulled, that pilotage be cult to establish a positive image of the Baltic region, burg’s vicinity produce about 800,000 tons of manure obligatory (at least in the Cadet Channel) and that a cer- and indeed the north of Europe as a whole, in public per year, including 3,000 tons of phosphorus and tain distance be maintained between shipping routes. and political opinion. For why, despite the repeated 14,000 tons of nitrogen; the reduction of phosphorus Helcom has calculated that 500 million tons of goods proofs of the region’s exemplary character, of the ex- will cost 5,000-6,500 euros per ton.38 are handled in the Baltic region each year; at any given emplary character of Scandinavia’s political and social Remarks made by the Swedish delegation made moment, 2,000 ships are navigating the Baltic Sea. Of every-day political life, does it always require a special clear the Herculean nature of the task undertaken by these, 200 are oil tankers. Furthermore, the amount effort to attract attention and interest, to spark genu- Helcom members: If one closed down all Swedish agri- of cargo handled in the region is expected to double ine engagement? The answer lies in history. During the culture today (scarcely feasible, of course), one would by 2017.41 ”Third Reich”, scientists were sent to the Baltic Sea ba- still achieve only less than half of the required reduc- sin in order to search for evidence of the Aryan origin tion in phosphorus emissions.39 This political path is The Mediterranean of civilization. Up until 1945, the Baltic Sea, in Nazi ide- both rocky and steep, and yet must be followed, for of the North ology, was ranked as the very cradle of civilization. The the alternative is an immeasurably greater disaster. Nordic World had its heart there, between Brunswick How bizarre the ballet on the stage of environmental Following the works of Fernand Braudel (1902–85), the and Stockholm. The same blood and the same culture politics can sometimes be is shown by Uffe Ellemann- great French (Mediterranean) historian and member of unified the peoples.42 Jensen’s criticism of the Danish government, in the the Annales School, the Baltic Sea has borne the title The contaminated memories of this period’s view of (passionate) Swedish criticism of the German govern- Mediterranean of the North. The title signifies that had the Baltic Sea make it difficult, today, to reflect on the ment’s tardiness in entering into negotiations on Baltic there been a second cradle of European civilization, it region’s commemorative places, or even on transna- Sea environmental protection, and in the subsequent would have been located around the Baltic Sea. Civili- tional commemorative locales (something that there skirmishes — which do not, one hopes, constitute rear- zation would have been boosted by the spread of Chris- have been attempts to do). Members of the German guard battles. It is very much apparent that the game of tianity during the Viking period and the economic and Parliament decided, in 2001, that the German govern- pass the joker is underway, with each player worrying cultural encounters between North and South and, ment must cooperate actively in the development of a about serious loss of political face. during the Hanseatic era, between East and West. The common Baltic identity through the implementation of The weapons that were dumped in the Baltic Sea af- north’s brick Gothic edifices may constitute the most joint projects in education and research, transport and ter World War II also represent a significant and contin- palpable evidence of a unique northern culture and communications infrastructure, human rights, envi- uous threat to animals and humans. In the past, Danish art — including St. Mary’s Church in Gdansk, which is ronmental policy, etc. They were informed, first, by the fishermen fished up chemical bombs on a weekly ba- the largest brick church in the world, and, not far from conviction that there is such a thing as common iden- sis — a conservative estimate puts the amount of chemi- there, Marienburg, which is the world’s largest brick tity, perhaps that there even must be one; secondly, by cal weapons dumped in the Baltic at 40,000 tons. structure of any sort. These late Middle Age Gothic-sty- the idea that it is possible to work for the development These have even forced planners to alter the route of le brick buildings give substance to the Baltic region’s of such an identity; and, finally, that identity consists of the Baltic gas pipeline several times over. claims to a common cultural identity. recognizable elements and characteristics. But this is Braudel wrote his brilliant, multi-volume descrip- too simple a picture, for the ideological rubble of many The Price tion and analysis of the Mediterranean world, starting years of indoctrination must be discarded first. To this of Prosperity? with the seventeenth-century reign of Philip II, from debris must be added the mental legacy of the GDR, memory (!), after World War II had ended. He had which, for reasons that are only too obvious, declared Another environmental problem in the Baltic Sea is worked out the history of the Mediterranean after the the Baltic Sea a ”sea of peace” — something that the Bal- linked to the area’s increasing traffic and economic Germans had made him a captive in 1942, persever- tic was far from being, either before or during the Cold exchange — in other words, to the prosperity of the re- ing in the task even after being sent to a concentration War era. gion. The most prominent problems are leakage from camp near Lübeck. He termed the Mediterranean an An urgent, first task may be that of mapping the oil platforms and the consequences of oil tanker cata- ”outstanding personality”. In his view, the Egyptian- common places of commemoration of what are, in strophes. In November 2002, the 26-year-old tanker Judeo-Hellenistic-Roman-Islamic cradle of European fact, more than a thousand years of far-from-peace- Prestige broke apart and sank off the Spanish coast. It civilization is situated on the shores of the Mediterra- ful encounters in the Baltic region. The moors, fields carried a cargo of 77,000 tons of oil. This had disastrous nean, where civilizational diversity sought its unity in and forests along the southern and eastern Baltic Sea consequences for nature and the environment; about cultural cooperation and exchange, and could even be shores are particularly blood-stained — and not only by 300,000 birds were killed and it cost 2.5 billion euros productive. This was and is also (on a smaller scale) the the armies of Napoleon, Hitler and Stalin. Those who case for the Baltic Sea Region. today visit Grunwald learn nothing of Tannenberg. In the Lübeck prison, Braudel anticipated the syn- Knowledge of that particular transnational memo- thesis of different civilizations, nations, and cultures. rial site (German-Polish-Lithuanian), is, however, quite A common climate, a kinship in landscape, a collec- widespread. The German-Danish border region could tively suffered history, and even the experience of the be mentioned, as well, in this context — as could the Bal- sea — all had led to the discovery of a relatively uniform tic itself, that multicultural transit area which has also civilization along the coasts. The stranger, imprisoned been a multiethnic trading center for centuries. in Baltic Lübeck in the mid-twentieth century, invented So there is still much to be done, and there is hope the Mediterranean world of the sixteenth century — at for the future. ≈ a time when twentieth-century European barbar- a model region: th e ba ltic s e a essay feature interview reviews 35
references 37 Baltic 21, Newsletter 1/2008, p. 3. 41 http://www.helcom.fi/stc/files/shipping/Overview%20of%20 38 Ibid. ships%20traffic.pdf [2008.08.25]. 1 See Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2008.03.06, p. 7. Concerning western 39 Dagens Nyheter, 2008.05.24, p. 3. 42 Hans Friedrich Blunck (ed.): Die Nordische Welt. Geschichte, Mediterranean policy, see Georges Corm, Die armen Nachbarn 40 http://www.greenpeace.de/themen/sonstige_themen/ Wesen und Bedeutung der nordischen Völker, Berlin 1937. von gegenüber. Europas Mittelmeerpolitik geht an den Realitäten nachrichten/artikel/ein_jahr_nach_der_prestige_katastrophe/ vorbei, in Le monde diplomatique, July 2008, p. 9. [2008.08.26]. 2 In Berlingske Tidende, 2008.05.28: http://uffeellemann.blogs. http://www.greenpeace.de/themen/sonstige_themen/ berlingske.dk/2008/05/28/havet-omkring-danmark/. nachrichten/artikel/prestige_katastrophe_bislang_unterscha- 3 Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2008.08.16–17, p. 2.; Der Tagesspiegel, etzt/ [2008.08.26]. 2008.08.23, p. 6. 4 Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2008.08.19, p. 7. 5 Quoted in Olav F. Knudsen, Stability and Security in the Baltic Sea Region, London 1999, p. 154. 6 See Baltinfo: The Official Journal of the Council of the Baltic Sea States, No. 88, Sept/Oct/November 2007, p. 10f. For the results from the campaign, see Balticness: The Official Journal of the First biography of Olof Palme Council of the Baltic Sea States, special issue 2008. (”Baltic- ness” is now the title of the press organ of the Baltic Council’s Olof Palme, twice Swedish Prime Minister (1969– city of the observations that were made public. secretary’s office. Up until 2007, it had the simple and unpre- 1976, 1982–1986), has an interesting and by no The first Baltic context is a starting point in Part tentious title ”Baltinfo”.) means problem-free relationship to the Baltic Sea One of Kjell Östberg’s political biography of Olof 7 See Balticness: The Official Journal of the Council of the Baltic Sea Area. Palme. It was published in the spring of 2008, and States, May 2008. His mother’s family, the second part is ex- 8 See Süddeutsche Zeitung, 2008.03.06, p. 7. 9 Quoted from Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 2008.05.24, p. 6. the von Knierems, be- pected soon. Important 10 Erhard Busek, Zu wenig, zu spät. Europa braucht ein besseres longed to the German- studies of aspects of Krisenmanagement, Hamburg 2007, p. 19 and 31f. Baltic nobility; his Palme’s life have been 11 Busek, p. 60. maternal grandfather done earlier — for ex- 12 Ibid., p. 61. was the rector of Latvia’s ample, Gunnela Björk’s 13 Ibid., p. 62. agricultural college. Af- book on Palme in the 14 In a Baltic-theme Issue, Das Parlament (2007.08.27/ ter the restoration of Lat- media, and on his rela- 2007.09.03) has gone over the various aspects of the success vian independence, the tionship to the media. story. 15 Marion Gräfin Dönhoff,Was mir wichtig war. Letzte Aufzeich- family estate in Skangal But when Östberg’s work nungen und Gespräche, Berlin 2004, p. 107ff. was returned, although is finished, it will be the 16 Baltic Sea Magazine, 2008.06.02, p. 9. the family later donated first complete scholarly 17 Baltic Development Forum: State of the Region Report 2007, it to the Salvation Army. The manor of Skangal — the estate of Olof Palme’s study of Palme and his Copenhagen, Helsinki 2007, p. 25. Olof Palme’s paternal maternal grandparents in Latvia. time. 18 See Bernd Henningsen (ed.), Towards a Knowledge-based grandmother, Hanna Society in the Baltic Sea Region, Berlin 2002. Palme, was born a von Born, a Finnish baronial fa- Kjell Östberg is a professor of history at Söder- 19 See Bernd Henningsen, Tango des Nordens. Transformation, Konsens und Solidarität im nördlichen Europa, in: Kursbuch mily who owned the Sarvlax Estate in Pernaja. Her törn University and was the first director of the 157/2004, pp. 78–93. brother, Victor Magnus von Born, was the last Lant- Institute of Contemporary History, which, since 20 http://www2.hu-berlin.de/for:n/themen/jourfixe. marskalk (or ”Lord Marshall”) in the Diet of Fin- it was launched in 1998, has been located there. html#berichte land, replaced only after the revolutionary events His writings encompass research on bureaucracy 21 Baltic Sea Magazine, 2008.06.02, p. 9. in the Russian Empire in 1905, when the currently within the labor movement, research on Swedish 22 Dagens Nyheter, 2008.05.21, p. 14. existing unicameral parliament was established. municipal administration during the 20th century, 23 http://www.lhg-online.de/Pressemitteilung.112+M52b35f86dfc And the Sarvlax Estate would later be occupied by and an examination of the events of 1968, the year .0.html [2008.08.25]. the Red Guard during the Finnish civil war, during that Palme clearly emerges as the leading figure 24 http://www.bmvbs.de/Anlage/original_1001054/Seeverkehrs - prognose-Zusammenfassung.pdf [2008.08.25]. which Palme’s more ”purely” Swedish uncle, Olof, within modern social democracy, though this is 25 Baltic Sea Magazine, 2008.06.02, p. 9. a promising historian, died on the White side in the also the time when he encounters mistrust within 26 Das Parlament, 2007.08.27/2007.09.03, p. 10. final battles outside Tampere in April of 1918. the new, extra-parliamentary left. 27 Presseinformation des Tourismusverband Mecklenburg– Palme could hardly be considered a politician Vorpommern, Nr. 019/2008, March 2008. almost immediately after Olof Palme had formed who was primarily focused on Nordic or Baltic 28 Das Parlament, 2007.08.27/2007.09.03, p. 10. his second government, he was greeted by a weigh- regions. On the contrary — and Östberg agrees with 29 See Marta Reuter, Networking a Region into Existence? Dynamics ty problem. The year before, a Soviet submarine this assessment — he has been described as the first of Civil Society Regionalization in the Baltic Area, Berlin 2007. 30 See Clive Archer, The Baltic Sea Region: Can it and should it had gone aground in the archipelago outside Karls- ”American” politician in Sweden. One expression be a model for co-operation in the rest of Europe? in Carsten krona, a sensitive marine area and the location of of this Americanism and internationalism was his Schymik, Valeska Henze, Jochen Hille (eds.), Go North! Baltic a Swedish naval base. This precipitated a compre- great interest in the Third — colonial, or formerly Sea Region Studies: Past — Present — Future, Berlin 2006, pp. hensive military reconnaissance effort — prompted colonial — World. The first Swedish cabinet minister 99–104. by reports that came in shortly thereafter of indi- in modern times with more obvious Baltic roots 31 Süddeutsche Zeitung 2008.07.24, p. 10. cations of other foreign underwater presences in was Laila Freivalds, something that Palme’s succes- 32 See the European Council Directive concerning urban waste Swedish waters, primarily in Stockholm’s southern sor, Ingvar Carlsson, had the privilege of pointing water teatment: http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/de/lvb/l28008. archipelago. Political protests were heard — from out. htm (2008.08.22). ≈ 33 Der Tagesspiegel, 2008.03.02, p. R7. Sweden to the Soviet Union, which came to be 34 http://www.helcom.fi/environment2/ifs/ifs2007/en_GB/Cover/ regarded as the intruder — and in some places a references [2008.08.22]. media and popular hysteria developed surroun- 35 http://www.helcom.fi/environment2/ifs/ifs2007/en_ GB/Co- ding real or alleged violations of Swedish territorial Kjell Östberg, I takt med tiden. Olof Palme ver/ [2008.08.22]. waters. Olof Palme was hardly a dominant voice in 1927–1969 [Moving with the Times: Olof Palme 36 http://www.helcom.fi/BSAP/Action Plan/en_GB/Action Plan/ the chorus of protest, but he had to act with resolve 1927–1969]. Stockholm: Leopard 2008 [2008.08.22]. against Moscow, even if, as a private individual, he Gunnela Björk, Olof Palme och medierna [Olof may have had his doubts concerning the authenti- Palme and the Media]. Umeå: Boréa 2006. 36the observer
Betwen naked science and naked diplomacy. A conference report
rom Borders in Space to Bor- as mental borders. Rather surprisingly, ders in the Mind. This was he ended his talk with a plea for the more than just the theme of a dissolution of such places/spaces of the F conference held in mid-May mind as CBEES, and with the hope for 2008, as announced on a dazzling a future, united Europe without East/ poster posted on the western shores West distinctions. of the Baltic and celebrating the first Maybe the audience needed to catch four years of the East’s ”accession” to its breath after such a dramatic ending. the European Union. Actually, it was Because of this, there was no break, no a full three-day event — including two question-and-answer period, between ”Södertörn University lectures” on the first and the second contributions Wednesday May 14th and Thursday May this morning. 15th, a book-release party, a meeting A second keynote address thus fol- of Sweden’s national doctoral student lowed immediately. It was held by Pro- network, as well as an academic confer- fessor Claus Offe, who is currently at the ence complete with keynote speakers, recently started Hertie School of Public panels and panelists, convened at Policy in Berlin. He analyzed what is Södertörn University on Friday May apparently the ”European enlargement 16th. The conference was followed by success story” from the perspectives an academic and diplomatic ”happen- of the EU-15 and the EU-10 of 2004 and ing” (as one of the top-shots put it) at 2007 respectively (leaving aside Cyprus the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Stock- and Malta). Offe also discussed the fate holm. It was sponsored by the Embassy of the German welfare state that exists of the Republic of Poland in Stockholm, east of the Elbe, and concluded that a the Swedish Institute for European post-socialist welfare state has yet to Policy Studies (SIEPS), and Södertörn emerge after the dissolution of the old, (and its close affiliate, the Baltic Sea authoritarian regime. He reminded Foundation). And it was organized and the audience of the fact New Europe’s led by Professor Apostolis Papakostas, Gini coefficient — the best available Research Directors at CBEES. He was measurement of income differences, ably assisted by doctoral students from according to most social scientists — has the Baltic and East European Graduate recently surpassed even that of the School (BEEGS) and the Unit of Sociolo- United States, with the gap between the gy at the Department of Social Sciences. rich and poor becoming overwhelm- Zhanna Kravchenko deserves special ingly wide. He ended his speech with mention for all her hard work (done less a few speculative and somewhat less than a week before she defended her dark reflections on what chances might dissertation). exist in the future for transforming the The conference was officially opened Union into a borderless Europe, from on Thursday May 15th by an address by the perspective of an ongoing equaliza- Södertörn University Vice-Chancellor tion process of human living conditions Ingela Josefson. The huge auditorium across the continent. was crowded, including participants who had traveled from afar as well as those belonging to the local community. For an hour and a half the audi- The Vice-Chancellor was followed by ence had listened attentively to the two the first keynote speaker, Professor keynote speakers. After a long coffee Piotr Stzompka, who explored the ten break which offered participants the types of borders that existed and to possibility to converse more informally, some extent still exist. These divide which set the air outside the auditorium Europe roughly along the Elbe, and a-buzz, Rebecca Lettevall, Research include military and cultural, everyday- Director at CBEES, introduced the third life boundaries as well as those that ”Södertörn Lecturer”. For more than have emerged as a result of high diplo- an hour the audience again silently and macy. This was an East European — that attentively listened as an intense and is, an insider’s — perspective; for us, lively Saskia Sassen delivered her talk the perspective of ”the Other”. Ad- on globalization and de-nationalization. dressing the theme of the conference, With this, the conference took a step he argued forcefully for the necessity further in criss-crossing the boundaries of maintaining ”fences” — rather than of mind, space, and even time. The ”walls” — around the intimate sphere in Baltic worlds, Europe or Eastern Eu- a world of threatening material as well rope were no longer immaterial fences
