Eskilstuna-Kuriren: They Have Not Surrendered! - Wednesday, 16 March 1988

Original article in Estonian

Translated Article

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Eesti Päevaleht, 16 March 1988

About this article

Newspaper	Eesti Päevaleht (EPL), Estonian exile daily newspaper published in Stockholm, Sweden
Date	Wednesday, 16 March 1988
Issue	No. 20 (issue number and date handwritten on the clipping)
Original source	Editorial of the Swedish daily Eskilstuna-Kuriren, 24 February 1988 (Estonian Independence Day), printed here in Estonian translation
Language	Estonian
Subject	The Swedish editorial opens with Eke-Pärt Nõmm and Vello Väärtnõu, who after joining the independence efforts in Estonia were left with the choice "East or West", and who took part in the 70th anniversary celebration of the Republic of Estonia in Eskilstuna. It goes on to the young generation carrying the freedom tradition in the occupied Baltic states, demonstrations in Lithuania and Latvia, Russification, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, and criticism of Sweden as almost the only Western country to recognize the annexation of the Baltic states.
Photo	Estonian display window at the Fritidsförvaltningen building in Norrköping for the 70th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia, arranged by Föreningstjänst (photo Rein Liiv). The photo is not connected to the editorial.

Pildiallkiri

EESTI VAATEAKEN oli Eesti Vabariigi 70-nda aastapäeva puhul korraldatud Norrköpingi Fritidsförvaltningeni hoones, Uueturu vastas Hospitalsgatanil. Föreningstjänst on lasknud eestlasi akent sisustada eesti raamatute, graafikaga, kodukäsitööga ning Muhu tahvariides mannekeeniga (Foto Rein Liiv).

"Eskilstuna-Kuriren": Nad ei ole alistunud!

Eesti Vabaduspäeval, 24. veebruaril avaldas "Eskilstuna-Kuriren" juhtkirja pealkirja all "Nad ei ole alistunud". Juhtkiri on järgnevas sõnastuses:

Itta või läände – see oli valik eestlastele Eke-Pärt Nõmmele ja Vello Väärtnõule pärast seda, kui nad olid liitunud iseseisvuspüüdlustega oma maal. Neil päevil olid nad Eskilstunas ja osalesid Eesti Vabariigi 70. aastapäeva tähistamises.

Aastapäeva pühitseti paar päeva varem – alles täna, kolmapäeval on möödunud 70 aastat Eesti iseseisvumisest. Pühitsemine toimus vabaduses, kuid kodurahvale suunatud meelsuses, kes pühitseb seda vabadusetuses ja trotsis rõhumise vastu. Ja rõhujad on muutunud närviliseks.

Kaja elab

Selleks on neil ka põhjust. Juba sellepärast, et üha suuremas ulatuses on noored inimesed need, kes okupeeritud balti riikides kannavad edasi vabadustraditsioone. Nad ei olnud kaasas, kui iseseisvus proklameeriti. Kuid kaja sellest elab neis.

Kahtlematult lasevad nad endist täna kuulda koos oma vanemate rahvuskaaslastega – meeleavaldustes ja teistes rahvustunnet väljendavais üritusis. Iseseisvuspäev ei möödu jäljetult.

Seda ei juhtunud Leedus möödunud teisipäeval. Seal osales rahvuslikes manifestatisoonides umbes 100 000 inimest. Leedu katoliiklikul kirikul jätkus enne seda julgust välja kuulutada eestpalve rahva vabaduse eest.

Möödunud aastal oli elevust ka Lätis, kus tõsteti päid protestiks okupantide vastu.

Venestamine

Otsesed püüdlused näevad ette rahvusliku identsuse kaitsemist. Seda ähvardab venestamine, mis, kui seda ei takistata, võib muuta balti rahvad vähemusteks omaenda maades. Edasi tehakse katseid tõrjuda tagasi balti keeli.

Ent otsesuse taga on ka püüdlused pikemas perspektiivis – lootus veel kord uuendada iseseisvuse manifesti. Tuleviku ajalugu pole kõigest hoolimata veel kirjutatud. Ja baltlased pole alistunud.

Järeleandlikkuse triumf

Pole mingi juhuslikkus, et nüüd nõutakse 1939. aastal sõlmitud Molotov-Ribbentropi pakti avaldamist. Selles kohustusid lepinguosalised teineteisele mitte kallale tungida. Ja selles andsid lepinguosalised teineteisele vabad käed teistele kallale tungida. Nii ohverdati ka Baltikum.

Pärast võltsitud rahvahääletusi ja pealesunnitud taotlusi liideti balti riigid nõukogude impeeriumiga. Vägivallapaktis esineb alus N.Liidu nõudmistele Balti riikide osas, milliseid Lenini ajal tunnustas ka N.Liit. See pole aga alus, mis kannatab lähemat vaatlust.

