VÕIMATU MISSIOON EHK MIKS ON 1941. AASTAL EESTIST SAKSAMAALE ÜMBERASUNUTE RAHVUST KEERULINE TUVASTADA
MISSION IMPOSSIBLE OR WHY IS IT DIFFICULT TO ASCERTAIN THE ETHNICITY OF THE LATE-RESETTLERS WHO MIGRATED FROM ESTONIA TO GERMANY IN 1941

Summary/Abstract: Recently, interest towards the so-called Late-Resettlement from Estonia to Germany in 1941 as well as people and especially their ethnicity who left Estonia during this operation has increased. In the course of several projects an amount of data about the late-resettlers is collected and many interviews conducted. This information reveals a vague situation regarding the ethnicity of these people. Thus, the aim of this paper is to shed light on this phenomenon and to clarify the societal and legal background of sources which contain statements about ethnicity of the late-resettlers. In doing so, formal self-identification and ethnic identity are distinguished since these two entities do not overlap in every situation. Literature as well as archival sources do contain various statistical data about the ethnicity of the late-resettlers. Yet the differences are remarkable and mostly it is unclear what was the basis of these data. In addition, there are numerous sources which include statements about ethnicity of particular late-resettlers which are however often ambiguous. For instance, memories of the late-resettlers involving even nebulous stances and hints at multiple identities. In addition, the sources are created over a wide timeframe in various conditions and are sporadic. Analysis of the context of sources and the societal background showed that alone the differences of initial function of these sources will make it almost impossible to use these data for statistics and generalizations. Nevertheless, it is possible to ascertain that the manner how people with mixed or ambiguous background identified themselves was often different in formal and informal conditions depending on the occasion. In interwar Estonia many everyday life choices and opportunities were tightly connected with ethnic self-identification. This situation favoured at times inconsistent self-identification. Therefore, it is possible to find several documents about the same person containing different statements about ethnicity. Additionally, as a result of peculiarity of the organization of late-resettlement particularly people and families with ambiguous background got the chance to leave. Hence the ratio of such people among late-resettlers is strikingly remarkable which consecutively affect the possibility of making any generalizations about the ethnicity of these people. Memories of late-resettlers, especially interviews conducted in recent years make it on the one hand easier to understand the influences of the complex societal background but on the other hand the insights of these interviews indicate to the ambiguous ethnic identity of interviewees. There are several hints to dynamic and multiple identities. In addition, post-war exile years also had influences on memories which means they don’t reflect the identity of interviewees and their families of origins in pre-war era and at the time of the late-resettlement even if respective explicit statements are made. Alongside with inconsistent documentation these nuances will make it more complicated to compile statistics and draw any general conclusions.

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