No, neither Bildt nor Reinfeldt was present. It was others who cut the ribbon. 37
on the map. Rather, Professor Sassen vicinity of the Swedish Foreign Office). (who was also pregnant), the Swedish ushered the conference into a different, The Stockholm Corps Diplomatique Member of Parliament, Hillevi Larsson, moral-spiritual topology, consisting of was visibly present, with the evident representing the ”usual” political rulers a ”third” space between the global and exception of Zimbabwe (the Doyen of of Sweden who are currently in opposi- the national. Or was it a third space that the Stockholm CD), perhaps a reminder tion, reminded the gentlemen on the was as close to the local as it was to the of the invisible borders of the Mediter- panel, as well as the audience, of the global? Sassen argued that globalization ranean, or the Equator? Not unexpect- prospects of an ”Aging Europe”. Europe is driven from within the nation-state edly, embassies of the Union were well is aging, in part, because of the declin- through a process from above as well as represented while representatives from ing reproduction rate seen throughout from below. These combined processes nation-states such as the Philippines the member states of the European Un- have created new ”assemblages”. Exam- and the United States of America were ion. Hence, the cosmopolitan ”global” ples of these include a new sphere for also present. The Ambassador of Po- was still present, with this approving jurisdiction between the International land welcomed the crowd before Piotr indication of the need to enlarge the Criminal Court and the World Trade Stzompka summarized the speakers’ North-Eastern Alliance to offset the con- Organization; firms and financial cent- contributions and debates from the pre- tinental hard core — Berlin, Brussels and ers; and local activists, such as Amnesty vious day. After a short while a panel of Paris and their hinterlands — and to find International, that act locally, globally, one woman and six white men (all prob- new, willing, young Southern Coalition and at the national level. ably in excess of 45 years of age, five of partners such as Turkey. them — with the exception of the cultur- al critic, Marceij Zaremba — in civilian Although Sassen ended a few Western uniforms) had the opportunity Whereas the deliberations during minutes before the scheduled lunch to discuss European affairs. For such the first two days were characterized break, the conference chair decided a set-up to happen today within the by typical European Enlightenment that questions should be saved until borders of this particular host country skepticism — a certain pessimism of that afternoon, or be asked during is almost unimaginable. Hence, when it the intellect, ”naked science”, that is, lunch. Of course the morning session occurred there was a lot of murmuring a discourse less self-congratulatory provided much food for thought. In from parts of the audience. than otherwise is common at present the afternoon, conference participants throughout the Union — the last day was were offered three different panels with characterized by optimism of the will three different themes. They can be For this occasion, the Government and ”naked diplomacy”, as politicians roughly classified as addressing issues of Poland had invited Pawel Swieboda and their civil servants in the field of around cosmopolitanism, civil society from the Polish Prime Minister’s Office, international relations took charge. and identities and were chaired by pairs while Carl Bildt and Fredrik Reinfeldt Thus, a ”naked global” left its imprint of researchers. Lettevall was alone, as were represented on the panel by their on Wednesday and Thursday, while, Sassen had to leave for another appoint- Secretary of State for European Affairs, in a similar but different vein, Friday ment in London. Ann-Cathrine Jungar, Håkan Jonsson. Swieboda summarized was devoted to a ”naked Europe” (to one of the other Research Directors, the contents of a report he recently pub- tell the Truth, i.e. Knowledge/Power). joined Offe, and Papakostas teamed up lished on the state of the Union from a To conclude, borders were definitely with Sztompka. A number of panelists Polish perspective after its enlargement crossed in time and space, and possibly from various parts of the world, includ- in May 2004: We care for Europe. Now- also in minds, during these intense days ing Catherine Delcroix, as well as a long adays there is an abundance of reports on the western shores of the Baltic. list of major Baltic researchers such of this kind, and for the sake of conven- Nonetheless, there are still new and old as Joakim Palme from the Institute for ience and brevity the interested reader boundaries to confront in the world Future Studies in Stockholm, and Björn is recommended to download it at outside the seminar rooms, Lecture, Wittrock, from SCAS at Uppsala Univer- www.demoseuropa.eu. Swieboda was and banquettes halls. sity, intensely discussed both their own followed by several other distinguished For Zhanna Kravchenko, the events topics and the talks given earlier by the speakers, including the former Polish of May 2008 did not finish with the Fri- three social science jetsetters. In one of Foreign Minister Andrzej Olechowski. day lunch at the Sheraton. She had to do the panels, Joanna Regulska, a visiting The latter made a strong argument for the necessary follow-up work, as well as professor at CBEES from Rutgers Uni- closer Atlantic ties. He emphasised (successfully) defend her dissertation, versity, took the discussion to a differ- the existence of new opportunities for Family versus Policy: A Comparative ent plane by emphasising the existence European growth, especially regard- Study of Russia and Sweden, at Stock- of a ”second” global ”S”. ing the advantages that exist for those holm University three days later. ≈ On the Friday morning of May 16th, investing in the East (low wages, etc.). the conference left the mapping of Furthermore, he reminded the listeners the life spheres of the everyday for of the time in the 1960s when his grand- the more systemic worlds of politics mother, a true matrona according to and the ”international community”. A Olechowski, warned him against going number of people in the diplomatic as to Sweden because of the permissive- well as the academic spheres turned ness and promiscuity of this society. up at the Sheraton Hotel opposite The mood was thoroughly upbeat until ill: ragni svensson Stockholm’s Town Hall (which is in the the only female member of the panel 38 essays feature interview reviews
In the spring of 2008, Piotr Sztompka was a visiting researcher at Södertörn University. Stepping stone into the world A conversation on sociology with Piotr Sztompka.
e is a man of great stature. His self-confidence is obvious and well found- of one country. My main ambition was to get away from the provincialism of one ed. He has reached the pinnacle of the academic world and expresses place. I wanted to live in Poland but also to exist in the world. Sociology was a very the generosity and openness of somebody who is aware of what he has international discipline. My knowledge of English became an advantage.” H achieved, and stands by what he has done. At this time, in the early 1960s, Piotr Sztompka saw no political constraints. His And he has sociology to thank for it all: advisor was supportive even if he probably neither read nor understood everything ”Sociology became a platform on which I wanted to drift into the wider world. of the dissertation on ”functional analysis” that he was supervising. And eventually it served this function. I succeeded in this regard. I have been able The theoretical theme of the work — later to be expanded into Sztompka’s first to live and work in Poland, but also was able to become internationally active and volume in English, System and Function — also ”served the function” of making it recognized”, he says in his temporary office at CBEES’ new location on the Flem- possible to uphold an independent line of thinking at the time. Zygmunt Bauman ingsberg campus of Södertörn University. and Stanislaw Ossowski also chose quite esoteric areas of study to stay away from Looking back at these student years, he can see an underlying logic in his profes- Communist Party concerns. It would have been an entirely different matter to write sional life. As a student in secondary school his main interest was natural sciences. about social policy or theology. But soon he decided this was too narrow. To become ”somebody” in the natural sci- ences, you had to specialize and maintain an undivided focus. The American consulate in his native Kracow, by more or less illicit means, de- A further step to safeguard independence was to join the Party! Party member- livered the Herald Tribune and Newsweek to his pianist father’s doorstep. The son ship helped him get a Fulbright scholarship to the U.S. When he first applied, he lost learned about the world and the English language. So he chose law, the natural dis- out to a lackluster candidate who was a Party member. Piotr Sztompka learned the cipline of public affairs in communist Poland. lesson, entered the Party, and the next year, 1972, arrived at Berkeley, California, where he joined the community of sociologists, rewrote and expanded his Polish dissertation on a portable second-hand Olivetti in a drab hotel room, made 20 xer- Along the way, he discovered sociology as a secondary theme in the introduc- ox copies of his manuscript that he then sent to leading publishers he had identified tory law curriculum. He had not even heard of it before. Sociology had been non- on the shelves in the Berkeley library, and got published. His international career existent in Stalinist times but was reintroduced in Poland starting in 1956. The first was off to a start. sociology book he got a hold of was a meta-theoretical work on the peculiarities of ”Jerzy Waitr, Zygmunt Bauman, Kolakowski, Michnik... There were times when the social sciences. It was not about Polish society at all. 90% of all prominent social scientists were Party members. This did not mean that The young man was still a natural scientist by inclination: they wanted to have anything to do with communism. We did not ask for favors or ”What drove me first was a fascination with abstract theory. I even went into the privileges but simply to be free and to be able to travel.” philosophy of sciences, looking at the question of how sociology could be a scien- This was a time when there were probably more communists in New York or tific field.” London than in the Polish workers’ party. Still, it is absurd that the most theoreti- ”But there was a second undercurrent. Law is national, it has the perspective cal, ”bourgeois” social science turns out to be the safest venue for independent thinking in communist society, and that Party membership creates the greatest possibility for freedom, for getting out and traveling to the U.S. But there are con- A well-dressed and temporary parallels of course, in China: Today, Chinese social scientists are allowed engaged academic to read and write anything and travel widely, as long as they do not challenge the lecturer, a native supremacy of the Party. of Kracow. ”This was one of the rare opportunistic things I did”, Piotr Sztompka confesses. ”But this way, you could stay in a normal environment and do ’normal’ things.” But maybe there is a sensitive issue here:
Stalinists and sociologists didn’t fit together. A Polish sociologist almost needed to reason like a natural scientist. 39 p hoto: mon i c a s tr ndell
”I was never a Communist”, he emphasizes. With his modern American intellectual orientation and a slightly embarrassing And his exit from the Party smells of heroism. Communist Party membership in the background as a purely opportunistic safe- ”When I joined the Party, I said to myself that I will leave when they start shoot- guard, one would think that Marxism would exist only at the most distant margins ing at people again.” of his interests. Is Marxism of any scholarly relevance today? In December 1981, Piotr Sztompka was teaching at the Johns Hopkins Center ”On the metatheoretical level, Marx sees society as an asymmetric whole. This in Bologna. When martial law was declared in Poland on December 13, he imme- is similar to my studies of functional systems. Then there is the idea that by being a diately returned to hand in his Party membership card. The borders were closed scholar you have an effect on the world, you influence politics and social develop- behind him. But the military leaders were worried about their international reputa- ments. When your ideas affect politics and ordinary people, they become praxis tion, and Professor Sztompka returned to Italy. There was a green card to America rather than remaining academic.” waiting and a position in New York. Emigration was a viable option. But even with ”On the theoretical level”, Piotr Sztompka continues, ”there is the importance his international orientation and the tempting opportunities in the U.S., he did not of the notion of class. Even with the dramatic changes we have seen in capitalism want to leave permanently. Even today, he never stays away from Kracow for more since Marx’s time, this is still relevant.” than six months a year. Finally, there is Marx’s belief in grass roots mobilization, that revolutionary mobilization can change the world. The paradox is that this idea was verified in the Solidarity movement in Poland, which showed how the power of the people could American theoretical sociology, though, remains his main area of interest. achieve change by joining forces in civil society against communist rule. During a second visit to the U.S. and New York in 1974, he came even closer to the ”It is ironic”, he smiles, ”that the proletariat fought against the communist core of functional analysis by getting to know Robert K. Merton, who became a state. Intellectuals were helpful but this was a mass movement against the workers’ friend and mentor. The master analyst of roles and role sets became his role model. state.” Ten years later, he would be Merton’s biographer. So, we proceed in the discussion, from the relevance of Marxism to ”I was lucky to meet a person like Merton. To have a true master is one of the the relevance of civil society in the 1980s and today. secrets of success in the academic profession. And he, perhaps the greatest sociolo- gist of the 20th century, gave me the two most important gifts one may get: trust ”Civil society was re-discovered in the ’80s by leaders of the anti-communist oppo- and friendship. Just on the basis of reading my first book he invited me to visit as a sition in Central Europe as a kind of intellectual tool to generalize their own experi- professor at Columbia. It was a considerable measure of trust in an unknown young ence of strong bonds of association that existed outside of the state. ’Anti-political scholar from Eastern Europe, thus creating an obligation in me to match the expec- politics’ — to use the language of Vaclav Havel — stood up on behalf of the public in- tations. He became my role model and master not only in the field of sociology, but terest. As early as 1979, I had a personal experience at a mass during the first visit to also regarding personal problems, always standing at my side during the inevitable Poland by the Polish Pope John Paul II. Two million people were gathered in a large moments of personal crisis.” field. They were ordinary, quite isolated people. After the religious ceremony end- 40 essays feature interview reviews
ed, hundreds of banners and flags were raised with political slogans. ”Poles generally But how about the relatively This was a sociological miracle and an articulation of civil society.” recent postwar Polish territorial losses in the east Still, when you analyze the political situation in Poland from have negative views to Belarus, Lithuania, and the 1990s and onwards, you speak of a lack of trust as if there Ukraine? were no bonds of civil society in Polish society. Might there be a of two larger powers contradiction here? — and positive views ”There are no notions of revenge, but ”Before 1989 we had civil society underground, and civil society rather more of a wish for more, closer against the state. Then the underground civil society won, and there of two others.” cooperation. Poles, for example, insist was an immediate change. Civil society stood up for, not against, the that Ukraine should be admitted to the new political system. But the old civil society was lost in the newness of the situa- EU. But with older people there are of course strong nostalgic feelings and the wish tion. But very soon you had a tremendous outbreak of civil society in three areas: In to visit places of symbolic importance like Polish cemeteries.” the economy, there was a lot of entrepreneurial activity from below and in the po- Given its history, it is quite logical for Poland to seek security with the U.S. and litical arena a sudden outbreak of groups that wanted to change themselves into po- with NATO. NATO relieves Polish anxiety and suspicions, more so than the Euro- litical parties; at one time at least 100 political parties were registered. A third area pean Union. Other advantages with relationship to the U.S. are the bonds created was foundations and all sorts of NGOs. In that regard, the beginning seemed very by emigration to America and the signals of liberty from Radio Free Europe and promising. We saw civil society moving from having to disguise itself, to reform, to the like during the Cold War. With France there are roots in the emigration during having a place in normal developments.” the years of Polish partition in the 19th century and romantic feelings connected to ”However, later came things that I see as a kind of trauma. This was due to the similar styles. social costs of transition and the disillusionment that followed. Necessary but pain- Not all old historic patterns are relevant. Some historical grievances are forgot- ful reforms undermined optimism, trust, and a feeling of empowerment. Then, for ten. The Swedish imperial past that played itself out partly on Polish soil is not at all a long time we had constant changes of government, with the pendulum swinging reflected in relations today. When Piotr Sztompka talks about Polish images of back and forth between the right and the left. This paralyzed civil society for quite Sweden they are quite familiar — a model involving a capitalism tamed by wise some time.” social policy.
