Nõukogude Eesti kirjanike esimesed välisreisid sulaajal julgeolekupoliitilises kontekstis
EARLY FOREIGN TRAVEL OF SOVIET ESTONIAN WRITERS DURING THE KHRUSHCHEV THAW IN THE CONTEXT OF NATIONAL SECURITY POLICY

Summary/Abstract: After World War II, the free communication of Estonia, now under Soviet occupation, was closed off by the Iron Curtain. However, despite the strict censorship, correspondence with the West could still be maintained under the Stalinist regime up until the deportation of 1949. The Iron Curtain began to be lifted by Stalin’s death in 1953 and the denunciation of his personal cult in 1956. Unlike ordinary people, a number of cultural figures, including writers, enjoyed open borders already in 1956. This article draws light on the history of the first trips abroad by following the most widely travelled writers (Ralf Parve, Lilli Promet, Vladimir and Aimée Beekman, Johannes Semper), using sources available in the National Archives (case files on writers’ trips, documents of the Estonian branch of the Soviet-Finnish Society and other organizations, etc.), as well as relevant periodicals. Particular attention is given to trips between Finland and Estonia (1955–1956), Estonian writers’ trips to Sweden (1956), the writers’ collaboration with the Soviet security agencies as a precondition for travel during the 1950s, and the first travelogues by Soviet writers (1958–1960) in service of Soviet propaganda. By the late 1950s, the main requirements to Soviet tourists – to extol the achievements and peace policy of the Soviet Union abroad – had taken shape. The special task of Estonian writers – to influence the Estonian writers in exile – remained inessential during the second half of the 1950s. The situation changed in 1960 as Estonians living in exile began to visit Estonia more actively. In order to better control and regulate relations with the Estonian diaspora, the KGB-affiliated Society for Advancement of Cultural Relations with the Estonian Diaspora was founded in 1960, opening up a new chapter in the foreign relations of Soviet Estonia.

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