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Detta är ett brev till olyckskamraterna som bodde i lägret i Geislingen an der Steige under några år efter andra världskriget. Det är skrivet på det språk som flest människor i världen behärskar: bad english. 

 

First time I went to Estonia, after WWII was in 1978. My wife and my three small children did accompany. The children because we believed that they made us more secure. It would have been embarrassing for the Sovjets to be violent against us, we belived.  Nowadays I know how wrong it was. Our relatives in Sweden where very concerned. I was related to Radio Free Europa and my stepfather, Harri Kiisk, was not well seen in Estonia. The communist leader Karl Vaino had said to another musician in Estonia, Harald Siiak, that Siiak never would be allowed to go abroad again, because he had met Harri Kiisk in Helsinki.

But one thing was nice, the meetings with relatives in secure rooms with dark curtains. We smiled and talked about the terrible situation in Estonia and the rest of the country. Really?

Yes, More or less they all lived when the freedom came 1991, and we talked of course of 1978, and they said: "We had to choose, tell you lies or the truth. We did choose the truth. Sink or swim. We knew who you knew in the West; that you and your friends would be careful about everything we said and so on. We trusted each other and it worked out."

And so it was, very little was told in Radio Free Europa, just what everyone alredy knew, cueues, shops for communists which were forbidden for others and…well, we all knew about Estonia during the Sovjet time. how incredibly strange it still seems to us.

Our relatives told us, in 1978, the most horrible stories of everyday life, but nobody really showed us any bad feelings;  we fled to the free world and they did not. That was that.

After 1991 many says often how glad they where that we dared to visit them, how their lives ”changed”, they have relatives in flesh and blood, and they repeated: we told you the truth and you kept your word.

After 1991 we have been in Estonia many times every year, I have met ex-soviet teachers, I have lectured for teachers in history, I have met pupils who asked their teachers, "why did you lie to us,” and I have heard their answers.

I have struggled with Tallinn city about houses and renovations.  I have argued with renters and learnt the soviet way of thinking - nothing to recommend, and I have seen Estonia been transformed from a former soviet country to a western democracy, and I am of course very pleased.

In 2005 we built our house, remaining of an old Estonian farm house, more or less, and now we spend every second month there. By the way, we are going to Estonia the day after tomorrow.

Nowhere we have met bitter and envy people. We do not only see relatives, also neighbors, farmers, politicians, historically interested people and historians, doctors, pharmacists, former members of the communist party, people who studied five years in Leningrad, people who served in the soviet army,  people who travelled over the whole Sovjetunion.

We had relatives in Kaukasus. Now the Estonian village near Sootj is destroyed…

And everybody show us good behavior and are friendly and nice.

Of course I understand that there was and now are problems. But I know why. Many officials, one former  Commander in Chief and  a former Foreign Minister, from US and from Sweden, talked before thinking. They treated people as stupid children. They meant well but did wrong. Many others made the same mistake.

Some left Estonia soon enough, but many bought houses and now they live there or spend vacations in Estonia.

The coast is, by the way, again filled with Estonian Swedes. They came the first time to Estonia already about 1000 years ago. In 1944-1945 they fled from the Soviets, but now they are back again.

I know people who has bad things to say about Estonians. And there are of course Estonians trying to cheat you, when you for example build houses, or make business.

I do recommend you all  to read a fantastic blog, ”http://karinsestland.blogg.se”. (Or google "karinsestland") It is in Swedish but you can use google translate. Karinsestland tells you about Estonia today and yesterday. She follows Estonian media every day, Russian media now and then and she knows ”everything about Estonia”.

And we must all remember that Estonia and Estonians have made a remarkable journey, well compared with the first freedom time. If the Russians had left Estonia alone and the occupation never had occured, Estonia had been as Schweitz or Lichtenstein, a little and prosperous republic. And soon they are there. Twenty years of freedom and soon they are there.

But Estonians are Estonians,like I once wrote: if two Estonians meet………

Good evening.