The new millennium has been very problematic, with a lasting crisis in civil His own image of Sweden is more based on personal relations than the pursuit society. Here Piotr Sztompka gets highly personal in his criticism of the populist of social role models. As a teenager, he was able to make his first journey abroad to and autocratic rule of the Kaczynski twins whom he publicly attacked during the Uppsala and a Swedish family there. He came back to Uppsala as a sociologist in the election campaign in the fall of 2007, his first direct political intervention since he 1970s when the university hosted the world congress of the International Sociologi- had handed in his Party card 25 years earlier. cal Association (to which he would be elected chairman thirty years later). Today ”The twins totally neglected civil society with rule from above. Everything was he has two Swedish coordinates — CBEES and the graduate school of Baltic studies directed and controlled from Warsaw. This was terribly destructive. Civil society at Södertörn University, and SCAS, the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in must exist for real democracy to operate.” Uppsala. But once again we see his optimistic smile when he turns to developments in His visits to Södertörn have stimulated his interest in empirical sociology. In May Poland since late 2007: 2007, he delivered the first ”Södertörn Lecture”, published by the school asThe ”Democracy has its mechanisms; young people in particular got involved, won Ambivalence of Social Change in Post-Communist Societies. He has taught a course the last elections and kicked the provincial party out of power. Now we are again in on social and cultural change in post-communist societies, quite different from his a period when civil society has better opportunities to operate. There is optimism, regular theoretical focus when at home in Kracow. trust, and a feeling of power present in people.” ”Professionally, I am not an area specialist. But I feel very good here.” Piotr Sztompka is full of enthusiasm when he cites recent polls in Poland where ”My visits to Södertörn meet part of my professional ambitions, to experience social trust is on the rise; 88% say they have trust in Europe and 65% in government the pleasures and joys connected with teaching, the chance to pass on understand- (compared to as little as 7% for the previous government). ing and knowledge, also to those with very limited knowledge.” Piotr Sztompka recalls the fascination of teaching a course to first-year students, Will we also see better chances now to improve the problematic Sociology 1, as a guest professor in the U.S. relations with neighbors and historical enemies like Germany and ”Here I teach graduate students, of course. But I teach about Eastern Europe, Russia? about which knowledge is quite fragmented. It is most rewarding to meet the stu- ”Poles generally have negative views of two larger powers — Germany and Rus- dents here and get their responses.” sia — and positive views of two others — France and the United States. And we have our reasons.” ”With Germany today”, Piotr Sztompka remarks, ”we have more faith in the His only critical remarks about CBEES are that its concerns, to his taste, are per- German political system than in Germans as a people, in particular Germans of a haps excessively limited to the Baltic region, and especially to the Baltic republics. certain age. There is also a particular uneasiness with East Germans. With Russia it ”The center has a great chance to extend its focus beyond the Baltics and even is the other way around: We are positive towards Russian people — maybe there is a Poland, to the Balkans for example.” Slavic solidarity relating to culture — but see Russian power negatively, whether it is ”Real understanding of post-communism requires you to see the diversity”, Czarist, Soviet, or the kind of power that Putin wields.” he emphasizes. ”The Baltic republics which were part of the Soviet Union proper
Three sociological classics: Karl Marx, Max Weber, and Piotr Sztompka’s mentor Robert K. Merton.
Weber — sometimes called the Marx of the bourgeoisie — was suspicious of the Poles. Marx cheered them on. p hoto: mon i c a s tr ndell
Anders Mellbourn, on the left, and Piotr Sztompka, on the right, discussing social theory in the newly opened F House at Södertörn University. are quite different from states that were fairly independent and more different still With fresh memories of the growing Solidarity movement at home, he came to the from Romania and Yugoslavia.” University of Michigan at Ann Arbor in 1984 and met with the late Charles Tilly, Ted ”To understand Eastern Europe, you must look further”, he reiterates. Gurr, and the other great students of social movements at the time. He rediscov- At SCAS in Uppsala he is back to the roots of his theoretical interest in sociology. ered popular mass movements and the merits of a focus on people. SCAS is one of the illustrious groups of international Centers for Advanced Study, to ”This is the level where history is made”, he says with growing enthusiasm. which prominent scholars are invited to live and write in a collegial, almost family- ”From below, force is produced, maintained, and re-produced by individuals and like atmosphere. Piotr Sztompka has been a fellow at SCAS several times and has people. When you look at the center, you see it is driven by people.” written some of his more important works there. Today, he talks about the ”third” sociology and ”everyday life” where he ex- ”SCAS has come a long way since the early 1990s. Now it is ranked with the very presses an interest in the most mundane aspects of human life and behavior. best of its kind, on a par with the Wissenschaftskolleg in Berlin or the Center for With the eye of an anthropologist, he looks at the components of the spheres of Advanced Study at Stanford.” private life. Since boyhood he has been an avid photographer and now he analyses And Piotr Sztompka wants to be one of the best. He represents a generation of photographic objects, pictures, to gain insights into globalization, poverty, and European scholars who do not blush when they talk about their dreams and ambi- other overriding issues of the day. tions. ”This has given me a new window on old problems and an extended sociological ”I do not want to be arrogant, but you need utopian ideas to move forward, you imagination.” need to have unrealistic goals to be able to soar high.” We have now come full circle with his original observations in his doctoral dis- So now he shares the eternal dream of all social scientists — from Marx, Weber, sertation of 40 years ago. There he argued that Parsons and the system theories and onward — to be able to formulate a complete theory of social action. His next had important roots in early 20th century social anthropology. But ”everyday life” book will be entitled Social Existence. Together with his previous work, Social Be- analysis is not anthropology: coming, from the early 1990s, it could be the foundation for such a general theory. ”Early social and cultural anthropology was mostly descriptive. Theory was only We talk about the three stages of sociology that he perceives. They coincide with marginal, then. I think that my focus on ’everyday life’ may add to theory.” his own stages of sociological interest. It all began with systems and Parsons. Eventually, after Social Becoming and Social Existence, he wants to add a volume ”I started out macro, with systemic analysis at some level above the behavior of on the theoretical understanding of everyday life. With that achieved, his grand individuals.” social theory may be in place. ”You have to strive in order to get anywhere”, Piotr Sztompka concludes. So far, he has gone quite far indeed. ≈ Marxism is of course also a little like that. You see individuals only as actors in a system. anders mellbourn Then, in the 1980s, he reached the second stage with another visit to the U.S. 42gatherings
International Symposium. The avant-garde critic in Soviet Russia
van Aleksandrovich Aksenov on the poetry of Susanna Mar, Akse- Witness seminar. (1883-1935), critic, poet, and trans- nov’s wife, and a theoretical account of lator, was an outstanding repre- Aksenov’s aesthetics were also offered Recollections of upheavals sentative of the genre-crossing to the symposium. and internationalist spirit of Russian This highly successful and fruitful or the Baltic Soviet republics, greatly to the understanding of a proc- avant-garde art. His important book on academic endeavor resulted in a collec- people in the Scandinavian ess which had an effect on the situation Picasso was published in the year of the tion of articles which, in combination countries often played a sup- not only in the liberated nations, but revolutions, 1917, but received almost with the two-volume edition of Aksen- portive role in their attempts also in Sweden. Sweden, as well as Den- no response at the time. In the 1920s, ov’s collected works recently published to gain independence. Laila Freivalds, mark and Finland, came to assume a Aksenov was close to the Constructiv- in Moscow, will doubtless shed new a Social Democratic justice minister special responsibility for the European ists and worked in the theater of Vsevo- light on the extraordinary contributions and later foreign minister, had Latvian integration of the Baltic countries. This lod Meyerhold. He also served as the of Ivan Aksenov to Russian culture. The roots, and the Social Democrats deputy sequence of events is also described in dean of its directors’ school. Aksenov’s book will be published in early 2009 party secretary for many years, Enn Bronssoldatens hämnd [The Revenge of analysis of the problems of mise-en- in the series of Södertörn Academic Kokk, is married to former Speaker Bir- the Bronze Soldier], by Arne Bengtsson, scène, which was more geometrical Studies with Lars Kleberg and Aleksei gitta Dahl, an Estonian. Bruno Kalnins, journalist for the Swedish news agency than ideological, influenced a new Semenenko as editors. ≈ the long-term chairman of the Latvian Tidningarnas Telegrambyrå (TT). ≈ generation of film directors, headed by Social Democrats, lived in exile in Swe- Sergei Eisenstein. The last decade of his den. But Sweden and other neighboring life Aksenov devoted to translation and countries could also be cautious in their to essays on Elizabethan drama. response to Baltic aspirations towards references For different reasons, Ivan Aksenov’s liberation during the final stage of the Thomas Lundén & Torbjörn Nilsson, life and works have remained unknown Soviet Union’s existence. eds., Sverige och Baltikums frigörelse: outside a small circle of initiated read- Nevertheless, there was strong popu- Två vittnesseminarier om storpolitik ers. During the Soviet era, he was quick- lar sympathy in Sweden for the revolu- kring Östersjön 1989–1994 [Sweden ly marginalized because of his non- or tions in Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania. and the Emancipation of the Baltic Re- a-ideological position. Later specialized Gatherings to show solidarity were held gion: Two Witness Seminars on Interna- scholars have ignored him. They found in the streets and town squares. Under tional Politics in the Baltic Sea Region, it too difficult to grasp his versatile the Bildt government (1991–1994), seri- 1989–1994]. Institute of Contemporary personality, which was simultaneously ous and resolute initiatives were under- History/CBEES 2008 original and representative of the multi- taken to try to involve these countries Arne Bengtsson, Bronssoldatens faceted Russian avant-garde movement. in a Nordic and Western European hämnd: Baltiska betraktelser [The An international symposium ”Akse- community. At the end of World War II, Revenge of the Bronze Soldier: Baltic nov and Surroundings”, organized by many Balts fleeing the Soviet army had Reflections]. grannland.com 2007. Professor Lars Kleberg and Dr. Aleksei arrived in Sweden, and this contributed Semenenko (CBEES), was convened to the natural sense of connectedness at Krusenberg Herrgård on May 22–25 with the populations of the liberated 2008 in order to discuss Aksenov’s states. The Swedish intelligence agency multifaceted works. The symposium, had also supported subversive activities although not large, gathered together a in the Baltic countries during the first unique group of specialists in Russian decade of the Cold War, but without culture and literature from all over the success. world: participants came from Russia, Swedish diplomats such as Kris- Ukraine, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, ter Wahlbäck and Lars Peter Fredén France, USA, Italy, Serbia, the Czech Re- participated actively in the Swedish public and Estonia. Among them were rapprochement with the new regimes renowned scholars Oksana Bulgakowa, in these areas, which, in times past, John Bowlt, Michail Meylac, Aleksandr had had a close relation to the Swedish Parnis, and others. Baltic Sea Power. In many places there For three days, participants inves- has been talk of ”the good old Swedish tigated the multifarious legacy of Ak- period”. This has provided credit for senov, ranging from art, literature and Swedes, as well as some maneuvering theater to music, cinema and transla- room, even if the Swedish recognition tion. The papers presented at the sym- of the Soviet Union’s annexations dur- posium discussed the complexities of ing World War II might well have cre- Aksenov’s biography, his relation to ated unfavorable conditions. Battle over the Soviet Cubist artists and his contacts with Ser- The Institute of Contemporary His- Bronze Soldier, long after gei Eisenstein, his active participation tory at Södertörn University has, via a the liberation from the in literary life and his work as a literary number of ”witness seminars”, docu- Soviet Empire. critic in a number of journals and pa- mented the recollections of some of the pers, his more than ambiguous transla- key players from the upheavals of the tions of the Elizabethans and, last but early 1990s. Being able to pose ques- not least, his own literary work. Papers tions and have discussions contributes
Modernists and modernizers. They meet at historical turning points. reviews 43
The Urals. From tractor manufacturing city to armorer’s workshop
Chelyabinsk. View of the street from the beginning of the 20th century.
