Mäetagused (Apr 2012)
Eestlased kaugel idas – väljarändamisest assimileerumiseni
Abstract
After incorporating the Ussuri region into Russia, the latter’s primary aim was to colonize the coast of the Sea of Japan to make it not only nominal but also a real property of Russia. In order to find re-settlers for this region, Russian officials started search in the western corner of their empire – on Estonian islands Saaremaa and Muhumaa, where people already worked as fishermen and were also interested in getting some land. They were an exact match to the Russians’ needs for populating the other end of their empire, the land beside the Pacific. In the second half of the 19th century the grounds for regular ship connection between Odessa and Vladivostok were laid. In 1898 Estonian scouts went to the Ussuri region to see the land they were offered (at the expense of Russia). The scouts were satisfied – the sea was filled with fish and the territory was surrounded with forests. Every individual settler was granted 15 hectares of land, each family – 100 hectares, and they were freed from taxes for five years; besides, they were supplied with food for 18 months and allocated some money for buying tools. Estonian settlers could also count on getting 1000 roubles for fishing equipment and setup. However, the land was not totally uninhabited. The Chinese lived there seasonally – they cultivated the land and lived in their shacks, but they had no legal right to the land. As an unpleasant surprise, they found out that the land they had been using was now in the possession of Estonians. Estonians were surprised as well when they realized that the land allocated to them was already partly cultivated and in use; yet, they gained advantage from the situation. As rightful owners, they rented part of their lands to the Chinese. The conditions for land cultivation and fishing in the Pacific were different from those in Estonia. It took time before people adapted to local climate, landscape, soil and fishing opportunities. Two villages were settled by Estonians: Liiviküla (founded in 1899) and Linda (founded in 1903). By the year 1915 there were 141 households with 691 people (236 men and 455 women). 80 of them were fisherman. Then the revolution and the First World War broke out, and contact with the homeland was lost. In 1922 the Red Army reached Vladivostok. This started a new phase in the life of Estonians of the Far East. In 1924 the associations of fishermen were established, and in 1929 a kolkhoz named “Liflandets” was founded on the basis of these associations. In 1931, when Juhan Hanslepp was elected the chairman of the kolkhoz, it was renamed to Novõi Mir (New World). Since the Estonians were hard-working and well organized, the fishing kolkhoz was quite soon one of the most productive collective farms in the region. In the beginning, the Estonian kolkhoz was the only one that was engaged not only in fishing but also shipbuilding. In 1937–38 the villages were subjected to Stalinist repressions. The Second World War sent all the men to the front and women had to take care of the village life. They caught fish, cultivated land and raised children. After the war the community separated – some left for their original homeland and the others stayed in their new homeland – the Far East. The fishing kolkhoz started to fish out on the ocean. Their work made them a millionaire-kolkhoz, which developed friendly relations with another one of the kind – Kirov (in Estonia). They acted like state within a state – the kolkhoz owned a school, a preschool, a fishing fleet, and fish processing factories. First the captains of the fleet were Estonians, later on Russians. By now the Estonian community has assimilated. The only reminders of the Estonian settlement are some place- and family names. The assimilation has taken place very rapidly – within one generation. It is partly because of the Stalinist repressive politics towards national minorities, partly because of the distance from the motherland and lack of Estonian cultural life, but mostly because of the conscious choice of the younger generation to lead an easier life. It is true that the generation regrets that they do not know the language of their forefathers, but they blame their parents for not motivating them enough to learn it. Today the Estonian community consists of nearly ten elderly people, who are able to communicate in Estonian, are still interested in their ethnic homeland, and have not fallen victim to the Russian propaganda. The Estonian settlement stood on the coast of the Pacific Ocean for one hundred years. Today there are only eight people in Liiviküla village who can understand Estonian.
