1 00:01:27,050 --> 00:01:32,510 What role can singing play when a nation is faced with annihilation by its 2 00:01:32,510 --> 00:01:33,510 neighbors? 3 00:01:40,070 --> 00:01:43,430 Can culture hold a people together? 4 00:01:47,830 --> 00:01:53,770 For centuries, the small country of Estonia has faced these questions. 5 00:02:05,610 --> 00:02:10,930 With the Baltic Sea to the west and Russia to the east, Estonia is a gateway 6 00:02:10,930 --> 00:02:15,550 between Europe and Russia and has always been a desired place. 7 00:02:17,450 --> 00:02:21,650 People here have faced wave after wave of occupiers. 8 00:02:22,170 --> 00:02:28,910 Danes, Swedes, Germans, Poles, Russian Tsars, the Soviet Union, all have seen 9 00:02:28,910 --> 00:02:30,310 the value of this land. 10 00:02:47,850 --> 00:02:54,410 But Estonia's darkest and bloodiest chapter began in 1939 when the Soviets 11 00:02:54,410 --> 00:02:55,410 crossed the border. 12 00:02:56,290 --> 00:02:59,110 Within months, thousands were executed. 13 00:02:59,530 --> 00:03:00,890 Others disappeared. 14 00:03:02,070 --> 00:03:07,130 In one night, 10,000 men, women, and children were taken from their homes, 15 00:03:07,390 --> 00:03:12,130 loaded into cattle cars, and shipped to slave labor camps in Siberia. 16 00:03:13,890 --> 00:03:16,310 More than half never returned. 17 00:03:21,839 --> 00:03:24,240 Then the Nazis came. 18 00:03:29,040 --> 00:03:35,640 They withdrew and the Soviets returned with a vengeance, this time staying for 19 00:03:35,640 --> 00:03:39,620 50 years and nearly eradicating the Estonian nation. 20 00:03:51,630 --> 00:03:57,010 After five thousand years on this land, Estonians almost ceased to exist. 21 00:04:56,270 --> 00:05:01,450 For centuries, people here from all over the country have come together, joined 22 00:05:01,450 --> 00:05:03,510 voices and sung. 23 00:05:09,930 --> 00:05:16,610 In Estonia, fairy tale heroes are not brave noblemen who slay dragons and save 24 00:05:16,610 --> 00:05:17,610 damsels. 25 00:05:17,850 --> 00:05:24,530 Their hero is the shrewd old barn keeper who sits by the fire, waits, 26 00:05:25,340 --> 00:05:29,300 Watches and acts only when the time is right. 27 00:05:31,080 --> 00:05:32,680 Patience is a weapon. 28 00:05:34,620 --> 00:05:36,380 Caution a virtue. 29 00:06:04,620 --> 00:06:08,480 This is the story of how culture saved a nation. 30 00:06:30,980 --> 00:06:33,240 When I was seven 31 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:38,820 I took part first time in the Song Festival, singing in the boy choir. 32 00:06:39,160 --> 00:06:45,980 And I just remember the first feeling when I'm just one singer with all 33 00:06:45,980 --> 00:06:47,480 others, 20,000 singers. 34 00:06:47,960 --> 00:06:54,300 You are part of the one nation or part of this country and 35 00:06:54,300 --> 00:06:56,200 it's just a great feeling. 36 00:07:15,560 --> 00:07:20,520 It was a lullaby, I still remember that. The 37 00:07:20,520 --> 00:07:27,260 most 38 00:07:27,260 --> 00:07:31,380 important thing to understand Estonian history 39 00:07:32,110 --> 00:07:35,270 is our singing tradition. 40 00:07:37,390 --> 00:07:43,050 Singing is a part of growing up here, and so too is a sense of the country's 41 00:07:43,050 --> 00:07:44,050 history. 42 00:07:44,710 --> 00:07:50,570 After centuries of occupation, Estonia gained its independence in 1920. 43 00:07:51,050 --> 00:07:56,130 For two decades, this new country flourished. It was a nation of high 44 00:07:56,130 --> 00:08:01,010 literacy rates, a strong economy, and an optimism for the future. 45 00:08:02,760 --> 00:08:08,760 But by 1939, the major European powers were becoming restless, and there was 46 00:08:08,760 --> 00:08:12,980 little room on the international stage for this small country of one million 47 00:08:12,980 --> 00:08:13,980 people. 48 00:08:14,400 --> 00:08:18,620 All the singing in the world couldn't prevent the events to come. 49 00:08:33,200 --> 00:08:38,679 Up until 1939, Estonia was an independent country. And then in 1939, 50 00:08:38,940 --> 00:08:44,340 Hitler and Stalin signed a pact which divided a lot of Europe between them and 51 00:08:44,340 --> 00:08:47,380 actually was the basis for starting World War II. 52 00:08:48,420 --> 00:08:51,800 Hitler and Stalin's plan would devastate Europe. 53 00:08:53,240 --> 00:08:58,520 The Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was a military agreement between the Nazis and 54 00:08:58,520 --> 00:09:03,530 Soviets. containing a secret clause that divided the continent between Germany 55 00:09:03,530 --> 00:09:04,910 and the Soviet Union. 56 00:09:06,050 --> 00:09:08,510 Estonia was to be taken by the Soviets. 57 00:09:10,230 --> 00:09:14,170 Within days of the signing, Hitler invaded Poland. 58 00:09:14,810 --> 00:09:19,570 Then over 25,000 Soviet soldiers poured into Estonia. 59 00:09:19,990 --> 00:09:26,190 And within a year, there were more than 80,000. One Soviet soldier for every 12 60 00:09:26,190 --> 00:09:27,190 Estonians. 61 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:34,960 In 1940 there came the total occupation of Estonia and we had no 62 00:09:34,960 --> 00:09:39,840 possibilities to organize our defense because we were alone. 63 00:09:47,380 --> 00:09:54,000 The first months of 1940 meant taking people out of their 64 00:09:54,000 --> 00:09:56,700 houses and then... 65 00:09:57,340 --> 00:10:01,960 arresting several thousands, executing them. 66 00:10:04,120 --> 00:10:08,860 The idea of this was to destroy all resistance of the society. 67 00:10:09,360 --> 00:10:15,400 Teachers, scientists, writers, politicians, everybody who has been a 68 00:10:15,400 --> 00:10:18,940 member of Estonian government or the prime minister was killed. 69 00:10:22,040 --> 00:10:27,410 Estonians lived in fear of arrest, execution, or a sentence to Soviet 70 00:10:27,410 --> 00:10:29,770 concentration camps, the gulag. 71 00:10:30,030 --> 00:10:31,750 No one was safe. 72 00:10:32,110 --> 00:10:35,630 The greatest fear was a knock on the door in the middle of the night. 