Lennart Samuelson Tankograd. Den ryska hemmafrontens dolda historia 1917–1953
[Tankograd: The Secret History of the Russian Home Front, 1917– 1953]. Stockholm: SNS Publisher 2007. 368 pp., illustrated.
his book is about the city of 1900-talskrigen (1999) [Red Colossus on Caterpillar Winter War against Finland. Chelyabinsk in the southern Treads: Russia’s Economy in the Shadow of the Wars Chelyabinsk, which during the 19th Urals, and the region sur- of the 20th Century], has delved into questions con- century was a small, insignificant city in Trounding it, which became the cerning the military-industrial mobilization. the Russian Empire, began to become center of Soviet tractor manufacturing, During the war, Chelyabinsk became known in more important with the Trans-Siberian and which, later, during World War II, popular parlance as ”Tankograd” — hence the title of railway, the western branch of which, was transformed into a giant arma- the book. The depiction of how Chelyabinsk emerged from Chelyabinsk to Kurgan and Omsk, ments workshop where the bulk of Red as a major arms production center is also a history of was completed in 1894. The city be- sune jungar Profes- Army tank production took place. After Soviet society in general, with a primary emphasis on came an important gateway to Siberia. sor of Nordic history at the war, the region was also where most the role that the home front played in the war effort. It was only after violent conflicts that Åbo (Turku) Academy of the development of Soviet nuclear the Bolsheviks became established in University, 1976–2000. weapons took place. Samuelson has had access to material in both the the southern Urals, which for a long Together with Bent Jen- This is the story of how an agricultu- central and local archives not previously available to time — much like Siberia — had been con- sen, editor of the antho- rally dominated and, in many respects, researchers. (For a long time, Chelyabinsk was closed trolled by the White Army. Kolchak’s logy Sovjetunionen och backwards country rapidly industrial- to foreigners.) Samuelson troops suffered a decisive defeat in the Norden: Konflikt, kontakt, ized, and how the economy was mili- can thus identify and chart battle of Chelyabinsk in the late summer influenser [Soviet Union tarized. It can reasonably be said that Soviet defense planning, of 1919, which would be the bloodiest and the Nordic Coun- the military-industrial capacity that and demonstrate how ci- and most extensive on the eastern front tries: Conflict, Contact, was rapidly built up in the Ural region, vilian production from the of the civil war. Peasant revolts and a Influences] (1997), he has which would have been too distant for very start was organized major famine occurred in the region at also published ”Stalinis- a German attack to be able to reach, is so that it could quickly be the beginning of the 1920s. men – kring en ständig one significant explanation for the So- adapted to wartime needs. The construction of the tractor fac- forskningsdiskussion” viet victory in the war. Germany under- In the case at hand, we tory in Chelyabinsk began in the late [Stalinism – Concerning a estimated the military-industrial poten- have an account of how 1920s with an eye towards producing Continual Research Dis- tial that the Soviet Union managed to the plant for the manufac- 40,000 tractors per year. The technol- cussion] in Medströms– build up in the East in a relatively short ture of caterpillar tractors ogy was obtained primarily from the Motströms. Individ och time. for agricultural use is ”Keep quiet! Be on your U.S. The first tractor was a copy of the struktur i historien [With Author Lennart Samuelson, who rapidly transformed into a guard. In these times, American Caterpillar. the Current – Against works at the Stockholm Institute of giant tank factory where, even the walls have ears.” the Current: Individual Transition, Ecoconomics and East based on the experience Nina Vatolina’s poster Starting in the mid-1930s, the Soviet and Structure in History] European Economies (SITE) at the the army had on various was the most widespread leadership regarded another great (Festschrift in honor of Stockholm School of Economics, is a fronts, new tank types can equivalent of the Swedish war in Europe as inevitable. Although Max Engman, 2005). prominent expert on the Soviet defense constantly be developed. motto ”En svensk tiger” the principal aim was to concentrate industry and, in a number of previous For example, many les- (literally, both: ”a Swedish the weapons manufacturing in areas works, including Röd koloss på larvföt- sons were learned from tiger” and ”a Swede far away from the western part of the ter. Rysslands ekonomi i skuggan av the experiences of the keeps quiet”). country, because of a lack of investment 44reviews continued. From tractor manufacturing city Pioneering work. to armorer’s workshop
capital, a large part of the defense however, sees a certain rationality in the seemingly elatively few professional industry ended up being built up where arbitrary acts of persecution. In many cases it was a Russian historians have been it was cheaper, that is, in European matter of ”tightening up the industry with more careful interested in the history of Russia and the Ukraine. This meant technological discipline as a benchmark”. Rthe Baltic states during the that, when the war came, a great many Samuelson by no means belittles all the human period beginning in 1920 and running industries quickly had to be evacuated. sacrifices, but, in general, he believes that previous through the 1980s. To some degree, Over 700 businesses were moved to the research (by Conquest and others) gives an exagger- this is rooted in the Soviet tradition of Urals. ated picture of the scale of the terror. In addition, he preferring to have officially approved During the conversion of the trac- believes that the development of anti-tank weapons works on the Baltic Soviet republics tor factory in Chelyabinsk into a tank and artillery suffered less under the repression than, written by people from said countries, and ammunitions factory, equipment for example, aircraft manufacturing did. as long as they respect the requirements and trained technical staff from com- The role that forced labor has played in Soviet of the ”party line” and the demands of panies in Leningrad and Kharkov were industrialization has been a contentious issue in censorship. During the Soviet era, the utilized. During the war, the total work academic research. According to Samuelson, new important research on the Baltic states force grew to 50,000. During the years archival research shows that the role of forced labor was conducted in institutes of higher 1941–1945, the Soviet Union produced a has been exaggerated. His argument is that the gulags education in Western Europe and the total of some 100,000 tanks and mobile accounted for only a few percent of Soviet industrial United States, with whatever sources artillery pieces. production. That is not a convincing argument. For an were available there. Of course, the assessment of the entire significance of forced labor, language barrier means that few Rus- Policy makers didn’t care about devel- one should take into account the central role prison sian historians can be expected to ad- oping infrastructure at the pace that the labor played in the extraction of a number of metals dress Estonian, Latvian, or Lithuanian rapid expansion required. Samuelson that were important in industrialization (work often themes. But there are also problems devotes considerable attention to an done in remote, inhospitable regions), in the building that result from political controversies, analysis of living conditions in Chely- of the infrastructure (such as channels), and in the which have overshadowed the aca- abinsk. The lack of food and housing utilization of natural resources as an important means demic debates. In the lead up to the of- was legion. A significant portion of the of increasing the necessary foreign exchange earnings. ficial commemoration in Russia in 2005 workers lived in dug-outs. One example is the exploitation of forest resources in of the sixtieth anniversary of the end Stalin’s repression also affected Soviet Karelia and northern Russia, which has recently of World War II, the Baltic and Eastern Chelyabinsk. On several occasions, the been studied in a monograph by the Finnish historian European countries’ interpretation of entire political and economic leader- Sari Autio-Sarasmo. the significance of the events was ac- ship was arrested. Presentations of the centuated. What for Russians and other life stories of individuals within the so- The study concludes with an overview of how his- peoples in the Soviet Union was the called nomenklatura offer interesting torical memory is formed in today’s Chelyabinsk. So memory of the hard-won victory over insights into how members of the local much secretiveness, so many historical falsifications, Nazi Germany, brings back memories in elite, both the political and technical and so many taboo issues have existed regarding the the Baltic states and large parts of East- Interior. elite, were recruited, trained — and in history of the Chelyabinsk region that this contribu- ern Europe of a long period of oppres- Tank-manufacturing. many cases weeded out. Samuelson, tion is welcome and justified. One can only hope that sion via the Sovietization of these states. the readiness to come to The same conflicting interpretations terms with one’s history of the relevance of the past for today’s evidenced by the efforts Estonia lay behind, on the one hand, of the inhabitants of the the decision in 2007 to move the Bronze region might also exist in Soldier in the center of Tallinn, and, on official Russia. the other hand, the violent protests that This is an impressive the decision aroused in some Russian book in many respects. It circles. The official Russian perspective is packed with facts and is that passages in the Latvian historical rich in documentation. works taken out of context have been The partly unique illus- highlighted in a tendentious way. Rus- trations deserve special sian writers and journalists have tried mention. Samuelson’s to provide explanations for the anti- knowledge of previous Russian attitudes in the Baltic states in research and the way politicized, anti-Baltic terms.1 he makes use of it is ex- emplary. This book is a The efforts of professional histo- welcome example of a rians have so far fallen flat in the face study that sheds light on of these controversies. For this reason, the interplay between Elena Zubkova’s new book can be de- center and periphery in scribed as an unparalleled pioneering the Soviet empire. ≈ work. It could pave the way for new research and new dialogues between in- sune jungar terested parties in Russia and the Baltic countries, despite the political opposi- 45
The history of Soviet incorporations tions on both sides. In her appearances March 2003 in connection with the 50th anniversary of the Soviet Union. Zubkova’s tentative Elena Zubkova last year, Zubkova expressed her belief Stalin’s death.5 summary of the changes that the Soviet Pribaltika i Kreml, that the traumas of the respective peo- Zubkova’s new book about the history of the Baltic leadership sought to bring about dur- 1940–1953 ples — for Russia, the Nazi German at- states from the 1930s to Stalin’s death in 1953 is prima- ing the year after Stalin’s death is that tack of 1941, for the Baltic states, the So- rily a study of the decisions, deliberations, and objec- the Baltic Soviet republics should have [The Baltic States and vietization of 1940–1941, which resumed tives of the leadership of the Communist Party and an informal status that separated them the Kremlin, 1940–1953], in 1944 — will at some point become part the Soviet state. Her research goal is clearly delineated from the other Soviet republics. Moscow: Rosspen 2008. of a common past. In the same way that and is focused on the areas where the Russian source Zubkova criticizes what she takes 351 pages. other antagonisms in Europe between material can supplement the already familiar picture to be a misleading application of the different peoples have of developments in the terms ”occupation” and ”genocide” to been overcome, Russians Baltic region. She makes phenomena in the history of the Baltic will come to gain an un- exemplary use of some region. derstanding of the Baltic of the central Russian peoples’ perspective. archives to survey and In a military context, the notion of But Zubkova emphasizes identify Stalin’s delibera- occupation denotes the temporary that this is actually not tions and the information possession of territory belonging to an the task of a historian. sent out by the Politburo, enemy. But Stalin’s intentions, Zubkova lennart samuelson The historian works as well as the reports by stresses, in no way involved anything Associate professor of with the documents of foreign, defense, and temporary. Before 1939, he had already economic history at the the time and carries on interior departments focused his foreign policy on restoring Stockholm School of a conversation with the (the latter known, before as much of the empire as possible, in Economics. His dis- historically relevant 1946, as the People’s the west as well as in the east. Through sertation was a study of people in order to create Commissariat for Inter- blackmail, the Baltic regimes were the Soviet war economy greater understanding nal Affairs) on conditions forced to accept Soviet bases in the during the 1930s. Has of their actions. Zubkova in Estonia, Latvia, and area. However, it was evident that the published Plans for also engages in a polemic Lithuania. Kremlin lacked a detailed plan for how Stalin’s War-Machine against the many Rus- the area would be incorporated. Zub- (2000), and was editor sian journalists who have The first chapter of the kova’s reluctance to use the customary of the anthology Bönder asked for her views on Generalissimus J.V. Stalin. book (pp. 15–43) provides term ”occupation” does not mean that och bolsjeviker. Den past conflicts.2 She there- a lucid description of she, like certain Russian writers and ryska landsbygdens fore draws a sharp contrast between the authoritarian regimes that were established in the journalists, would deny the widespread historia 1902–1939 history as a science of past events, and, Baltic region during the interwar period. Under the repression that was directed against [Farmers and the Bolshe- on the other hand, the memory of the heading The Long Year of 1940 (pp. 44–127), Zubkova various groups within the Baltic elites. viks: The History of Rural past or the politicized use of historical describes how the Soviet leadership, wi th as On the contrary, Zubkova believes that Russia, 1902–1939] events. This attitude is directed against much determination as what appears to have been the concepts annexation, incorpora- (2007), to which Moshe both Russian and Baltic publishers. His- improvisation, annexed the Baltic states, beginning tion, and Sovietization more clearly Lewin and Teodor torians of course have a moral respon- with the small step of negotiating over military bases show how thorough the Kremlin was Shanin, among others, sibility to their own time. But, Zubkova in September of 1939, and progressing to the deporta- in its efforts to rebuild the entire state contribute. Received in emphasizes, it would be bad history, if tions of tens of thousands of people from the elites in apparatus, the political leadership, and 2000 the newly establis- not a flatly falsified history, to use the June of 1941. To shed light on the extensive repression in fact all areas of social life. In violation hed Hugo Raab Prize values and standards of our own time as that took place in 1940–1941 and during the postwar of international law and human rights, for solid contributions a screen for representations of the past. period, she bases her work here on the most recent a hard, repressive policy was pursued to military-historical Historians must, then, carry on a dia- Russian and Baltic research, at least that which has against large segments of the popula- research, and, in 2007, logue with the people of the past based been translated into English or German. Chapter 3 of tions of these countries. To speak of the Tilas Prize for highly on documents and other source materi- the book (pp. 128–190) describes how the Soviet lead- occupation would lead to misleading useful military-historical als emanating from other times. ership planned and carried out the construction of the comparisons. efforts. Soviet republics of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania after Zubkova also considers it wrong to Elena Zubkova is a professor at the World War II. In this context, she provides new data apply the term ”genocide” to instances Institute of Russian History at the Rus- on the origins of the large deportations of 1949. Chap- of deportation to work settlements or sian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, ter 4 (pp. 191–256) contains a detailed review of the concentration camps in the interior of and teaches at the Russian State Uni- armed resistance in the Baltic republics that was led the Soviet Union. None of these actions versity for the Humanities (RGGU). Her by the so-called Forest Brothers. Their story has been were taken on the basis of ethnic crite- research in the 1990s revolved around surrounded by legends and myths because of the lack, ria, nor were they intended to eliminate Soviet social life in the period immedi- until the 1990s, of source material and research in the the possibility of the future existence of ately following World War II.3 She has Baltic region. Zubkova supplements the latest Lithua- these peoples. From the Kremlin’s point also edited a source volume on postwar nian, Latvian, and Estonian research with information of view, these were socially and politi- Soviet society, which is used alongside from the archives of the Russian Ministry of Internal cally motivated actions that once and her monograph in course instruction.4 Affairs (MVD) in Moscow. The book concludes with an for all would make it impossible for a Zubkova has compiled CD-ROM-based analysis of how Moscow sought to establish a new po- bourgeois intelligentsia or a bourgeoisie teaching materials on the Communist litical elite, and how the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithua- or conservative regime to be reestab- Party’s 20th