Estonia has identified 322 monuments, tributes and tombstones that recall the Soviet past, likely to be removed, as part of the reprisals that many countries are adopting for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, local media reported Thursday.
The survey was carried out by a confidential working group of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which began work in June, with the aim of evaluating the future of all the structures erected several decades ago to celebrate the triumph of the Soviet Union in World War II. World and the liberation of its former republics from Nazi control.
The content of the list remains secret, but the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Urmas Reinsalu, stressed in statements to the public television ERR that “it will probably be made public later.”
In turn, the Minister of Culture of Estonia, Piret Hartman, defended the disclosure of all information, not only because “there is no political interest in keeping it secret”, but also because “society has a word to say about the case”.
The country’s arts and culture community is concerned about new legislation being prepared by the Government to provide a legislative basis for the dismantling of monuments.
“They decide for us that we have to start dismantling and modifying all this heritage. It is sad that it is not understood that history cannot be changed. And with that, the opportunity to talk about this story is taken away,” commented the Estonian Academy of Arts.
Source: TSF