73 00:10:37,190 --> 00:10:41,990 Local Soviet officials would grab any convenient person to fulfill prisoner 74 00:10:41,990 --> 00:10:42,990 quotas. 75 00:10:43,330 --> 00:10:47,630 One third of those deported to Siberia were children. 76 00:10:54,080 --> 00:10:57,980 Because the values were given, not given away. 77 00:10:59,300 --> 00:11:00,980 Because it was so ridiculous, you know. 78 00:11:01,760 --> 00:11:07,400 Because when you have to go to school, and the piano exam is today, and you're 79 00:11:07,400 --> 00:11:12,020 supposed to be somewhere in Kiski or somewhere in Puuri, then you have to say 80 00:11:12,020 --> 00:11:13,020 that it's very ridiculous. 81 00:11:14,600 --> 00:11:18,920 But of course there was a person who was incredibly harsh, and it was a woman, 82 00:11:19,100 --> 00:11:21,720 who had no idea where the very little four children were. 83 00:11:36,800 --> 00:11:40,880 My grandfather was sent to Siberia. Why? 84 00:11:41,940 --> 00:11:46,680 That maybe he had a bit more land than others. 85 00:11:50,440 --> 00:11:51,700 There were... 86 00:11:52,090 --> 00:11:58,150 various methods of torture, physical torture, psychological torture, too. 87 00:11:58,410 --> 00:12:04,710 The hunger, the cold, these were 88 00:12:04,710 --> 00:12:06,450 unsuitable for surviving. 89 00:12:08,650 --> 00:12:14,630 This was a very hard time for our parents. 90 00:12:15,210 --> 00:12:19,290 Nation. Yeah, all the nation, because... 91 00:12:20,110 --> 00:12:26,530 We don't understand why they were taken and sent to 92 00:12:26,530 --> 00:12:28,910 Siberia. For what? 93 00:13:03,280 --> 00:13:08,620 Nobody listened to us. And I suppose that is this feeling being left behind 94 00:13:08,620 --> 00:13:12,020 the curtain where nobody can hear what is going on here. 95 00:13:12,300 --> 00:13:18,400 And what was going on really was the most direct, severe genocide, really. 96 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:41,260 I have to tell you that I was born free. 97 00:13:42,280 --> 00:13:47,700 And because of that, I know exactly how this freedom came about. 98 00:13:48,380 --> 00:13:54,920 What kind of people you were, what kind of a bird you were. How this vanilla and 99 00:13:54,920 --> 00:13:56,180 waffle ice cream became healthy. 100 00:13:57,980 --> 00:14:02,260 We started to learn about tricking when I came back from Siberia. 101 00:14:09,290 --> 00:14:14,610 The first year of the Soviet occupation became known as the Year of Suffering. 102 00:14:15,550 --> 00:14:18,730 But the Estonian nation still survived. 103 00:14:23,410 --> 00:14:30,030 In 1941, Hitler betrayed Stalin 104 00:14:30,030 --> 00:14:31,790 and broke their agreement. 105 00:14:32,730 --> 00:14:37,590 The German army invaded Russia and also stormed across the border. 106 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:38,960 into Estonia. 107 00:14:40,080 --> 00:14:43,820 It was now the Nazis' turn to devastate the country. 108 00:14:44,260 --> 00:14:47,700 Nazi ideology replaced Soviet propaganda. 109 00:14:48,540 --> 00:14:52,900 Young Estonians were either forced into the German army or shot. 110 00:14:54,700 --> 00:14:58,960 But within three years, the war turned against Hitler. 111 00:15:00,080 --> 00:15:05,080 Germany retreated and Soviet troops once again invaded Estonia. 112 00:15:07,950 --> 00:15:13,430 So what are you supposed to do within a four-year time span when you have both 113 00:15:13,430 --> 00:15:18,290 your enemies there opposing each other and opposing you? Aha! Who were those 114 00:15:18,290 --> 00:15:20,130 Estonians who cooperated with the Russians? 115 00:15:20,430 --> 00:15:21,770 We had to get rid of you. 116 00:15:22,250 --> 00:15:25,690 And then three years of German occupation and the Russians come back. 117 00:15:25,890 --> 00:15:28,250 Ha! Who were those who cooperated with the Germans? 118 00:15:29,450 --> 00:15:34,930 With grisly memories of a year of suffering, 70,000 Estonians fearing 119 00:15:34,930 --> 00:15:36,650 death fled the country. 120 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:39,220 But it wasn't an easy escape. 121 00:15:39,840 --> 00:15:42,440 Some drowned in small fishing boats. 122 00:15:42,860 --> 00:15:45,240 Some were killed by Soviet planes. 123 00:15:46,020 --> 00:15:47,400 Others were captured. 124 00:15:49,020 --> 00:15:54,140 But thousands eventually made it to the West, where they would preserve the 125 00:15:54,140 --> 00:15:59,360 Estonian language and culture, hoping that someday they could return home. 126 00:16:00,180 --> 00:16:02,360 All our family was torn apart. 127 00:16:03,860 --> 00:16:06,720 Part of the family was... 128 00:16:07,130 --> 00:16:11,850 Deported to Siberia, part of the family escaped to the West. Some stayed here 129 00:16:11,850 --> 00:16:12,850 and some were killed. 130 00:16:15,150 --> 00:16:19,030 But the rest of the world knew little of Estonia's suffering. 131 00:16:19,710 --> 00:16:25,930 In 1945, Stalin convinced the Americans and the English that he would soon set 132 00:16:25,930 --> 00:16:27,470 up free elections in Estonia. 133 00:16:28,170 --> 00:16:33,530 Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to this deception, and Stalin walked away with 134 00:16:33,530 --> 00:16:35,390 Estonia in his firm grip. 135 00:16:39,920 --> 00:16:45,740 World War two officially ended soon after But for Estonians this was just 136 00:16:45,740 --> 00:16:50,120 the beginning of a new long chapter of Soviet occupation 137 00:16:50,120 --> 00:16:55,540 The country was devastated 138 00:16:55,540 --> 00:16:59,520 having lost over one-quarter of its population 139 00:16:59,520 --> 00:17:05,180 There was 140 00:17:05,930 --> 00:17:11,310 Tens of thousands of people who nevertheless decided to fight because 141 00:17:11,310 --> 00:17:15,990 they were sure that you couldn't give this country away without fighting. Only 142 00:17:15,990 --> 00:17:20,630 nation who fights for its freedom can have it, even if this fight is lost. 143 00:17:30,110 --> 00:17:33,550 30,000 young men and women took to the woods. 