Congress, which was nian cadres were recruited from the few communists lished in these states. Since 1937, similar presented at a conference at RGGU in that existed in these countries and in other parts of steps had been taken on the basis of 46reviews continued. The history Dissertation review. of Soviet incorporations social, political, and military-strategic agricultural historians, Viktor Kondrashin, has come considerations against other ethnic out with a new book about the hunger catastrophe groups in the Soviet Union. Such actions that struck large parts of Russia in 1932 and 1933. To- were taken in the annexed, western gether with Mark Jansen, Nikita Petrov has written an I. parts of Belarus and the Ukraine that expanded Russian version of Stalin’s Loyal Executioner Most social-scientific analyses of the had been parts of Poland during the that was published by Hoover Institution Press a few development of East and East-Central interwar period. years ago. The book uses extensive material from the Europe’s post-Communist countries archives of the security services and the Communist consist of varying assessments of the Zubkova conducts a thorough re- Party in order to explain and elucidate the great more or less painful emergence or re- view of the categories of the population purges that took place under Nicholas Eshov, head of emergence of the market economy, that were affected by the deportations the Russian secret police, from 1937 to 1938. Tatiana civil society and democratic state. They to the interior of the Soviet Union. She Volokitina has, in line with Elena Zubkova’s pioneer- may include criticism, but usually their also attempts, with the access to the ing work on the incorporation of the Baltic states into starting point is ”constructive” — as is various types of source material avail- the Soviet Union, led several projects that, in a similar evident in the dominant theoretical able today, to determine which of the way — by delving into the Russian archives — have yield- approaches used, including various estimates of the number of people af- ed new perspective on the Sovietization of the Eastern theories of state formation, (post)mod- fected are most reliable. From the late European states after World War II. ≈ ernization, democratic transition and 1980s until the time when the relevant the like. archives became available to independ- lennart samuelson Peter Bötker’s thesis goes against this ent researchers from Russia, the Baltic mainstream tendency. It is a decidedly states, and the West, there have been oppositional work that views the last inconsistent reports on how extensive references fifteen to twenty years of Estonian de- 1. See for example Iu. V. Emelianov, Pribaltika. Potjemu oni ne ljub- these deportations were supposed to velopment from a Marxist perspective. jat Bronzovogo soldata? [The Baltic States: Why Don’t They Like have been. In most cases, the estimates It takes as its point of departure theories the Bronze Soldier?], Moscow 2007. made previously have had to be low- 2. See Elena Zubkova in ”Pribaltika i Kreml”, Argumenty i fakty, on the state advanced, during the 1960s ered considerably. 2008.07.27, as well as the radio interview for Echo Moskvy on and 1970s, by French theoretician Nicos The same applies to most of the 2008.09.20. Poulantzas. According to Poulantzas, information circulated in the West 3. Elena Zubkova, Russia after the War: Hopes, Illusions, and Disap- control of the means of production de- until the 1980s on how many Soviet pointments, 1945–1957, Armont, NY, 1998; idem, Poslevoennoe termines who belongs to the dominant citizens suffered under Stalin’s terror, sovetskoe obshchestvo: Politika i povsednevnost’, 1945–1953 [The class, and the state is an arena in which Post-War Soviet Society: Politics and Everyday Life], Moscow how many prisoners toiled away in the social classes and class factions com- 1999. gulags, and how many died of hardship 4. Elena Zubkova, ed., Sovetskaja zjizn’ 1945–1953 [Soviet Life, pete for domination. The state, thus, during deportations from the Caucasus 1945–1953], Moscow 2003. according to the author, is ”an organiza- and Crimea at the end of World War II. 5. XX S”ezd. Informatsionnyj-obrazovatel’nyj proekt, [20th Party tional factor for the dominating class”, It has been a tedious but important task Congress: Information and Teaching Project], Moscow 2003. and political parties are ”the dominant for research on Eastern Europe and the 6. Aleksandr Djukov, Mif o genotside, repressii Sovetskich vlastej v class’s representatives and agents” Baltic countries to build up a solid data Estonii (1940–1953) [The Myth of Genocide: Soviet Repression in within the state. Estonia, 1940–1953)], Moscow 2007. base to be used for analyses, regardless Bötker’s thesis focuses on the re- of the consequences that the new find- lationship between Estonia’s public ings might have for the political use of administration and government author- history.6 ity. Bötker paints a very critical picture of the links between the Estonian Zubkova’s book is part of the new state, economy, and civil society. He series, Istoriia stalinizma [The History claims — in opposition to the assump- of Stalinism], which the renowned tions that underlie most theories on publisher Rosspen (Rossiiskaia Po- such subjects —that both Estonia’s public liticheskaia Akademiia) has started. administration and government author- Timed to coincide with the launching ities have been weak. Bötker holds that of the series, a radio program is being this finding contradicts the theoretical- broadcast with long interviews with ly-based and ”common sense” idea that the authors on the popular radio sta- if a country has a strong government or tion ”Moscow’s Echo” (Echo Moskvy). political center, then the politicians will Around a hundred volumes of both have subordinated the bureaucracy or recent Russian research as well as executive power — in other words, the translations into Russian are planned country’s bureaucracy will be weak. for the book series. Among the works Bötker’s findings are also incommensu- so far published are the translations Der rate with the equally ”common-sense” rote Terror: Geschichte des Stalinismus, idea that if a country has a weak govern- by Jörg Baberowski, and Stalin und die ment or political center, then those who Juden, by Arno Lustiger, on the tragic are supposed to execute government history of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Com- policies will have great latitude to oper- mittee. One of Russia’s most prominent ate as they wish; in other words, the 47
Dissertation review. A Marxist interpretation of post-Communist Estonia
bureaucracy will be strong. has created new ways to finance enterprises and con- comprehensive privatization. ”After Peter Bötker Bötker’s main goal is to describe and cerns. The organizations’ members have transformed the state’s retreat […] opportunities Leviatan i arkipelagen. explain the factors that have caused themselves ”to sympathizers, or to consumers of the to appropriate resources sprang up. Staten, förvaltningen Estonia’s weak governments to be at- organizations’ activities”. […] Capital intensity […] led to the och samhället. Fallet tended by weak bureaucracies. That is But capital intensity does not merely lead to the emergence of a number of conflicting Estland to say, this is the hypothesis upon which obsolescence of mass, membership-based organiza- but independent factions within the his study is based. Actually, this ques- tions for both organizations and for members of the dominant class.” Which factions are [Leviathan in the Archi- tion functions more as a broad jumping- dominant class. It also leads to the masses, the people, these? Bötker does not specify. Instead, pelago: State, Admi- off point for a general discussion of turning their backs on the organizations. The common he quotes a journalist who, in the early nistration, and Society: state-society relations than as a strict person’s way of organizing him– or herself has become 1990s, found that ”in addition to the The Case of Estonia]. guiding principle for his analysis. fragmented. In the postmodern state, mass organiza- managers of state-owned corporations Stockholm: University of tions are replaced by ”an archipelago of small, apo- [there were] two leading class factions Stockholm, 2007. In Bötker’s view, the transition from a litical, private and individualized areas”. This is the whose interests were behind most of Soviet Estonia to an independent Esto- state of affairs that, Bötker holds, we can now see in the economic and political conflicts”. nia was characterized, on the one hand, Estonia. There is only a weak link between Estonian The first of these was the Estonian Tax- risto alapuro During by the fact that the various factions citizens and the Estonian state. The country’s political payers’ Association, which consisted of 2005–2009, research within the Soviet-Estonian dominant parties lack roots in civil-society groups, membership people grouped around ”the Riksbank, professor at the Aca- class lost contact with society: ”be- in mass organizations is low, voting is very unstable Hansabank, Tartu Krediitbank, Hoiu- demy of Finland on leave tween 1987 and 1992, centrifugal pow- and varies from one election to the other, and so on. banken and the large-scale enterprise from the Department of ers scattered the state and the actors in This is a trend, as we know, which is to be found not Eesti Talleks”. The second faction con- Sociology, University of the social landscape in different direc- only in post-Communist countries but in ”old” democ- sisted of ”the capital which was prima- Helsinki, Finland, where tions.” On the other hand, dominant- racies, as well. Fragmentation in organization and in- rily involved in transit trade”. he has had a chair since class members began to compete for dividualization of experience is a fact in both Estonia 1991, after having been the state-owned properties that were and Western Europe, argues Bötker. Many problems in the Estonian state professor at the Universi- shortly to be privatized. During the The privatization of state property has also had an administration are, finally, to be traced ty of Jyväskylä (1986– process of privatization and the ensuing impact on relations between the factions within the to the capital-intensive economy. Capi- 1991). He has been a fight over property distribution, Estonia dominant class, as manifested in party strife. Privati- tal intensity, or, rather, the fissures that visiting professor/scholar rapidly developed into a ”capital-inten- zation has contributed to a schism or fissures between capital intensity has created between at several European and sive” country, in terms of the growth the factions. This is key, Bötker writes, to understand- various factions within the dominant North American Univer- and rate of capital movements’ volume, ing the Estonian governments’ internal weakness dur- class, is ”one reason why the Estonian sities, including Michigan accessibility and movement among ing the 1990s. ”[T]he Estonian governments have been state administration has neither been (1973–1974, with the late different actors. Those who profited torn apart from within, because of capital intensity.” able to assert its expert positions Charles Tilly), Minnesota, were those factions of the dominant The main dividing line between the various factions [expertpositioner], nor build alliances Moscow, Paris and Tartu. class who could establish themselves appears between those whom Bötker usually terms with actors in the social landscape”. He has published exten- within the state, and those who found the ”earlier” (the ”före detta”), or, sometimes, the These fissures have meant that ”various sively in such journals a niche at what could be termed the ”old”, and the ”new”. This has led to conflicts between parties could set different government as Acta Sociologica, ”court” — that is, very close to the state’s and within governments which have shifted between units on a collision course”. Estonia’s European Societies, most central actors. the ”earlier” and the ”new”, with corresponding shifts public administration has been the Journal of Baltic Studies, This development led, in its turn, in attitudes towards the scope and timing of privatiza- victim of different governments’ vary- Memoria e ricerca, Ques- to the state’s main organizations being tion. ing requirements and expectations, tions de Communication, able to do without support from the as well as the attractive alternative and Thesis Eleven on civil masses of the population, or, as Bötker Neither ”earlier” nor ”new” groups have ”broad employment opportunities which the societies, intellectuals, puts it, capital intensity ”undermines and deep links to civil society”. The ”earlier” groups strong private sector offers qualified political conflicts, social the political parties’ creation of a deep include, ”among others, those actors who had, during civil servants. Nor did this period see movements, and volun- and broad anchor in the social land- the old regime, positions that allowed them to control any alliance-building with actors in civil tary associations. In 1988 scape”. Bötker argues that growing the means of production”. The ”new” include ”opera- society — alliances which had existed, his internationally highly capital intensity in fact allows political tors who previously were outside the dominant class, in certain forms, during the Soviet era, acclaimed State and parties to dispense with anchorage [but who now] could march onto the state arena”. and which might have strengthened the Revolution in Finland in civil society. His reasoning is based Bötker gives various instances of personal ties linking administration and given it more space appeared. on Apostolis Papakostas’s analysis of Estonian political parties and the country’s economic in which to maneuver. changes in the character of mass move- elite. Among governments dominated by the ”new” The book does not, however, offer ments and mass organizations — a con- groups, Mart Laar’s first government (1992—1994) a systematic analysis of the weakness cept of the state of things that Bötker is given special mention. This was the first time the problem. Here, also, Bötker emphasizes terms postmodern. This includes the ”new” controlled the government — leading to intensi- the part played by the government postulate that modern organizations no fied capital intensity, and also revealing tensions be- coalition of 1992, when the ”new” first longer need the masses. If, in the past, tween the dominant class factions. gained government power. Changes ”industrial organizations were based on Bötker never fully defines the terms ”earlier” and were then made in the old bureauc- the limited resources of many people ”new”. These terms seem to be taken directly from racy: ”the radical restructuring of the [and so needed mass membership], Estonia’s public discussion. It would have been illu- public administration that the coali- these organizations have recently found minating to analyze them, instead of taking them for tion government […] undertook […] in more direct roads to […] resources”. granted. 1992 must be seen in light of the threat The new capital-intensive economy Key to the growth of capital intensity was Estonia’s of take-over that the old bureaucracy 48reviews
continued. A Marxist interpretation of post-Communist Estonia
posed.” The end of the 1990s, which for young people with civil service competence. eral combined process of capitalist was the second time the ”new” elite It is in light of this dual development — short-lived modernization and postmodern social controlled the government, again under and conflict-ridden governments and a non-institu- development under conditions of thor- Mart Laar’s leadership, ushered in a tionalized bureaucracy — that one understands how it ough-going change. The focus on the second set of changes — now, less a ques- can happen that a weak government is not necessarily state and the economy, on their interre- tion of restructuring than of transfer of complemented by a strong administration (as postu- lationship, and on the ability of groups personnel. In any case, the civil service lated by most theoretical models). In Estonia, weak entrenched in the state to reap profits in was subjected to structural changes and governments coexist with weak administrations. a period when everything seems to be transfers of personnel throughout the All in all, then, Bötker paints a picture according to fluid and when new opportunities sud- 1990s; it was a common phenomenon which factions within the class which was dominant denly open, seems, indeed, appropriate under the ”earlier’s” governments, as during the Soviet era took advantage of their positions to any realistic analysis of the post- well. There was little time for a mutual within the state to grab economic and political re- socialist states. Despite this, analyses of learning process, and ”the chancel- sources during Estonia’s transition to an independent the Estonian transformation done with- lery” was often the victim of varying nation. They focused on the state and the new ”cap- in the social sciences have usually cho- or rapidly changing expectations. The ital-intensive” economy, and turned their backs on sen alternative approaches. In short, rules were changed again and again, civil society, which they no longer needed. Here, the the focus on the state directs our atten- decision-making was centered at differ- ”old” were joined by newcomers among the economic tion to different power positions and to ent levels under different governments, and political elite. The ”old” have struggled with these struggles for resources among different personal acquaintances have played a ”new” factions for economic and political power, a potentates and their coalitions — as major role in recruitment, and so on. All struggle whose contours are discernible in changing opposed to the far more common foci this has disrupted the process of institu- government coalitions. The logic behind the pattern on nation(-building) and civil society, tionalization. that Bötker sketches is reminiscent of descriptions of which direct attention either towards Bötker quotes figures which dem- the re-formation of the Russian elite during the wild integration, common value systems and onstrate how extensive the transfer of years of privatization under Yeltsin in the early 1990s. other cultural factors, or to the (re)birth of associational life.
