Izvestiya of Saratov University.
History. International Relations
ISSN 1819-4907 (Print)
ISSN 2542-1913 (Online)

Эстония

Ideology, toponymy, politics of memory: The history of renaming in the Baltic countries

The article presents an analysis of the toponymy of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania in historical retrospect and the relationship with local memory politics. The practice of changing geographical names was carried out and continues to be carried out in line with the Baltic historical policy and such fundamental components as ethnocentrism, the fight against the consequences of “Soviet occupation” and decommunization. At the same time, toponymy was transformed most uniformly and consistently in Estonia and Latvia, due to similar historical development.

Идеология, топонимия, политика памяти: история переименований в странах Балтии

В статье представлен анализ топонимии Эстонии, Латвии, Литвы в исторической ретроспективе и взаимосвязи с местной политикой памяти. Практика смены географических названий осуществлялась и продолжает осуществляться в русле прибалтийской исторической политики и таких её основополагающих составляющих как этноцентризм, борьба с последствиями «советской оккупации» и декоммунизация. При этом, наиболее однородно, последовательно топонимия преобразовывалась в Эстонии и Латвии, в силу схожего исторического развития.

Historical assessments in Estonian society: The identity of Estonians and Russian speakers in the context of local memory politics

The article examines the foundations of the historical paradigm of the modern Republic of Estonia and the degree of its perception by the local population. With the proclamation of independence, the local establishment decided to completely break with the Soviet past and had to construct not only its own political mechanism, the vertical of power, but also a new historical paradigm that could become a fastening link of the emerging statehood, as well as the Estonian society itself (its Estonian-speaking and Russian-speaking parts).