144 00:17:34,010 --> 00:17:39,850 to fight for a free Estonia, ambushing Soviet soldiers and sabotaging military 145 00:17:39,850 --> 00:17:44,810 convoys. They called themselves the Forest Brothers. 146 00:18:02,280 --> 00:18:06,740 I went to the forest and started living there. I made a bunker for myself. 147 00:18:07,000 --> 00:18:10,700 Then we met another forest friend. 148 00:18:12,020 --> 00:18:13,500 We lived with them. 149 00:18:28,100 --> 00:18:31,700 Alfred Kármán lived in the forest for eight years. 150 00:18:32,220 --> 00:18:34,240 One month and seven days. 151 00:19:00,360 --> 00:19:01,580 And so life went on. 152 00:19:03,080 --> 00:19:06,100 We didn't have that hope. 153 00:19:08,660 --> 00:19:15,000 We didn't have any kind of hope to live on as long as 154 00:19:15,000 --> 00:19:16,000 possible. 155 00:19:16,800 --> 00:19:22,660 Our last men who stayed in the forest... Our 156 00:19:22,660 --> 00:19:26,520 understanding was as follows. 157 00:19:26,900 --> 00:19:29,620 As long as Relv stayed... 158 00:19:40,730 --> 00:19:46,850 Like many Forest Brothers, Kármán placed his hopes in the promise that the West 159 00:19:46,850 --> 00:19:50,390 would eventually pressure the Soviets to leave Estonia. 160 00:19:50,930 --> 00:19:52,510 This never happened. 161 00:19:53,730 --> 00:19:58,470 In 1952, he was captured, interrogated, tortured... 162 00:19:58,730 --> 00:20:01,810 and then sentenced to 25 years of hard labor. 163 00:20:25,030 --> 00:20:30,630 With the occupation fully entrenched, The Soviets next began an intense period 164 00:20:30,630 --> 00:20:31,630 of Russification. 165 00:20:33,250 --> 00:20:38,330 Tens of thousands of Russian workers were relocated to Estonia, sometimes 166 00:20:38,330 --> 00:20:40,250 forming entirely new cities. 167 00:20:41,470 --> 00:20:48,270 Russification was one of the main tools for keeping the Soviet 168 00:20:48,270 --> 00:20:49,270 Union together. 169 00:20:50,150 --> 00:20:55,210 Farms were taken from their owners and collectivized. Those who resisted were 170 00:20:55,210 --> 00:20:57,490 arrested and sentenced to Siberia. 171 00:20:58,060 --> 00:21:02,100 Anything that could bring back memories of pre-Soviet life was destroyed. 172 00:21:03,040 --> 00:21:04,880 Estonia no longer existed. 173 00:21:05,280 --> 00:21:08,620 It was now a Soviet Socialist Republic. 174 00:21:11,680 --> 00:21:16,800 But there was one thing holding Estonians together, giving them hope. 175 00:21:18,740 --> 00:21:19,740 Singing. 176 00:21:28,810 --> 00:21:33,130 For thousands of years music has been a vital part of life here. 177 00:21:34,670 --> 00:21:39,570 In fact, this tiny country has one of the largest collections of folk songs in 178 00:21:39,570 --> 00:21:40,570 the world. 179 00:21:46,530 --> 00:21:51,750 And since the 19th century, Estonians have traveled from all over the country 180 00:21:51,750 --> 00:21:54,790 to join voices in massive song festivals. 181 00:21:56,430 --> 00:22:00,450 These festivals were as much about national identity as music. 182 00:22:04,070 --> 00:22:08,610 Every corner of the country where they had a small singing group had the right 183 00:22:08,610 --> 00:22:09,429 to participate. 184 00:22:09,430 --> 00:22:13,490 They practiced the songs all winter and then they came together, all in national 185 00:22:13,490 --> 00:22:14,690 folk costumes. 186 00:22:15,410 --> 00:22:19,850 Twenty, twenty-five thousand singers on the stage at the same time. 187 00:22:32,970 --> 00:22:36,630 But with the Soviets in power, things changed. 188 00:22:53,110 --> 00:22:59,730 In 1947, after years of war, 189 00:23:00,010 --> 00:23:01,670 the Song Festival continued. 190 00:23:02,380 --> 00:23:07,120 But now, the Soviet propaganda machine realized that this huge gathering 191 00:23:07,120 --> 00:23:12,520 provided the perfect opportunity to show how delighted Estonians were to be 192 00:23:12,520 --> 00:23:13,880 living under communism. 193 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:28,520 But the festival also presented an opportunity to Estonians. 194 00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:34,800 Conductor Gustav Ernest Sachs composed a new piece of music to premiere at the 195 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:39,920 festival. The lyrics were taken from a well-known national poem written a 196 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:42,280 hundred years earlier by Lydia Koidula. 197 00:23:42,780 --> 00:23:49,560 Its title was Mu isama on minu aram, or Land of My Father's 198 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:50,840 Land That I Love. 199 00:23:53,560 --> 00:23:57,140 Surprisingly, the song slipped by the Soviet censors. 200 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:03,300 and suddenly 25 000 voices were singing a love song to their former country 201 00:24:03,300 --> 00:24:10,280 the song was sung in estonian not russian and in a matter of moments it 202 00:24:10,280 --> 00:24:12,540 became the unofficial national anthem 203 00:24:12,540 --> 00:24:19,620 and 204 00:24:19,620 --> 00:24:25,600 it's a beautiful song the words are so nice and definitely it was a sign of 205 00:24:25,690 --> 00:24:30,830 where all this pain and love and belief in the future of this nation. 206 00:24:31,210 --> 00:24:35,290 And I guess this very moment was important for all Estonians. 207 00:24:54,250 --> 00:24:56,090 And it is still the case today. 208 00:24:56,510 --> 00:25:02,550 Everyone has the opportunity to live through the fact that we are Estonians. 209 00:25:02,670 --> 00:25:03,670 We have our own culture. 210 00:25:03,770 --> 00:25:05,550 We are one nation. 211 00:25:06,010 --> 00:25:10,330 We are so few that we have to accept it. We are who we are. 212 00:25:39,210 --> 00:25:45,070 Throughout the 1950s and 60s, life under the Soviets consisted of communist youth 213 00:25:45,070 --> 00:25:51,290 groups, mayday parades, and thousands more deportations to Siberia. 