Bötker’s perspective provides a welcome corrective to the more usual trends within research on post-Com- munist Estonia. But this does not justify his failure to compare his own views and findings to those of other scholars in the same field. Without this type of discussion, it is difficult to evaluate how convincing Bötker’s account is. An- other, still more crucial criterion in an assessment of Bötker’s argument is the question of the empirical solidity — or fragility — of his case. I will start with a discussion of the latter issue. The source material that Bötker has collected for his thesis consists of inter- views with twenty civil servants, seven from the Estonian Ministry of Economic Affairs, seven from the Ministry of Finance and six from the State Chancel- lery. This was done, he writes, in order to let ”current and former officials present their versions of the administra- tion’s position in the making of Estonian
ill : ragni svenss o n politics, and of how, according to them, the organization of the Estonian min- istries functioned and functions”. The personnel has been within various min- interviews dealt with issues that are istries, something which has led to inse- central to the thesis’s key themes. After curity, and other problems, among the completion, the interviews were sub- civil servants. In addition to numerous ii. jected to ”a systematic coding” in order changes of government and the conse- to elicit information on key issues con- quent changes of staff Bötker, mentions There is, undeniably, a certain intuitive plausibil- cerning the ministries’ structural chang- a generational shift, the atmosphere, ity to Bötker’s somewhat provocative reasoning. es, changes of priorities and changes personal tensions within the adminis- Bötker invites us to look differently at the so-called in management, rivalry between units, tration, and other sectors’ competition ”transition” — to regard it as an example of the gen- etc. In addition to interviews and talks 49
with politicians and officials, Bötker who has done extensive analyses of both elite for- vant organizations domi- has used newspapers and, of course, mation and the process of popular organization in nate, something which a number of scholarly publications, in Estonia, from the ”Singing Revolution” and onwards. in turn supports his own particular Estonian-language and Esto- He sees the earliest and primary divisions among the argument. ”When civil nian sources. elite as an opposition between the Popular Front and society is living its own the Estonian Congress. This links the elite faction active life, where people The data appears interesting, as far identified by Bötker as ”new” — notably, Patria and concern themselves as one can gather from the many frag- Mart Laar — to the latter, radically nationalist line. It with everything except ments that appear in various chapters would have been interesting, and potentially very participation in political of the book, but its value to the analy- informative, to read about the relationship between and state-related [stats- sis is considerably diminished by its this ideological-political division, and the economic- bärande] organizations, unsystematic and unreflective usage. political split Bötker postulates between the ”earlier” then a distance develops Information gathered from interviews and the ”new”. Ruutsoo also reflects on why Estonia, between government and is often coupled with other types of a ”movement society” at the turn of the 1990s, expe- citizens in spite of a vital information, such as newspapers or re- rienced a decline in the organizational process for the civil society.” But this is no more than Mart Laar. search material, without these sources’ rest of the decade. He stresses, here, the special cir- an ”argument”, a choice in abstracto Twice prime very different natures being taken into cumstances that characterized Estonia in transition. of one view over another in the ongo- minister of the account. It is not always clear, further, But Bötker ignores all transition-related explanations. ing debate on the role of non-political free Estonia. whether the interviewees function as He simply posits a decline of mass organizations in the organizations in democratic develop- Holds a informants who provide factual infor- postmodern era: ”The postmodern fragmentation of ment. The problem is aggravated by the Doctor’s mation, or whether they themselves are society seems to have other and much deeper roots in fact that there exist Estonian studies on Degree in taken as objects of study — e.g., people some societies than the abandonment of a given social the subject, as well as opposing evalu- History. whose statements are to be treated system [samhällstillstånd]. ” ations of the past years’ developments as partisan views on the weakness- (by Mikko Lagerspetz, Erle Rikmann strength relationship between Estonian These themes — the fundamental division among the and others). It is also striking that Bötk- civil servants and the country’s political elite and the character of the country’s associational er does not assess the so-called Estonian leaders. activity — are both issues of great importance, of which Civil Society Development Concept (Eesti The imprecise use of empirical evi- Bötker presents a highly original view. An explicit en- Kodanikeühiskonna Arengu Kontsept- dence is a general problem. In many gagement with alternative interpretations might have siooni, EKAK), a document, approved cases, one encounters reflections added to the credibility of his analysis. by the Estonian Parliament in 2002, that are only loosely connected to the The main observation of the book, namely the that offers a framework for regulating empirical information given. In other simultaneous presence of a weak administration the relationship between associations words, Bötker often provides ”argu- and a weak government, could also be linked to, and and government. He does not even ments” that float rather freely, neither explained by, Estonia’s transition problem. It seems mention the document, although schol- constrained by or tested against the to me that Bötker, without admitting it, in fact evokes arly work that sees it as important has empirical evidence he provides. All this transition-related factors — re-structuring, person- been done and is readily available. The must necessarily reduce the informa- nel transfers, the rivalry with the business sector for omission is all the more surprising given tive value of Bötker’s results, despite competent employees, etc. — in order to explain this that Bötker does state (in passing) that the fact — acknowledged above — that double weakness. This makes the paradox with which ministries have more cooperation with his reflections in themselves are often Bötker opens his thesis seem a bit contrived. However, citizens’ associations now than they had interesting. as pointed out above, the point of double weakness is, during the 1990s, and that plans exist The same problem can be seen in in fact, a starting point for a more general examination to transfer certain public functions to the book’s lack of discussion of other of Estonian state and society, rather than a rigid hy- citizens’ associations. scholars’ alternative, or even opposite, pothesis governing the course of the study. results and interpretations, including, An additional, striking example of Bötker’s un- It is striking that Bötker’s thesis most notably, those of many Estonian willingness to enter into discussion with previous never mentions the Russian-speaking sociologists and political scientists. scholarship is apparent in his discussion of the exten- population. I find this absence curious Bötker’s critical engagement with their sion of popular organizations after 2000. True, he in a work that deals with the Estonian work is implicit rather than explicit; he acknowledges that the number of and membership in state and state-society relations from does not enter into a serious discussion citizen associations had grown between the late 1990s the state’s point of view. The Russian- with them. Striking examples of this are and 2005, something which Estonian researchers speaking minority constitutes 30 the important differentiation between have shown. ”While, in 1998, there were an estimated percent of the Estonian population. A the ”earlier” and ”new” factions within 6,000 associations in Estonia, the number was close to large proportion of its members are the dominant class and the assessment 15,500 by 2001 and has now reached 23,000. The citi- not ethnic Estonians and therefore not of the level of organization in countries zens of Estonia thus appear to be very active in organ- members of the state (that is, not citi- that have experienced a ”transition izing themselves.” But he rejects this interpretation. zens). Nevertheless, they are members from Communism”. These are weighty He points out, among other things, that most of these of society, and thus help shape the rela- issues that bear on post-Communist organizations are small, that new members are re- tionship between state and society. The elite formation and the nature of civil cruited primarily from among old members’ acquaint- situation reflects Estonia’s character society and its organizations, both at ances, and that sports and cultural organizations as a ”nationalizing state”, something the turn of the 1990s and afterwards. make up the greater part of the citizens’ associations. which is, again, a prominent aspect of Rein Ruutsoo is one of several scholars According to Bötker, this means that politically irrele- state-society interaction. But I must ad- 50reviews continued. Estonian history. The nation as bridge and battlefield mit that the decision to ignore Estonia’s Seppo Zetterberg eppo Zetterberg, professor of history at Jy- up until about 1230. Over the follow- Russian-speakers is consistent with the Viron historia väskylä University, has written a voluminous ing centuries, Estonia was invaded by economic-political orientation of the work on Estonia’s history. The work, which is Denmark, Poland, Sweden and Russia. concept of the state that Bötker’s study [The History of Estonia] sover 800 pages long, is dedicated to the Esto- Estonia became a leading center for adopts. Suomalaisen Kirjallisuu- nian people, which have ”borne up under its history”. northern Europe’s trade network. The den Seuran toimituksia No further hints are needed of the author’s sympathies towns Tallinn (Reval), Tartu (Dorpat), 1118 [Publication of for Finland’s neighbor nation. Estonia’s history is, as Viljandi and Pärnu were members of Finnish Literary Society]. Zetterberg describes it, one long story of the will to the Hanseatic League. Hämeenlinna, 2007, survive repression and fight for freedom. Zetterberg iii. 810 pages is an experienced historian and was an Estophile as Zetterberg writes extensively about Despite the criticism I have leveled early as the 1970s; his previous research has revolved the Swedish era (1561–1721), which in against Bötker’s treatment of his subject around Finnish-Estonian relations and Estonia’s re- Estonian history writing is called ”the matter, the key merits of his thesis still cent history. During the 1990s, Zetterberg also worked good old Swedish era”. The Swedish re- stand. The study constitutes an against- as Director of Finland’s Institute of Culture in Tallinn. gents initiated an extensive program of the-tide, even provocative attempt to According to Zetterberg, Estonia’s history can be reforms. They introduced Swedish law, focus on ”hard” economic and political understood through two metaphors. The country is and in 1630 a Court of Appeal was estab- power struggles and competition over simultaneously a bridge and a battlefield. This princi- lished in Tartu. Two years later, a univer- resources when analyzing the new pal idea permeates the work’s eleven central chapters. sity was founded in the same town. As a Estonia. More precisely, his topic — the The narrative progresses in a conventional, chrono- result of investment in popular educa- relationship between Estonia’s politi- Laura kolbe Professor logical manner: from prehistory to the present, but tion, most young Estonians were liter- cal leadership and administration in of European History at with a primary focus on the Middle Ages (”A part of the ate by the end of the 1600s. Trade and a ”new democracy” — is both topical, the University of Helsinki. old Livonia”) and the Swedish and Russian eras. The industry bloomed and a civil service and and underexplored. The choice dem- She has published seve- national awakening and first period of independence state administration was developed. onstrates the author’s determination ral works on academic are given thorough coverage, as are the decennia fol- At the Peace Treaty of Nystad in 1721, to use his dissertation to examine a history and city history, lowing World War II (”The lost independence”, ”In the Sweden conceded Estonia to Russia. socially and politically central macro- is- including Brändö. Dröm- grasp of the hammer and sickle”). The last ten pages of Zetterberg’s characterization of the Rus- sue. The subject is thorny and difficult men om en bättre framtid the book discuss the era of newly-won independence sian era is relatively neutral. Serfdom was to work on, something which accounts [Brändö: The Dream of following 1991. Zetterberg also pays great attention to abolished (1820), the peasants’ situation for a number of the problems he en- a Better Future] (1990), economic as well as cultural history. improved and a modernization process countered in his study. Helsingfors. Östersjöns was initiated. The national awakening An interesting point is Bötker’s own dotter [Helsinki: The Zetterberg’s book is a monumental scientific received impulses from Europe; the position, situated between Estonia and Daughter of the Baltic] work and is an exceptional work in its genre. It fills a Russification of the late 1800s hastened Sweden. As someone who spent his (with Matti Klinge) (1999), large gap: there are few existing synthetic histories its development. The ”singing” national childhood in Estonia and then moved and Helsingfors stads of Estonia, and the best ones date back to the 1930s. movement increased in strength, and to Sweden in early adulthood, Bötker is historia efter 1945: kom- Zetterberg has been able to take advantage of recent symbolized a popular will to be free. neither an insider nor an outsider in re- munalförvaltning och historical research, which has hitherto been available So-called Young-Estonian elite groups lation to Estonia. His position seems to -politik [The history of only in the form of unpublished research and con- took the lead in culture and politics. differ from that of the Estonian scholars the City of Helsinki after ference papers. The author sees himself as a Nordic who see the situation from within, in 1945: Municipal Admi- popular educator. The primary objective of the work During the 1900s, Estonia was posi- that he appears to be at a point that of- nistration and Politics] is the elucidation of the great historical differences be- tioned in the shadow of two great pow- fers him an exceptionally independent (2002). In 2007, fellow at tween the countries around the Baltic Sea. The great- ers: Germany and Russia (the Soviet and profoundly critical look at recent the Swedish Collegium est difference between the Nordic nations and Estonia Union). The country balanced between developments. But he also differs from for Advanced Study has to do with conditions in the countryside. Sweden two world wars, several occupations those with a more distant relationship (SCAS) in Uppsala. Since and Finland had an independent peasant population and peace treaties. After World War I, to Estonia, e.g., second-generation 2006, member of the which enjoyed political rights. In Estonia, the rural no- Estonia got a taste of independence, emigrants trained in the United States. Helsinki City Council (as bility and feudalism dominated, or as Zetterberg puts but in 1940 it was united with the Soviet Bötker’s particular position is reflected, a member of the Center it: ”Estonian collective memory still harbors strong Union. Zetterberg offers a thorough and in an interesting and intriguing manner, Party). traces of the German proprietors’ lash.” balanced description of these events, in his unconventional, sometimes even Zetterberg admits that concepts such as Estonian and uncovers national and historical myths iconoclastic, thinking. Bötker’s reason- Estonia’s history are problematic. The first Estonians and analyzes the development of Esto- ing is sometimes controversial, but it (around 3000 BC) were assimilated with the predeces- nia’s history in a broader European con- reflects the author’s intellectual inde- sors of the Baltic, North-Germanic and West-Slavic peo- text. This is also meant to give us a better pendence and his ability to bring fresh ples. They established permanent settlements, protected understanding of August 20, 1991, when perspectives to the analysis of Estonian by fortifications, and applied themselves to agriculture. the 1918 Declaration of Independence politics. ≈ The border situation varied greatly over time. The term was restored. For Estonia, this became ”Estonian” was first used in the nineteenth century dur- an important historical and symbolic risto alapuro ing the national awakening. The purpose was to make date. The nation’s constitution was rein- the ”un-German” Estonians visible as a modern Europe- stituted. Estonia got its own currency, a The author of the article was the faculty an people, with a cultural will and identity of their own. Parliament and a head of state. Estonia examiner at Bötker’s thesis defense. During the Middle Ages, Estonia becomes part of became a part of Europe. Again. ≈ European history. The Estonians were converted to Christianity by German crusaders — this process lasted laura kolbe 51
Environment. The country of mountains of black ash
The power plant Ignalina in Lithuania. A majority of Lithuanians said yes in a referendum in mid-October to the question of whether to keep Ignalina in opera- tion, in opposition to an EU order.
