Estonian Displaced Persons in Post-War Germany
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2015 Estonian displaced persons in post-war Germany Signe Tonismae Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Tonismae, Signe, "Estonian displaced persons in post-war Germany" (2015). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 6820. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/6820 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. ESTONIAN DISPLACED PERSONS IN POST-WAR GERMANY Signe Tõnismäe Thesis submitted to the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History Robert E. Blobaum, Ph.D., Chair Katherine B. Aaslestad, Ph.D. Joshua Arthurs, Ph.D. Department of History Morgantown, West Virginia 2015 Keywords: Estonian displaced persons, post-war Germany, U.S. occupation zone Copyright 2015 ABSTRACT Estonian Displaced Persons in post-war Germany Signe Tõnismäe The immediate aftermath of the Second World War brought about considerable uncertainty and a great number of displaced persons (DPs) to post-war Germany. During that time around 40 000 Estonians found themselves in occupied Germany. The aim of this thesis is to provide an in-depth understanding of lives of Estonian DPs in post-war Germany by examining the U.S. occupation zone and to determine how people contextualized their experience in the broader post-war environment. For these purposes two research questions were set: (1) How honestly did Estonian DPs look at their own past history? and (2) How did Estonian DPs represent themselves and their status as DPs to the world? This discourse analysis is based on the discussions in Estonian DP press and to a lesser extent the British press. The analysis showed that Estonian DPs press did present Estonian DPs from a perspective that at times was a bit distorted and ignored the true past of Estonia. The British press by contrast held a neutral position regarding the past and present circumstances of Estonian DPs and did not reproduce the narratives presented in the Estonian DP press. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Foremost, I would like to express my deep appreciation and sincere gratitude to my supervisors Prof. Robert Blobaum and Dr. Kaarel Piirimäe for their endless support, patience and motivation. They have continuously encouraged, provided excellent feedback and supported me with valuable ideas. I could not have imagined having better supervisors for my MA studies. Besides my supervisors, I would also like thank Prof. Katherine Aaslestad and Prof. Joshua Arthurs for the discussions within the classroom and for encouraging history students to think beyond what, when and where. I am very grateful for these discussions and will take them with me beyond the academic environment. I am very grateful to have been able to be part of the Atlantis programme and study history from an international perspective. I would also like to express my deep appreciation to my friend and an Atlantis programme student Laura Roop from European College of the University of Tartu for her encouragement, support and enthusiasm. Finally, I would like to thank my family and close friends who have been immensely supportive, have never lost faith in me and have always been there for me. I could not have done this without them and for that I am eternally grateful. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT ……………………………………………………………………………………………… ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS …………………………………………………………. ………………… iii INTRODUCTION ……………………………………………………………………………………….. 1 HISTORIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………………………………. … 4 CHAPTER ONE: GERMANY IN 1945 ………………………………………………………………. 7 CHAPTER TWO: ESTONIAN DPs IN POST-WAR GERMANY……………………….. …. …. 12 2.1 Estonian DPs in the U.S. zone of post-war Germany …………………………12 2.2 Estonian DPs in the Geislingen DP camp …………………………………….. 20 CHAPTER THREE: THE ESTONIAN PRESS IN POST-WAR GERMANY …………………….. 26 3.1 Guidelines for information media in post-war Germany…………………….. …. 26 3.2 Estonian periodicals in the U.S. occupation zone ………………………………… 28 3.2.1. Kauge Kodu ………………………………………………………………………….. 31 3.2.2. Eesti Rada ……………………………………………………………………………. 43 3.2.3. Eesti Post …………………………………………………………………………….. 60 CHAPTER FOUR: THE ESTONIAN DPs IN THE BRITISH PRESS ………………………………..82 4.1 The Times [London] …………………………………………………………….……. ….82 4.2 Discussion …………………………………………………………………………….…… 89 CONCLUSION ………………………………………………………………………………………………………. .. 92 BIBLIOGRAPHY ……………………………………………………………………………………………………. 96 ANNEXES …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 104 Annex 1 – The Estonian-German periodicals from 1941 onwards ……………………………………..….. 104 Annex 2 – Map of the occupied zones of Germany in 1945 ………………………………………………… 108 Annex 3 – Maps of the Geislingen camp districts ……………………………………………………………... 