214 00:25:51,990 --> 00:25:56,690 People couldn't express anything that might be construed as political opinion, 215 00:25:56,910 --> 00:26:00,190 fearing the omnipresent shadow of KGB surveillance. 216 00:26:01,910 --> 00:26:07,870 It was all behind the scenes, constant, psychological. 217 00:26:08,780 --> 00:26:11,060 pressure. It was an amazing monster. 218 00:26:11,540 --> 00:26:16,600 And you never know how big it was, where it was, who in your family or your 219 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:17,900 friends, who were the agents. 220 00:26:18,300 --> 00:26:21,760 So there was never an official face of the organization. 221 00:26:22,160 --> 00:26:24,620 It was always behind the scenes in the minds of the people. 222 00:26:24,980 --> 00:26:27,320 And they were very effective in making you scared. 223 00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:35,480 Even the simplest traditions, like celebrating Christmas at home, were 224 00:26:35,480 --> 00:26:36,480 forbidden. 225 00:26:38,160 --> 00:26:44,500 the Christmas tree home every Christmas, but the curtains was closed because if 226 00:26:44,500 --> 00:26:49,040 someone saw that you have Christmas tree in your house, it was very bad. 227 00:26:52,320 --> 00:26:56,460 I am not absolutely aware that most of Estonians thought that we can be free. 228 00:26:57,060 --> 00:27:04,040 We just try to find that way how to make this life better, more honest, more 229 00:27:04,040 --> 00:27:05,900 open, more happy. 230 00:27:10,510 --> 00:27:14,470 So much depended on the family situation, because parents couldn't 231 00:27:14,470 --> 00:27:15,470 speak easily. 232 00:27:16,170 --> 00:27:21,590 At school, they taught a lot of crap, but I did get some hints from my 233 00:27:21,590 --> 00:27:26,390 parents. My father mostly told how things really were. 234 00:27:31,270 --> 00:27:35,870 I still have inside me the things that we talked between ourselves. 235 00:27:36,590 --> 00:27:42,310 had to be kept in our house and never to be spoken, even to our closest friends 236 00:27:42,310 --> 00:27:45,910 at school. I couldn't talk about these things outside. 237 00:27:46,390 --> 00:27:52,470 Because Soviets were afraid, of course, of the big enemy there outside, 238 00:27:52,850 --> 00:27:58,410 wanted to come in and wanted to destroy all this beautiful socialist happiness 239 00:27:58,410 --> 00:27:59,930 that we are living. 240 00:28:00,610 --> 00:28:02,910 That was the main issue. 241 00:28:21,740 --> 00:28:26,800 Throughout the years of occupation, the song festivals continued, with two days 242 00:28:26,800 --> 00:28:31,840 of Estonians begrudgingly singing songs about communism and Lenin and Marx. 243 00:28:32,900 --> 00:28:37,960 But at the end of the festival, they sang the traditional Estonian songs as 244 00:28:37,960 --> 00:28:38,960 well. 245 00:28:39,520 --> 00:28:45,660 Everybody actually came to this lullaby to sing these four additional songs. 246 00:28:46,000 --> 00:28:50,360 But this was emotionally so strong feeling that... 247 00:28:50,880 --> 00:28:56,640 It was worth to sing these scrap songs and then the real emotional songs in the 248 00:28:56,640 --> 00:28:57,640 end. 249 00:28:58,000 --> 00:29:03,240 1969 was the 100th anniversary of the song festivals and Estonians were 250 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:04,980 anticipating a large celebration. 251 00:29:05,420 --> 00:29:09,900 But the Soviet authorities were looking to squelch the Estonian spirit. 252 00:29:10,180 --> 00:29:15,020 So they discouraged the wearing of traditional Estonian folk costumes and 253 00:29:15,020 --> 00:29:18,960 forbade the singing of Muissima on Minu Arum. 254 00:29:19,260 --> 00:29:24,160 the unofficial national anthem that premiered at the 1947 Song Festival. 255 00:30:00,100 --> 00:30:06,720 I remember this time all singers want to sing 256 00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:13,560 and we started to sing without leader and 257 00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:18,750 then not once time Two times, three times, all need more, more, more. 258 00:30:19,330 --> 00:30:22,070 It was a very, very good feeling. 259 00:30:22,390 --> 00:30:26,630 It's an interesting thing. If 20,000 people start to sing one song, even 260 00:30:26,630 --> 00:30:29,930 without the conductor, then you just cannot shut them up. It's impossible. 261 00:30:34,410 --> 00:30:39,290 The Soviets were forced to let the song's composer, Gustav Ernesax, take 262 00:30:39,290 --> 00:30:41,050 the stage and conduct the song. 263 00:31:02,000 --> 00:31:05,360 And in the end, it all came down to the fact that the duration of the song, 264 00:31:05,360 --> 00:31:06,900 which had been prepared for five years, 265 00:31:07,820 --> 00:31:13,580 its main purpose was to come together 266 00:31:13,580 --> 00:31:20,200 and sing together with the people the one forbidden and most 267 00:31:20,200 --> 00:31:21,200 important song. 268 00:31:21,640 --> 00:31:26,080 And all the people could go home with the knowledge of their everyday work, 269 00:31:26,800 --> 00:31:30,620 that the spirit of Estonia lives on. 270 00:31:52,330 --> 00:31:57,310 In the 1970s, the song festivals did keep the Estonian spirit alive. 271 00:31:57,810 --> 00:32:03,170 But the oppressive reality of daily life still consisted of long food lines, 272 00:32:03,410 --> 00:32:09,650 incessant propaganda, and little hope for anything resembling freedom. 273 00:32:35,959 --> 00:32:37,360 Hey. 274 00:33:19,130 --> 00:33:23,030 In 1985, Mikhail Gorbachev came to power. 275 00:33:24,510 --> 00:33:28,510 Educated by the Stalinist school system, he was a firm believer in communism. 276 00:33:29,290 --> 00:33:33,910 Soviet television took pains to show Gorbachev, a man from a new generation, 277 00:33:34,090 --> 00:33:38,430 with Prime Minister Tikhonov and Foreign Minister Gromyko, men from the Stalin 278 00:33:38,430 --> 00:33:41,110 days, men born before the Bolshevik revolution. 