Jane Dawson Eco-Nationalism: Anti- Nuclear Activism and National Identity in Russia, Lithuania and Ukraine.
Duke University Press,
ph o t o: scanpi x 221 pages.
Rurik Holmberg here are many theories about to a new awareness of their own history and national transformed the natural environment Survival of the Unfit: why the Soviet Union dissolved heritage. When the popular front Sajudis was founded in northeastern Estonia beyond all rec- Path Dependence and in 1991. An interesting, but in 1988, many of its prominent figures came from ognition: in addition to massive open the Estonian Oil Shale Toften neglected aspect of the Zemyna, whose activities came to be incorporated pit shale mines that dug deep wounds Industry. research is that the dramatic upheav- into the growing independence movement. in the originally very scenic landscape, als in the East occurred in parallel with the burning and chemical processing Linköping University, the theretofore unanticipated impact In Latvia, the national liberation movement grew in a of oil shale led to the creation of a large 345 pages. of the European environmental move- similar manner because of protests against Moscow’s quantity of artificial mountains of black ment — in both the East and West. The plans to build a giant hydroelectric plant on the Dau- ash, some more than a hundred meters political situation faced by the envi- gava River. The Daugava is the mightiest river of Latvia high, which rose up from the otherwise ronmental movement was, to be sure, and the Baltic states, and much of Latvian history completely flat landscape. The oil shale radically different in the Soviet Union, and culture revolves around its waters. In the 1960s, industry poisoned the groundwater but if we, for example, look at the in- Latvians were forced to witness how the legendary with phenols and heavy metals, while dependence movements of the three rock Staburags was flooded over with water when the power plants threw up huge quanti- Baltic countries, it becomes clear that the river was dammed up for the construction of the ties of sulfur. The air was difficult to the independence movements there large hydroelectric power plant, Plavina. In the late breathe, cancer rates were high. An- per högselius Holds a actually began as nothing other than 1980s, Latvian environmental activists began trying other aspect of the problem was that Ph.D. in innovation stu- environmental movements. to prevent a further exploitation of the river upstream industrialization was accompanied by a dies from Lund Univer- In Lithuania, the environmental that was being planned by Moscow. The whole matter massive immigration from other Soviet sity. Currently a resear- group Zemyna played a key role in this grew rapidly into a national, Latvian concern, and the republics, so that Estonians in the re- cher at the Department regard. It was formed in late 1987 and hydropower project in Daugava thereby came to play gion ended up as a clear minority. The of History of Science and had a very specific purpose: to stop a significant role in the Latvian independence move- oil shale industry symbolized thus both Technology at the Royal Moscow’s planned expansion of the Ig- ment. damage to the environment and demo- Institute of Technology, nalina nuclear power plant (which had In Estonia, it was the hard, industrialized northeast graphic oppression. Stockholm. His research the same type of reactors as those used of the country that came to symbolize Soviet oppres- focuses on the politics, at Chernobyl). Zemyna pointed out that sion and thus offered a base for the independence Protests against IgnalinA in Lithua- culture, and economics a meltdown at Ignalina could well make movement to rally around. Estonians were fighting nia, hydropower in Latvia and oil shale of science and techno- the whole of Lithuania uninhabitable partly against the accelerated quarrying of phospho- mining in Estonia thus came to have logy in an East-West per- for the foreseeable future, and that this rite that the central government planned near the great significance for the Baltic struggle spective. Current points would probably mean the end of Lithua- shore of the Gulf of Finland, and partly against plans for independence from the Soviet Un- of emphasis include the nia as a nation. Nuclear power thus be- to build a new gigantic thermal power plant based on ion. But if we look more closely at what historical roots of Rus- came a natural issue for the Lithuanian the local energy resource, oil shale, a fossil fuel. Dur- actually happened to the power plants sian oil and gas exports people to rally around, and for many ing the Soviet years, the oil shale industry, which also and industries — which were monstrous and the globalization of Lithuanians, Ignalina became a gateway included a large chemical industrial complex, had from an environmentalist stand- the nuclear fuel cycle. 52reviews
continued. The country of mountains of black ash
point — that the Balts saw, twenty years movement was simply dressed up as an environmen- was both expensive and dirty, the inter- ago, as odious expressions of Soviet oc- tal movement, something which, among other things, war period took shape internationally cupation, we see something surprising: was designed to arouse sympathy in Western Europe. at a time marked by protectionism and the plants in question have been any- Most Western European governments saw it as less a desire for self-sufficiency. This made thing but shut down. On the contrary, politically risky to work for a cleaner environment in oil shale an interesting prospect for the they have found strong support from the Soviet Union than to expressly support the aspira- Estonians. the now autonomous governments tions towards independence of the Soviet constituent An initial success for the oil shale and have continued to be expanded. It republics. Even the Swedish government, under Ing- industry came when the Estonian state is only the Lithuanian nuclear power var Carlsson, was for a very long time quite skeptical railways began powering its locomo- plant which is still threatened with of the idea of full independence of the Baltic republics tives with oil shale in the 1920s. The real closure — but it is now the Lithuanians from the Soviet Union, which Balts remember with breakthrough came, however, only in themselves who are fighting to keep the bitterness even today. Sweden, however, happily the mid-1930s, when Estonia started nuclear power plant, while it is the EU supported the fight for a better environment on the exporting large amounts of shale oil to that wants to close Ignalina for good. other side of the Baltic Sea. One proposal put forward Nazi Germany. There, the Estonian oil Why the turnaround, one wonders? was, for example, that Sweden would lay a power was used as fuel in the rapidly grow- How can the perception of nuclear pow- cable across the Baltic Sea and export ”clean” Swed- ing Hitler war fleet. At the time of the er, hydropower and the oil shale indus- ish power (read: nuclear power) eastward, so that the outbreak of World War II in 1939, more try have been transformed so radically environmentally hazardous Baltic power plants could than half of the Estonian shale oil pro- from national object of hate to guarded be closed. duction was for export to Germany. crown jewels? The booming demand of the Nazis A partial explanation is given by the This idea, however, never came to pass. For when the stimulated the Estonian engineers to American anthropologist Jane Dawson, Balts finally achieved their national independence, the greatly expand production capacity who in the book Eco-Nationalism: Anti- environmental movement weakened, notes Dawson. and develop more effective methods Nuclear Activism and National Identity in Its real purpose, to liberate the Baltic states from the for the processing of oil shale. These Soviet occupation, had efforts, says Holmberg, proved fateful been achieved. Most peo- for Estonia, since the result was that ple thought that it went Estonians had ”locked themselves into” without question that a kind of energy production based on the large oil shale power oil shale — with all the environmental plants in Estonia, the problems this has entailed. hydroelectric plants in Latvia, and the Ignalina After the incorporation of Estonia nuclear power plant in into the Soviet Union in 1944, the Esto- Lithuania would provide nian engineers faced a new challenge: their national owners to provide the nearby metropolis of with both energy and Leningrad with the gas from oil shale. tremendous export in- The directives came from Stalin, but come (through the sale of the Estonians were nonetheless quite electricity to other coun- pleased, since the initiative meant that tries). It would have been their expertise would be utilized. The national economic sui- oil shale industry existed only in Estonia cide to refrain voluntarily and nowhere else in the Soviet Union, from receiving such in- and Estonian expertise with oil shale come. The environment was superior to that possessed by the was now a low priority. Russians. It was hoped that this superi- The question of why ority in competence would also lead to the dirty Soviet power increased economic and political power plants remain in the case for the republic vis-à-vis Moscow. In this ill : ragni svenss o n of Estonia is addressed context, objections based on environ- with more historical mental concerns remained ignored. During the Soviet era, the Russia, Lithuania, and Ukraine, exam- background by economist Rurik Holmberg in a new Only in the 1960s, when the oil shale opposition in the Baltic ines the emergence of the anti-nuclear dissertation, Survival of the Unfit: Path Dependence and began being fired in gigantic thermal countries demonstrated movement in several countries, includ- the Estonian Oil Shale Industry. In order to understand power plants, did the Estonians begin against nuclear plants ing Lithuania. Her conclusion, based on the relatively prosperous oil shale industry in Estonia, to oppose further development. Oil in their fight for national a large number of deep interviews, is Holmberg thought it necessary to go back to its origins shale mining now took on increas- sovereignty. that Lithuanians deliberately used envi- in the 1920s. It was then, after World War I, that it ingly monstrous proportions, and the ronmental issues as a tool to stimulate became quite clear that the land in northeast Estonia power plants in question were far too people’s engagement in the pursuit of contained huge quantities of oil shale. The shale could large for the Estonians’ own needs. Ap- national sovereignty. In reality, the en- be immediately burned and be of use for heating, but proximately half of the electricity was vironmental movement’s leaders were when heated, it also yielded oil, which was of great im- exported to Russia and Latvia, while the never particularly interested in clos- portance at a time when the combustion engine was environmental degradation remained ing down Ignalina! The independence rapidly gaining ground. Although producing shale oil in Estonia. The oil shale industry’s ever- 53
A German who has traveled far. The man behind Echolot growing demand for workers also led to ostock has Hall in the Bautzen prison. massive immigration from other Soviet produced one Drawing by Walter Kempowski, republics. When Moscow announced in of the twentieth inmate. 1987 the construction of yet another ma- R century’s most jor oil shale power plant, Estonian en- original authors. Walter vironmentalists found the time ripe for Kempowski (1929–2007) organized protests, which then came to grew up here, and he play an important role in the independ- returned to the town in ence movement. more ways than one. His Estonia regained its independence in family had interests in 1991, but the oil industry remains, and the shipping industry, shows no signs of being on the way out. endorsed Christian- On the contrary: the production of Esto- conservative values and nian shale oil in particular, with a long rejected Nazism as an tradition going back to the controversial ideology. During the exports to Nazi Germany, has become final stage of the Second extremely remunerative as a result of World War, when the German Reich was disintegrat- adequate, providing material for re- Kempowski talking on global high oil prices. Furthermore, the ing, Kempowski miraculously avoided being enrolled search efforts other than Kempowski’s the telephone with his Estonians continue to export electricity in the army. During the first post-war years, he drifted own. The great Echolot-suite (1993– publisher. from the major oil shale power plants around the part of Germany that was under Western 2005) consists of linked, unannotated to Russia, Latvia and, since 2006, to occupation. While visiting his home town in 1948, he witness accounts by both well-known Finland. was apprehended by the East German authorities and and unknown contemporaries. These Holmberg’s explanation of why the sentenced to 25 years’ imprisonment for espionage. describe important series of events tak- Dirk Hempel oil industry remains, however, involves He served eight years of the sentence — in Bautzen, ing place during the Second World War: Walter Kempowski much more than fluctuating oil prices where the Communist prison regime was particularly the march on Moscow and the Lenin- – Eine bürgerliche and economic calculations. Also of severe. grad siege, the battle at Stalingrad, the Biographie relevance are matters involving demog- This gave him a late start in life. He was thirty years Third Reich’s final struggles and the raphy and security: closing of the oil old by the time he graduated from senior high school. mass flight from East Prussia as the Verlagsgruppe Random shale industry would create enormous He thereafter qualified as an elementary-school Soviet army approached. The project House (2007). social difficulties, particularly for the teacher, with a radical, ”reform-pedagogical” work- would scarcely have been so successful Russian-speaking population who method. This remained his profession for a couple of and have such a singular impact had constitute the main labor force in north- decades, paralleled by an increasing production as an not the author himself been a habitual, eastern Estonia. That, in turn, would author. Kempowski’s initial success as a novelist was not to say compulsive, note-taker who lead to tensions between Estonia and nourished by his own family history. The publication recorded everything that passed before Russia. President Medvedev’s reference of a grand family chronicle, stretching over several vol- his eyes. Notepads were his tools of to the obligation to, as in South Ossetia, umes, makes him the foremost portrayer of the Ger- trade; by zapping he could later con- protect Russian citizens ”wherever man bourgeoisie. The chronicle covers more than one struct precisely reproduced sequences anders björnsson they are” could also gain relevance in hundred and fifty years, up to, and including the final of micro-time and a current reality, of Editor-in-chief of BW. Estonia in a rather ugly way if mass un- defeat in the modern war, which left the bourgeoisie created contemporality. Fiction and Visiting professor at employment and social unrest erupted feeling both defeated and humiliated — was not the humanistic science met in Kempowski’s Gothenburg University in the Russian-dominated oil shale war to a large degree the result of their own industrial method. Cross-fertilization took place. (School of Public Admi- regions. In addition, the oil shale has efforts? Kempowski tried to understand frames of ac- nistration). made Estonia one of the few European tions and patterns of reactions: his critics spoke of an Dick Hempel’s book is an excellent countries that are actually able to meet apologia based on ”trivialization” — Verharmlosung. introduction to a recently concluded their energy needs in a fairly independ- life’s work. It provides a journalistic ent way; almost all the energy they use, He had enough public success to make him throw overview rather than a literary analysis. with the exception of that needed for himself into new projects, spanning many genres: Hempel places Kempowski in a socio-in- road transportation, comes from the from pedagogical handbooks to radio theater. He ap- tellectual context, where he often found oil shale. It is an important argument, propriated the technique of collage with delight, so himself playing the role of outsider, given the clear connection that exists to- that many, contradictory voices might be heard. In Aussenseiter. He did not choose this part day between energy and geopolitics. At literature, this was scarcely innovative: Dos Passos had himself. It was, rather, a leftist literary present, a closure of the oil shale indus- done the same within the art of novel-writing, as had critique that had difficulties swallowing try thus looks more distant than ever Walter Benjamin in, for example, his Passagenwerk. a view on society that differed from its before — despite the obvious damage to But Kempowski was more daring, more systematic. own. The chapters on the years of youth the environment that it causes. ≈ Through a process of public collection, he created an and imprisonment in a grim North Ger- archive of tremendous proportions, consisting of dia- many are among the book’s best. These per högselius ries, correspondence, unpublished autobiographies are, to a large degree — and entirely in and other documents left behind by eye-witnesses to Kempowski’s spirit — based on inter- This article appeared previously in events, epochs and environments. The author’s task views, letters and diaries. ≈ Svenska Dagbladet (2008.01.11). was to arrange and sort the material, making it into a comprehensible whole. anders björnsson The material proved very useful; it was more than 54reviews
Professional ethics. Has there ever been a Finnish-German common destiny?