Seda häbiväärsem on aga, et sellest jätkus Rootsile. Meie maa on peaaegu ainus läänemaailmas, kes tunnustas balti riikide annekteerimist nende territoriaalsetes kodudes, ja peale kõige muu seoses majandusliku kokkuleppega, mis andis meile mõned sajad miljonid kroonid. Austraalia on omalt poolt võtnud samalaadse tunnustuse tagasi!

Meie imetlus balti vennasrahvaste vabaduspüüdlustele on möödapääsmatult segatud rootsi järeleandlikkuse suurima triumfiga moodsal ajal. Kuid see ei tohi meid takistada soovimast baltlastele vabadust, milleks neil on täielik õigus. Meie endi vabadus pole endastmõistetavam kui nende oma.

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This translation is provided by AI

Eesti Päevaleht, 16 March 1988

About this article

On 16 March 1988 (No. 20) the Stockholm Estonian exile daily Eesti Päevaleht printed in Estonian translation the editorial that the Swedish newspaper Eskilstuna-Kuriren had published on 24 February 1988, Estonian Independence Day, under the title "They have not surrendered". The Swedish editorial begins with Vello Väärtnõu and Eke-Pärt Nõmm, for whom "East or West" had been the choice after they joined the independence efforts in Estonia, and who had just taken part in the 70th anniversary celebration of the Republic of Estonia in Eskilstuna (see the Eesti Päevaleht report of 11 March 1988). From their story the editorial moves to the Baltic freedom struggle as a whole and to a sharp criticism of Sweden's own recognition of the annexation of the Baltic states.

Photo caption

THE ESTONIAN DISPLAY WINDOW was arranged for the 70th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia in the building of the Norrköping Fritidsförvaltningen (Leisure Administration), on Hospitalsgatan opposite Nya Torget. Föreningstjänst had let the Estonians furnish the window with Estonian books, graphic art, handicrafts and a mannequin in a Muhu folk costume (Photo Rein Liiv).

"Eskilstuna-Kuriren": They Have Not Surrendered!

On Estonian Independence Day, 24 February, "Eskilstuna-Kuriren" published an editorial under the heading "They have not surrendered". The editorial reads as follows:

East or West: that was the choice for the Estonians Eke-Pärt Nõmm and Vello Väärtnõu after they had joined the independence efforts in their country. In these days they were in Eskilstuna and took part in the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the Republic of Estonia.

The anniversary was celebrated a couple of days earlier; only today, Wednesday, have 70 years passed since Estonia became independent. The celebration took place in freedom, but in a spirit directed towards the people at home, who celebrate it in unfreedom and in defiance of oppression. And the oppressors have become nervous.

The echo lives

They have good reason for that too. If only because it is to an ever greater extent young people who carry on the traditions of freedom in the occupied Baltic states. They were not there when independence was proclaimed. But the echo of it lives in them.

Without doubt they will make themselves heard today together with their older compatriots, in demonstrations and in other events expressing national feeling. Independence Day will not pass without a trace.

Nor did it pass without a trace in Lithuania last Tuesday. There about 100,000 people took part in national manifestations. Before that the Lithuanian Catholic Church had found the courage to proclaim intercession for the freedom of the people.

Last year there was excitement in Latvia too, where heads were raised in protest against the occupiers.

Russification

The immediate efforts aim at the defence of national identity. It is threatened by Russification, which, if it is not prevented, can turn the Baltic peoples into minorities in their own lands. Further, attempts are being made to push back the Baltic languages.

But behind the immediate there are also efforts in a longer perspective: the hope of once more renewing the manifesto of independence. In spite of everything, the history of the future has not yet been written. And the Baltic peoples have not surrendered.

The triumph of compliance

It is no coincidence that the publication of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact concluded in 1939 is now being demanded. In it the parties undertook not to attack each other. And in it the parties gave each other a free hand to attack others. That is how the Baltic region too was sacrificed.

After falsified referendums and forced applications, the Baltic states were joined to the Soviet empire. The pact of violence provides the basis for the Soviet Union's claims regarding the Baltic states, which in Lenin's time the Soviet Union also recognized. But that is not a basis that bears closer examination.

All the more shameful, however, is that it was enough for Sweden. Our country is almost the only one in the Western world that recognized the annexation of the Baltic states in their territorial homelands, and on top of everything else in connection with an economic agreement that gave us some hundreds of millions of kronor. Australia, for its part, has withdrawn a similar recognition!

Our admiration for the freedom efforts of the Baltic brother peoples is inevitably mixed with the greatest triumph of Swedish compliance in modern times. But this must not prevent us from wishing the Baltic peoples freedom, to which they have every right. Our own freedom is no more self-evident than theirs.

Notes

• Eke-Pärt Nõmm and Vello Väärtnõu had been expelled from Soviet Estonia to Sweden on 13 February 1988.