279 00:33:41,850 --> 00:33:45,870 That was probably done to show the Soviet people and the world that there 280 00:33:45,870 --> 00:33:47,550 is continuity inside the Kremlin. 281 00:33:49,110 --> 00:33:53,070 While he intended to maintain the communist grip on the Soviet Union, 282 00:33:53,270 --> 00:33:57,190 Gorbachev could no longer deny the crumbling economic devastation. 283 00:33:57,420 --> 00:33:58,860 of the past 70 years. 284 00:33:59,060 --> 00:34:04,300 So he planned to modernize the Soviet system, introducing the concepts of 285 00:34:04,300 --> 00:34:09,239 glasnost and perestroika. And perestroika means relative freedom 286 00:34:09,239 --> 00:34:10,659 within the Soviet system. 287 00:34:10,880 --> 00:34:15,060 And glasnost means, this is a Russian word for free speech. 288 00:34:15,699 --> 00:34:22,560 And let's say Gorbachev and his cohorts had been traveling in the 289 00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:25,880 West. They must have seen something with their own eyes. 290 00:34:26,100 --> 00:34:28,440 Why don't we have this prosperity back home? 291 00:34:28,679 --> 00:34:33,300 We have tried and tried and tried, and we are poor. We don't have anything. 292 00:34:33,460 --> 00:34:35,219 People are unhappy, and so on. 293 00:34:36,179 --> 00:34:40,639 And Gorbachev was relatively intelligent, and he decided to launch a 294 00:34:40,639 --> 00:34:44,659 major campaign of renewing the Soviet system, but within the system felt that 295 00:34:44,659 --> 00:34:45,659 the communists should remain. 296 00:34:45,900 --> 00:34:50,320 But he made one very, very basic fundamental mistake. He didn't realize 297 00:34:50,320 --> 00:34:55,360 that... Whenever you give free speech to people, then things get out of hand. The 298 00:34:55,360 --> 00:34:56,500 ghost gets out of the bottle. 299 00:34:56,739 --> 00:35:02,500 But the Estonians here, that had their own ghosts, they thought, ah, our big 300 00:35:02,500 --> 00:35:03,500 chance. 301 00:35:03,640 --> 00:35:06,420 If we are going to change something, okay, let's do it. 302 00:35:06,640 --> 00:35:09,520 Let's do it the real way. Let's do it our way. 303 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:13,720 And, of course, that wasn't exactly what Gorbachev had in mind. 304 00:35:18,570 --> 00:35:23,990 In 1987, Estonians took their first step in testing this new openness. 305 00:35:25,910 --> 00:35:31,950 The Soviets had unveiled a plan to begin strip mining in Estonia. Some decided to 306 00:35:31,950 --> 00:35:35,970 push the limits of glasnost and organized protests against the mines. 307 00:35:36,470 --> 00:35:42,810 At first I think that this environmental issue was more safe because even in 308 00:35:42,810 --> 00:35:46,690 Soviet Union you could speak about the environment, about nature. 309 00:35:47,420 --> 00:35:51,840 They calculated that by taking non-violent action and speaking only 310 00:35:51,840 --> 00:35:56,600 about the environment, Gorbachev wouldn't use force to stop the protests. 311 00:35:56,940 --> 00:36:00,900 In light of Glasnost and Perestroika, this would have been an international 312 00:36:00,900 --> 00:36:02,360 embarrassment for him. 313 00:36:03,380 --> 00:36:06,720 The strategy worked and the mines were halted. 314 00:36:08,500 --> 00:36:13,080 Soon after, a small group of activists decided to try something riskier. 315 00:36:13,420 --> 00:36:18,160 to openly speak about politics and history and the Soviet occupation. 316 00:36:41,790 --> 00:36:46,690 along with Tiet Madison and Heike Ahonen, decided to openly contest the 317 00:36:46,690 --> 00:36:49,330 legality of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact. 318 00:36:49,530 --> 00:36:54,950 All three had previously spent hard prison time for anti-Soviet activities. 319 00:36:55,650 --> 00:37:00,550 They planned the demonstration but couldn't publicize it, so they depended 320 00:37:00,550 --> 00:37:04,950 on word of mouth and the illegal Voice of America and Radio Free Europe. 321 00:37:05,990 --> 00:37:12,560 On the morning of August 23rd, With KGB agents watching every move and taking 322 00:37:12,560 --> 00:37:17,500 photographs, the group arrived, thinking that only a handful of people would be 323 00:37:17,500 --> 00:37:18,720 brave enough to show up. 324 00:37:20,400 --> 00:37:23,760 Surprisingly, several thousand people appeared. 325 00:37:34,180 --> 00:37:38,720 It could have led to 10 years of labor camps and things like that. 326 00:37:39,560 --> 00:37:44,820 The police shut off the public address system, so demonstrators used rolled-up 327 00:37:44,820 --> 00:37:47,160 paper megaphones to be heard over the crowd. 328 00:38:03,130 --> 00:38:07,090 talked more, and they understood that they're not arrested again, and then 329 00:38:07,090 --> 00:38:08,090 they talked even more. 330 00:38:14,250 --> 00:38:14,890 The 331 00:38:14,890 --> 00:38:22,670 demonstration 332 00:38:22,670 --> 00:38:28,470 at Hirve Park was the first time in 50 years that anybody had spoken publicly 333 00:38:28,470 --> 00:38:30,290 against the Soviet occupation. 334 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:33,160 and gotten away with it. 335 00:38:44,400 --> 00:38:45,160 And 336 00:38:45,160 --> 00:38:51,540 more 337 00:38:51,540 --> 00:38:58,400 Estonians began to stand in defiance. At the end of 1987, the 338 00:38:58,400 --> 00:39:00,200 Heritage Society was formed. 339 00:39:00,670 --> 00:39:05,910 Using discussions about Estonian culture as a cover, its members planned to push 340 00:39:05,910 --> 00:39:11,210 free speech to the next level, exposing the truth about Estonia's brutal Soviet 341 00:39:11,210 --> 00:39:17,750 history. If Gorbachev says that there is free speech, if there is glasnost, if 342 00:39:17,750 --> 00:39:22,030 there is freedom, then let's talk about history as it was. Let's tell the truth. 343 00:39:22,270 --> 00:39:24,710 So the basic message was, let's tell the truth. 344 00:39:30,990 --> 00:39:35,430 Within four months, the Heritage Society had grown to 10,000 people. 