Marjatta Hietala et me begin by noting what But the special relationship to Germany in 1941– Finnish researchers were nonetheless De finländska forskar- a solace it is, when all is said 1944 naturally led to parts of the Finnish research reintegrated into the international re- na och orienteringen and done, to be able to experi- community actively orienting themselves towards search community, not least thanks to mot Tyskland under L ence a traditional close study their brothers-in-arms in the south. As one might ex- U.S.-based research funding. andra världskriget of source material concerning a theme pect, it was physicians who had the most developed that, today, in Sweden, almost as a mat- contacts with their German colleagues. The coopera- So what, then, do I think might be [The Finnish Resear- ter of decree, seems to be a domain for tion included not only such obvious research topics as missing in Hietala’s a bit too ”down- chers and the Orientation the unquestioned moralizing produc- the care of the sick and wounded during times of war, to-earth” portrayal? My concerns sur- Towards Germany during tion of ideology. At certain Swedish it also included some of the most notorious institu- round essentially three dimensions: 1. I World War II], in Historis- history departments, the main purpose tions, such as the Kaiser Wilhelm-Institut für Anthro- would like to have seen a much more ac- ka och litteraturhistoriska of research into the 1930s and World pologie, menschliche Erblehre und Eugenik, led by tive attempt to analyze and uncover the studier 83 [Historical and War II would no longer appear to be to Ernst Rüdin, with its research on twins, which were Finnish scientists’ societal role and their Literary-Historical Studies analyze systematically, or to make sub- associated with the extermination camps. Likewise, science-ideological values, because the 83] (Malin Bredbacka- stantial contributions to transparency a number of philologists, ethnologists, anthropolo- community of researchers and there- Grahn and Johan Ström- and perhaps even to explanatory power gists, and historians found themselves at home in the with international cooperation involves berg, eds.). Svenska in our dealings with the recent past. The relationship with Germany, and actively contributed far more than travel, lecture tours, and litteratursällskapet i main task seems rather to be providing to the discussions of the ”hot topics” of Lebensraum, official academic ceremonies. 2. The Finland: Helsingfors/ contemporary Manicheans with ideo- ethnic purity, and the mysticism of Blut und Boden. A reader receives only sparse information Helsinki 2008. logically and morally useful material for rather telling example is historian Eino Jutikkala’s and about the researchers’ actual political the ”active use of history”. geographer Väino Auer’s book Finnlands Lebensraum activities and involvement, which in The subject addressed by Hietala from 1941. Relatively soon after the disaster of the war, some cases (Linkomies and others) was should thus hardly be uncontrover- by no means negligible. 3. As for the sial, least of all in a nation with such notions involving Lebensraum, ethno- a highly traumatic recent history like politics, and so on, I would like to have Finland. In addition, she is address- seen Hietala discuss at least the degree ing a professional ethics theme that to which these intrinsically historically academics themselves have an obliga- situated currents of thought referred Thorsten nybom Profes- tion to problematize ceaselessly: the back, with regards to content or argu- sor of history at Örebro relationship of research to the zeit- mentation, directly or indirectly, to University, vice-rector geist, power, and the political agenda. ideas about/hopes for a special Finnish- there. Has done research Hietala deals with these delicate issues German ”common destiny” and hence on World War II and the with an exemplary dispassionateness, also an ”expansionist destiny”, which Swedish state adminis- which sometimes can even be a mite greatly influenced the Finnish debate tration. The country’s too pronounced. more than 20 years earlier. ≈ leading academic expert on university policy. The source material is for the most thorsten nybom Visiting Professor at the part public, since much of the private, Humboldt University, possibly compromised material was de- 1999–2001. In 1989– stroyed in connection with the so-called 1997, secretary general war-responsibility trials. Based on travel of the State Council for patterns, participation in symposiums, research on colleges and membership in academies, organized universities. Secretary collaborations, etc., Hietala is trying to of the major evaluation identify the frequency and direction of of the Bank of Sweden the Finnish researchers’ international Tercentenary Foundation contacts during the war — and particu- (Hinc robur et securitas? larly the academic relations to German En forskningsstiftelses science. Despite Finland’s isolation handel och vandel, from the ”world to the west” — especial- 2004). ly starting in the summer of 1941 — the ph o t o: scanpi x contacts that the Finnish researchers Ragnar Granit, a Finnish Nobel laureate. had changed only marginally. Not sur- prisingly, Sweden remained by far the most important point of contact. It is thus no coincidence that Finland’s two future Nobel Prize laureates, Ragnar Granit and A.I. Virtanen, as well as Finland’s forthcoming ”World philoso- pher”, Georg Henrik von Wright, were incorporated during precisely these years into Swedish or Anglo-American research networks. main contributors BALTIC 55 A regional focus. Drawing competence from different W O R L D S fields of knowledge.
Arne Bengtsson Max Engman Bernd Henningsen Peter Lodenius Susanne Lundin Anders Mellbourn
Professor of history at Visiting professor at Åbo (Turku) Academy CBEES. From 1997 to University. His research 2004 he was director of has focused on the rela- the Swedish Institute of tionship between Finland International Affairs and and Russia and on what before that editor-in- he himself calls compa- chief of Dagens Nyheter. Foreign correspondent rative empire studies. Professor of Scan- Former editor-in-chief of Professor of ethnology Has a Ph.D. in political at the Swedish news He has published inter dinavian studies and the Swedish-language at Lund University. Has science from Stockholm agency Tidningarnas alia Mellan lejonet och (founding) director of the weekly magazine Ny Tid analyzed the relationship University with a research Telegrambyrå (TT), dubbelörnen. Finlands Department of Northern [New Times] (Helsinki). between biotechnology, focus on the political where he covers the imperiella decennier European Studies at He has published, among biology, and culture. The role of civil service and Baltic countries. Among [Between the Lion and Humboldt-Universität zu other things, Ukraina. results reported in artic- public sector reform. Like Bengtsson’s publications: the Double-Headed Berlin. Has published Der Mitt i Europa [Ukraine: les and books such as Piotr Sztompka, he has Hotad frihet. Baltisk kris Eagle: Finland’s Imperial Wohlfartsstaat Schweden Right in the Middle of Eu- ”The Threatened Sperm. always been attracted by i skuggan av Moskva Decades] (1999). Board (1991). Since 2004, visit- rope] (2006). Also works Parenthood in The Age the great U.S. university [Threatened Freedom: member of The Society ing professor at the as a translator. of Biomedicine”. New system and, even before Baltic Crisis in the of Swedish Literature in Centre for German Stu- Directions in Anthropolo- Sztompka, made it to the Shadow of Moscow] Finland. During the fall of dies, Södertörn Univer- gical Kinship (ed. Stone) University of Michigan, (2008). 2008, visiting professor sity and the International (2000) and ”Vieux corps Ann Arbor. There he got at CBEES. Received the Science Center (ISC) at et technologies nouvel- to know a young Robert 2007 Hertig Karls Prize, Örebro University. He les”. Ethnologie francaise D. Putnam, an investment the biggest prize for is a Commander of the 2008/2. in social capital that he historians in Sweden. Swedish Order of the since has been able to Polar Star. exploit only minimally. We are Latvians, and sing together
She sings a funeral song with a high teachers who started to eagerly support for a long time was forced to work in leap forward in time to the Stalin era: and clear voice and lets it change into the folklore of peasant culture, and to exile in St. Petersburg. He wrote about Russians developed industry and a wedding song without changing the champion Latvian instruction in higher agriculture and popular science for settled in Latvia in droves; the Russian melody. education. farmers, but he also wrote articles that language dominated many sectors of ”It would be inappropriate to sing a ”The nationalism that was charac- encouraged them to challenge the guild society; and huge, billowing portraits of funeral song to the same tune as a her- teristic of the independence movement system and demand that higher educa- Stalin were everywhere. But at the song ding song, but many traditional Latvian in Latvia in the latter parts of the 19th tion be conducted in their language.” festival, Latvians could gather and sing ballads re-use common melodies,” century was embodied by Krisjanis Ba- ”Did Barons have a political goal?” in their own language. In old or newer Vaira Vike-Freiberga says. rons,” Anders Hammarlund says. Hammarlund asks. ”dainas”, allegories could be used to Latvia’s President during the years It was Barons who began to study, ”No, Barons let the songs speak for express criticism that got past the Rus- 1999–2007, Vaira Vike-Freiberga spent collect, and eventually publish the themselves,” says Vaira Vike-Freiberga. sian censors. her years of exile as a professor of psy- treasure of Latvian folk songs. It was a But the very first song in the first collec- chology at a Canadian university, but collection of several hundred thousand tion must have been a conscious choice. With another leap forward in time, is also well known as an ethnologist. At verses, so-called dainas, which he ar- The text reads: ”A girl sings in Riga, we find ourselves in today’s Latvia, an the Gothenburg Book Fair in Septem- ranged under two general headings: another in Valmiera, but both sing the independent nation since 1991, and an ber, she spoke with music ethnologist songs about human life, and songs same song. Did they perhaps have the EU member since 2004. What role will Anders Hammarlund from Svenskt about the world and the solar system. same mother?” Latvian nationalism play there, what visarkiv [The Swedish Archive of Songs ”Now there are actually over one ”Barons wanted to convey the idea significance will it come to have for the and Ballads] on the significance of folk million songs in the collection that that if you sing and speak the same nation’s identity within the new Eu- music for the Latvian nation. Barons started,” Vaira Vike-Freiberga language, you belong together,” Vike- rope? Anders Hammarlund raised the Every five years, Latvian choir notes. Freiberga says, with passion in her question at the end of the discussion. singers from around the world come voice. At the time, Latvians were not ac- This time around, the workshop did not together for the big folk festival, the She herself has studied and publish- customed to thinking of themselves as a provide the space for a response. Latvian Song and Dance Festival, which ed collections of songs about the signi- people. The encounter with choirs from this year drew nearly 40,000 singers. ficance of the sun to people of earlier different parts of Latvia led to the birth anna lena ringarp
The first festival took place in 1873, in a times. There are already three volumes of national consciousness, and nouris- country which at that time had a very in print, and there is material for at least hed this consciousness. A remarkable Radio producer, responsible for the ambiguous national identity. All edu- two more volumes. number of songs, several thousand, are program ”Språket” [Language], at cation beyond elementary school was ”Barons was a controversial cultural about precisely — singing. Swedish Radio. Holds a Swedish BA conducted in German, but there were figure in Russian-controlled Latvia, and Vaira Vike-Freiberga takes a long and an American Master of Journalism.
A new national consciousness will get along with EU integration. Can one sing in European? 56
A new journal & magazine on BALTIC Baltic research and culture W O R L D S
Yenisey was a 90-meter-long Russian mine-layer ship, launched in 1910. On June 4, 1915, it was torpedoed by the German submarine U-26 off the Estonian coast, which at that time was Russian territory.
About 100,000 boat wrecks lie on the work here. The question then becomes that collective identities – alleged or bottom of the Baltic Sea. This is pre- A wealth what is there that can be seen as typi- imagined – might delimit and exclude sumably the world’s largest number of cal, and perhaps even unique, for this rather than unify. Many states in the re- boat wrecks – and not simply because of wrecks particular region. Someone pointed out gion already have large minorities living the Baltic Sea is a particularly danger- that the Baltic Sea is the only sea or within their borders. These may grow in ous stretch of water. The sea’s low salt cultural treasure may, tomorrow or the inland sea which borders only European number and size. content also creates favorable condi- day after, be a landscape of ruins on countries. If the Baltic nations agreed The situation could be the same in tions for the preservation of wrecks. the seabed. How many will be salvaged seriously to address codfish extinction the case of the wrecks. Wrecks do A parasite, ”the termites of the sea”, before it is too late? And how many and pollution, then that would make the not only enrich, they also open up which thrives in the great oceans, ”Vasas” would there then be room for area unique in that respect, as well. wounds. They are, of course, exposed dislikes the Baltic waters. If, indeed, on land? Does the old Swedish regal to plunder – a sort of underwater it should ever gain a foothold here – if ship really need competition? Is it possible to create a common piracy. Those who want to sell a region ”foothold” is the right word to use about Baltic identity – a ”Balticness”? The through advertising that is meant to organisms that swim about in oceans Early this summer, a round table question was raised again and again. attract hordes of tourists inevitably risk and lakes – there would soon be an discussion in Riga took up many such It is clearly relevant to fields such as the loss of something valuable that they end to Baltic boat-wreck wealth. And issues. The discussion concluded a se- tourism and marketing. One issue that would rather keep for themselves, or at such a foothold may well be gained if ries of meetings or dialogues that have tends not to be brought up is whether least not see damaged. Hopefully, the ocean-going vessels enter the Baltic sought to produce some sort of ”brand one is justified in speaking of collective net result will be positive – an ”added Sea and dump their ballast – with all name” that would serve to put the identities at all. Not everyone who lives value”, that is, one receives more than that it contains. Then the wrecks may Baltic Sea Region on the mental map in a given country necessarily identifies one gives away. This is, of course, the be eaten up in no time at all, historically of people other than those who live and him- or herself with those who live in very purpose of a dialogue. ≈ speaking. that country more than with those who In other words: What is today a live elsewhere. The risk is, of course,