109 iv LIST OF TABLES Table 1 – Estonians in the DP camps in the U.S. occupation zone …………………. 18 Table 2 - The list of main Estonian periodicals in the U. S. occupation zone of Germany, starting from 1945……………………………………………… 29 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS Illustration 1 – Floor plan of George J. Rebane’s living room in Geislingen ………. 23 Illustration 2 - Estonian DPs housing in Rappenäcker, Geislingen DPs camp ……... 24 v GLOSSARY ACA Allied Control Authority ADO Area Division for Occupied Areas under the U.S. Department of State CCS Combined Chiefs of Staff DP Displaced person E&CR Education and Cultural Relations Division E&RA Education and Religious Affairs Branch HICOG Office of the High Commissioner (of the U.S.) for Germany ICD Information Control Division JCS Joint Chiefs of Staff MG Military Government OMGUS Office of Military Government (of the U.S.) for Germany OWI Office of War Information POWs Prisoners of War SHAEF Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Force UNRRA United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration vi INTRODUCTION “I still wonder what became of the majority of us and how they have fared” Mai Maddisson1 Today 70 years has passed since the Allied forces unconditionally defeated Nazi Germany. The end of the war brought about many positive changes and laid foundations for the Europe as it is today. At the same time, the immediate aftermath of the war also brought about a lot of uncertainty and a great number of displaced persons (DPs) to post-war Germany. The overall number of Estonians who emigrated towards the West during World War II is close to around 75 000 to 80 000 individuals. Out of these 40 000 to 45 000 Estonians ended up in Germany2. There is also reason to believe that only around 40 000 made it to Germany as approximately 4000-50003 individuals lost their lives on the way. 40 000 is a significant number of Estonian DPs who all played a role in the creation of Estonian committees, theatre groups, singing choirs, schools, clubs and societies – and at large, to the creation of an Estonian diaspora in post-war Germany4 The aim of this thesis is to provide an in-depth understanding of the lives of Estonian DPs in post-war Germany, particularly in the U.S. occupation zone, and to understand how people contextualized their experience in the broader post-war environment. The U.S. occupation zone was chosen namely because large share of Estonian DPs from Allied occupied areas (including 1 Mai Maddisson and Priit Vesilind, When the Noise Had Ended: Geidlingen’s DP Children Remember (Woodsville, MN: Lakesore Spress, 2009), 214. 2 Kumer-Haukanõmm, “Teise Maailmasõja Aegne Eestlaste Sundmigratsioon Läände”, Acta Historica Tallinnensia, no. 17 (2011), 95-109. 3 Ferdinand Kool. DP Kroonika: Eesti pagulased Saksamaal, 1944-1951 (Lakewood, NJ: Eesti Arhiiv Ühendriikides, 1999), 7. 4 Later on the diaspora spread to America, Canada, Great Britain, Australia, and South America where many of the Estonian DPs later emigrated. 1 Central Germany and former Czechoslovakian territories) were either reallocated or escaped to the U.S. occupation zone. The U.S zone became a home to one of the largest group of Estonian DPs in post-war Germany. In my thesis I will be focusing on the discussions within the Estonian DP community to understand how the Estonian DPs defined themselves, their past history, their relationship with the Third Reich, their desire to move forward and the way they represented themselves to the rest of the world. I will be also exploring the perception of Estonian DPs through the British press. “The Times” (London) provides an adequate and international perspective at the DPs in post-war Germany as it looks at the Estonian DPs in the U.S. zone from an external viewpoint. This allows for a comparison of the narratives found in the Estonian and British press. This study is based upon two research questions: (1) How honestly did Estonian DPs look at their own past history? and (2) How did Estonian DPs represent themselves (to the world)? This thesis is not a study about post-war German society, but about Estonian DPs experience in post-war Germany. However, brief background information about Germany in 1945 is necessary to understand the situational context. The timeframe analysed in this MA thesis is from 1945 to 1949, from the time when most of the DP camps in the U.S. zone opened to the time when most of them were closed down. 1949 also marks the year of the creation of two separate German states from the western and eastern occupation zones. This study uses discourse analysis of the press of the Estonian DPs in post-war Germany to understand how they contextualized their experiences in post-war Germany and how they expressed their situation in the DP press.