345 00:39:35,950 --> 00:39:41,310 In April of 1988, they decided to organize a demonstration celebrating 346 00:39:41,310 --> 00:39:43,150 Estonian history and culture. 347 00:39:43,530 --> 00:39:46,910 It was held in the university town of Tartu. 348 00:39:48,030 --> 00:39:51,490 The demonstration was monitored by Soviet police. 349 00:39:53,070 --> 00:39:58,470 The feeling was that KGB would like to provoke something, to show that here is 350 00:39:58,470 --> 00:40:03,510 something... going on, which could be called violence, which will need then 351 00:40:03,510 --> 00:40:06,850 some armed intervention or something like that. 352 00:40:08,470 --> 00:40:13,190 Since the beginning of the Soviet occupation, it had been illegal to fly 353 00:40:13,190 --> 00:40:15,710 the Estonian blue, black and white flag. 354 00:40:16,130 --> 00:40:18,730 But several of the organizers had an idea. 355 00:40:19,230 --> 00:40:25,110 They decided to have all three national colors, black, blue and white, as 356 00:40:25,110 --> 00:40:27,630 separate flags, side by side. 357 00:40:28,270 --> 00:40:31,650 so that in practice you had the full national flag. 358 00:40:35,270 --> 00:40:39,010 There are some memories in the life which will never go away because they 359 00:40:39,010 --> 00:40:40,010 changed you. 360 00:40:41,850 --> 00:40:46,630 I remember this feeling that, oh, there's so much people. 361 00:40:48,050 --> 00:40:50,630 And then you see the old ladies crying. 362 00:40:51,230 --> 00:40:53,890 They just stood, looked at us, and they cried. 363 00:40:54,630 --> 00:40:55,890 It was... 364 00:40:56,300 --> 00:40:58,260 It was something which you always remember. 365 00:41:05,700 --> 00:41:11,340 The demonstration at Tartu was a success, but the main people to speak 366 00:41:11,340 --> 00:41:14,840 out were a relatively small group of activists and students. 367 00:41:15,580 --> 00:41:21,180 Over the next few months, word spread and more and more Estonians began 368 00:41:21,180 --> 00:41:22,220 gaining courage. 369 00:41:39,180 --> 00:41:44,400 Two months later, a summer celebration concert in the capital city of Tallinn 370 00:41:44,400 --> 00:41:47,940 erupted into a spontaneous declaration of hope. 371 00:41:49,880 --> 00:41:53,140 There was so, so many people. 372 00:41:54,120 --> 00:41:56,480 This square was full of people. 373 00:41:57,000 --> 00:42:00,740 and all the people were very, very happy. 374 00:42:40,490 --> 00:42:47,410 So we went 375 00:42:47,410 --> 00:42:51,550 there with the friends and it was great to see that. 376 00:42:52,120 --> 00:42:55,060 All the strangers, they were just singing like one man. 377 00:42:55,700 --> 00:42:59,720 And we were handing hand in hand and it was great. 378 00:43:00,080 --> 00:43:01,600 I still have chicken skin. 379 00:43:02,460 --> 00:43:04,040 I remember that. 380 00:43:15,400 --> 00:43:19,780 And then we saw something absolutely... 381 00:43:21,000 --> 00:43:27,780 fabulous absolutely incredible yes we saw our national flag and 382 00:43:27,780 --> 00:43:34,280 suddenly there was a guy with a motorcycle who had our estonian flag 383 00:43:34,280 --> 00:43:40,780 and it was really great feeling to see but 384 00:43:40,780 --> 00:43:46,100 then when this first step was done then suddenly in a moment the flags started 385 00:43:46,100 --> 00:43:48,980 to blossom everywhere it was like some 386 00:43:49,840 --> 00:43:52,740 Like spring is coming and then things started to blossom. 387 00:43:54,760 --> 00:43:59,960 A few Estonian flags had come out in previous demonstrations, but never had 388 00:43:59,960 --> 00:44:04,060 they been so brazenly flown before so many people in one place. 389 00:44:06,360 --> 00:44:11,400 Word spread, and for almost a week, thousands more people arrived each 390 00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:17,020 night. And now, average citizens brought flags they had been hiding in their 391 00:44:17,020 --> 00:44:19,240 homes. for nearly 50 years. 392 00:44:21,240 --> 00:44:27,180 It may sound today a bit silly. It may sound even naive. Those days, it was so 393 00:44:27,180 --> 00:44:34,100 natural to express our feelings by singing and declaring that we have 394 00:44:34,100 --> 00:44:35,760 rights for our own country. 395 00:44:43,920 --> 00:44:50,020 And that's what I got so much inspiration from, that in the morning 396 00:44:50,020 --> 00:44:54,880 when I got home and when I got to the first coffee, I immediately sat down at 397 00:44:54,880 --> 00:44:58,460 the table and wrote this song called Revoluziooni and gave it to the 398 00:44:58,460 --> 00:45:02,380 audience. When here in the country the revolution is made by destroying, 399 00:45:03,040 --> 00:45:09,660 burning, killing, burning, then we started to make our revolution by 400 00:45:09,660 --> 00:45:11,480 crying and singing. 401 00:45:21,520 --> 00:45:26,580 In the heart, there was a little bit afraid feeling that this was not free 402 00:45:26,580 --> 00:45:27,499 country here. 403 00:45:27,500 --> 00:45:29,000 This was Soviet Union. 404 00:45:33,860 --> 00:45:37,260 After those nights, there was no turning back. 405 00:45:38,180 --> 00:45:43,380 The revolution had a name and widespread support from common Estonians. 406 00:45:44,520 --> 00:45:50,200 No matter what happened next, it was clear that singing would be the fuel for 407 00:45:50,200 --> 00:45:51,200 change. 408 00:45:53,360 --> 00:45:58,960 But a broad range of movements began to emerge, all with conflicting strategies 409 00:45:58,960 --> 00:46:01,520 about how best to achieve freedom. 410 00:46:02,220 --> 00:46:05,520 Some were cautious, others quite bold. 411 00:46:07,600 --> 00:46:14,020 The Heritage Society, led by Trevimi Velista and Mart Llar, used the cover of 412 00:46:14,020 --> 00:46:18,740 Glasnost and Paris Troika to generate open discussions about Estonian culture 413 00:46:18,740 --> 00:46:19,740 and history. 414 00:46:20,880 --> 00:46:25,840 They knew that talking about Estonia's past would undermine Soviet authority. 