| Abstrakt: |
This article examines relations between expatriates who fled Estonia to settle in the West and the Estonian homeland after World War II. From the official viewpoint, this question is ideological and political because expatriates did not respect any kind of relations with Soviet Estonia. Any sort of dealings would have meant recognising Estonia's occupation. While there were no official relations, it has come to light from the examination of archival sources that relations between compatriots on the two sides of the Iron Curtain took place actively from the end of the 1950's onward but they were concealed and took place through hidden channels of personal, informal networks. There were generational differences among expatriates in their attitudes towards the Estonian homeland. The older generation generally displayed zero tolerance, but younger generations that had received their education in the free West started taking an active interest in visiting Estonia and in members of their generation in the Estonian homeland. The so called forest university was called into being in Canada in 1967. It set the support of nationalist identity as its aim through open academic discussions that were free of ideology. A forest university was also called into being in Australia according to the example set by Estonians in Canada. It was held from 1972 to 1988 in New South Wales District and its leaders were the nationalist patriotic married couple Inno and Tiiu Salasoo. Over the course of 24 years, a total of 375 presentations were given and over 400 discussions and hobby groups were held in addition to hikes, exhibitions and concerts. Australia's forest university session with the largest number of participants was held in 1989 after the ESTO '88 worldwide gathering of Estonians in Melbourne. For the first time, 15 guests and lecturers from Estonia also participated in the forest university. The forest university archive shows how it was organised, how the programme was put together and lecturers invited. This was a process that demonstrated the functioning and cooperation of the global network of compatriots, which contributed to the restoration of independence in the Estonian homeland in 1991. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