415 00:46:26,620 --> 00:46:32,020 And it matched perfectly with Gorbachev's idea of Glasnost free 416 00:46:32,020 --> 00:46:35,200 speech, so that you could freely speak about what had happened, you could 417 00:46:35,200 --> 00:46:38,860 freely speak about history, and everybody understood immediately that 418 00:46:38,860 --> 00:46:42,240 there must be something more in it than just speaking about the past. 419 00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:44,860 And it gave people a lot of hope. 420 00:46:46,280 --> 00:46:49,280 The Estonian National Independence Party. 421 00:46:49,720 --> 00:46:52,380 led by Lagla Parek, was quite bold. 422 00:46:52,900 --> 00:46:57,680 Its leaders publicly declared that under international law, the Republic of 423 00:46:57,680 --> 00:46:59,900 Estonia was still an independent nation. 424 00:47:00,320 --> 00:47:03,140 They wanted the Soviets out of Estonia. 425 00:47:03,580 --> 00:47:08,860 Few Estonians openly supported the Independence Party, still living in fear 426 00:47:08,860 --> 00:47:10,380 of Soviet reprisals. 427 00:47:11,880 --> 00:47:17,420 The Popular Front appealed to the masses by offering a safer strategy, working 428 00:47:17,420 --> 00:47:21,100 with the Communist Party to push for greater freedoms from within. 429 00:47:21,460 --> 00:47:24,420 But they had no intention of declaring independence. 430 00:47:25,400 --> 00:47:30,120 The Popular Front offered people some level of hope, but without forcing them 431 00:47:30,120 --> 00:47:31,840 to challenge Soviet authority. 432 00:47:32,800 --> 00:47:36,760 Edgar Savisa announced its formation on a TV show. 433 00:47:37,240 --> 00:47:38,640 in April of 1988. 434 00:47:50,900 --> 00:47:57,560 There were tensions amongst the leaders of these different movements, but in the 435 00:47:57,560 --> 00:48:02,640 end most Estonians chose to stand up for freedom, showing up at any demonstration 436 00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:05,060 regardless of who organized it. 437 00:48:08,060 --> 00:48:11,900 Gorbachev was surprised by the groundswell for independence, so he 438 00:48:11,900 --> 00:48:16,480 attempted to quiet the unrest by replacing the old hardline Estonian 439 00:48:16,480 --> 00:48:20,560 Communist Party leader with a moderate named Vaino Valyas. 440 00:48:21,180 --> 00:48:25,080 Valyas acted as a buffer between the Estonians and Moscow. 441 00:48:25,620 --> 00:48:30,040 And when confronted by independence-minded protesters, he had a 442 00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:31,740 tendency to look the other way. 443 00:48:34,770 --> 00:48:39,670 Meanwhile, the Russians who had been relocated to live in Estonia began to 444 00:48:39,670 --> 00:48:40,670 get nervous. 445 00:48:40,730 --> 00:48:47,390 Since 1940, the Russian population in Estonia had grown from 8% to over 40% of 446 00:48:47,390 --> 00:48:50,790 the nation, mainly due to the Soviet policy of Russification. 447 00:48:51,470 --> 00:48:56,430 With help from Moscow, some people started their own anti-independence 448 00:48:56,430 --> 00:48:58,290 movement called Interfront. 449 00:49:08,770 --> 00:49:14,550 In the wake of glasnost, Estonians were finally able to speak out. But the 450 00:49:14,550 --> 00:49:19,810 Heritage Society, the Independence Party, and the Popular Front all had 451 00:49:19,810 --> 00:49:22,210 very different strategies for gaining freedom. 452 00:49:22,650 --> 00:49:26,990 And now, Interfront was working against any change whatsoever. 453 00:49:27,850 --> 00:49:32,890 It began to appear that Estonians lacked a unified voice and that the energy of 454 00:49:32,890 --> 00:49:37,070 the first protests would be lost, that the movement would fizzle out into a 455 00:49:37,070 --> 00:49:41,610 series of disagreements, even over how best to define independence. 456 00:49:54,720 --> 00:49:58,920 The Popular Front organized a mass rally at the Song Festival grounds. 457 00:50:02,040 --> 00:50:05,280 No one anticipated the turnout. 458 00:50:06,220 --> 00:50:09,680 More than 300,000 people showed up. 459 00:50:11,340 --> 00:50:15,180 Nearly one in every three Estonians was here. 460 00:50:34,530 --> 00:50:40,610 We wanted to make a big folk song, at the same time a song of joy, at the same 461 00:50:40,610 --> 00:50:45,470 time a political celebration and we thought that the best place to invite 462 00:50:45,470 --> 00:50:47,450 the people is the song of Tallinn. 463 00:50:48,210 --> 00:50:50,850 Besides everything, it's a symbolic place. 464 00:50:51,630 --> 00:50:54,970 The Popular Front wouldn't let independence party leaders take the 465 00:50:54,970 --> 00:50:59,610 stage, feeling that their views were too radical, that they might push the KGB 466 00:50:59,610 --> 00:51:00,610 too far. 467 00:51:00,950 --> 00:51:05,830 But they did invite heritage society leaders, assuming that their speeches 468 00:51:05,830 --> 00:51:08,850 would carry a softer message about Estonian culture. 469 00:51:09,130 --> 00:51:12,290 I wrote my speech just a few hours before I spoke. 470 00:51:13,460 --> 00:51:18,220 And it was a very spontaneous speech, and I didn't read much of it. 471 00:51:18,480 --> 00:51:22,820 I read some passages, but I mostly spoke by heart. And then I also spoke the 472 00:51:22,820 --> 00:51:27,060 Stoner language should be the language of this country. And I also spoke about 473 00:51:27,060 --> 00:51:32,780 Russia's role in history, and I compared Russia to the bear of Europe, who just 474 00:51:32,780 --> 00:51:38,620 turns his eyes to the West, looking for honey in Western Europe. 475 00:51:42,200 --> 00:51:45,820 Savisar was very cross and very disappointed because of the way I spoke, 476 00:51:46,000 --> 00:51:50,200 because I was too radical, I went too far, and this is why everybody remembers 477 00:51:50,200 --> 00:51:51,200 that speech. 478 00:51:54,960 --> 00:52:00,220 I was sitting there and looking at the people, and it was like an ocean. And 479 00:52:00,220 --> 00:52:06,300 then with every speech, that ocean started to wave more and more because 480 00:52:06,300 --> 00:52:10,520 the emotions were coming higher and higher, and I felt that that is a 481 00:52:10,520 --> 00:52:11,520 moment. 482 00:52:11,720 --> 00:52:12,720 a great risk. 483 00:52:13,020 --> 00:52:19,240 And if there will be any match, then the fire could go and there could be 484 00:52:19,240 --> 00:52:24,660 something which you cannot keep under any safety. 485 00:52:41,710 --> 00:52:48,230 And then I constructed the same sentence. 486 00:52:48,470 --> 00:52:50,250 Once we will win like this. 487 00:52:51,990 --> 00:52:56,070 Once we will win like this. 488 00:52:59,750 --> 00:53:03,110 Then I went all over Estonia and kept singing. 489 00:53:05,240 --> 00:53:09,600 I left it unsaid, and the people began to cry out, Hey, say that line! 490 00:53:31,050 --> 00:53:37,950 It was not only the will of the people, but it also showed very 491 00:53:37,950 --> 00:53:43,950 clearly the black central power that it is very, very risky to start dealing 492 00:53:43,950 --> 00:53:46,370 with direct access methods. 493 00:54:19,560 --> 00:54:26,160 Very important is that Estonian nation is very small and 494 00:54:26,160 --> 00:54:30,780 we have no more weapons than singing. 495 00:54:31,000 --> 00:54:36,440 This being together, singing together, this was our power. 496 00:55:12,110 --> 00:55:15,090 A sense of hope and unity was everywhere. 497 00:55:19,770 --> 00:55:25,190 With Vaino Valyas now heading up the Communist Party in Estonia, lawmakers 498 00:55:25,190 --> 00:55:27,930 felt that they could risk making changes. 499 00:55:29,230 --> 00:55:34,750 First, they brazenly passed legislation declaring that Estonian laws would take 500 00:55:34,750 --> 00:55:36,890 precedence over those of the USSR. 501 00:55:37,710 --> 00:55:42,460 A delegation of Estonian Communist leaders were immediately called to 502 00:55:42,460 --> 00:55:45,080 Moscow to face an angry Gorbachev. 503 00:56:09,710 --> 00:56:14,910 Working within the existing communist structure, the Estonian Supreme Council 504 00:56:14,910 --> 00:56:18,330 kept pushing forward, almost taunting Gorbachev. 505 00:56:19,170 --> 00:56:24,510 It made Estonian the official language of the nation rather than Russian and 506 00:56:24,510 --> 00:56:29,830 replaced the Soviet hammer and sickle flag with the Estonian blue, black and 507 00:56:29,830 --> 00:56:30,830 white. 508 00:56:34,380 --> 00:56:38,000 The news agency TASS said Soviet leaders have ordered the Baltic states of 509 00:56:38,000 --> 00:56:42,840 Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania to drop a series of what are called radical new 510 00:56:42,840 --> 00:56:45,360 laws about economic and political freedom. 511 00:56:45,600 --> 00:56:48,920 The Kremlin says those laws violate the Soviet constitution. 512 00:56:53,700 --> 00:56:57,780 Estonian Communist Party leaders found themselves having to strike a delicate 513 00:56:57,780 --> 00:57:03,490 balance with Gorbachev. On one hand, cautiously working to increase Estonia's 514 00:57:03,490 --> 00:57:08,290 relative freedoms within the Soviet Union. On the other, avoiding any direct 515 00:57:08,290 --> 00:57:11,510 confrontation that could lead to a military crackdown. 516 00:57:30,670 --> 00:57:35,910 But show the example of the depth of responsibility and respect for the law. 517 00:57:36,070 --> 00:57:40,950 And everything else I am ready to listen to, as well as comrades, and discuss. 518 00:57:41,350 --> 00:57:44,190 But at the same time, I am convinced that within the framework of socialism, 519 00:57:44,430 --> 00:57:45,408 we must look for answers. 520 00:57:45,410 --> 00:57:47,230 And socialism allows us. 521 00:57:57,770 --> 00:58:02,270 Moscow kept on denying that the Soviet occupation of Estonia was illegal. 522 00:58:03,450 --> 00:58:08,390 So on the 50th anniversary of the signing of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, 523 00:58:08,570 --> 00:58:15,370 more than a million Estonians, Latvians and Lithuanians created a 600-kilometer 524 00:58:15,370 --> 00:58:16,410 human chain. 525 00:58:20,510 --> 00:58:23,630 It was something unimaginable. 526 00:58:25,010 --> 00:58:26,850 It was never seen before. 527 00:58:27,500 --> 00:58:30,960 It was... We felt that this was something big. 528 00:58:50,510 --> 00:58:53,890 it was an extraordinary show of mass defiance in the baltic region of the 529 00:58:53,890 --> 00:58:58,170 soviet union a human chain of protests that reached across the three baltic 530 00:58:58,170 --> 00:59:01,610 republics from estonia in the north to lithuania in the south 531 00:59:01,610 --> 00:59:08,150 it was very important 532 00:59:08,150 --> 00:59:12,470 feeling inside and i remember that it was it made me shaky actually it was 533 00:59:12,470 --> 00:59:17,410 such a great feeling to be there that me ellen because i was important i was part 534 00:59:17,410 --> 00:59:18,410 of the chain 535 00:59:30,570 --> 00:59:34,390 In the Soviet Union today, the Communist Party issued a stern warning to 536 00:59:34,390 --> 00:59:39,010 nationalist groups in the Baltic states, accusing them of whipping up hysteria in 537 00:59:39,010 --> 00:59:40,010 the region. 538 00:59:40,870 --> 00:59:46,690 Four months later, Gorbachev was finally forced to admit that there were secret 539 00:59:46,690 --> 00:59:51,510 clauses within the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact that led to the original Soviet 540 00:59:51,510 --> 00:59:53,090 invasion of Estonia. 541 00:59:53,490 --> 00:59:57,930 But this acknowledgement didn't change the fact that 50 years later... 542 00:59:58,170 --> 01:00:00,210 Estonia still remained occupied. 543 01:00:01,510 --> 01:00:06,130 So a group of Estonian activists developed a new tactic. 544 01:00:07,030 --> 01:00:13,510 The idea was that Estonia had been illegally occupied in 1940 and 545 01:00:13,510 --> 01:00:17,530 Soviet passports had been imposed upon Estonians. 546 01:00:18,410 --> 01:00:23,430 This didn't mean that Estonians had been legally converted into Soviet citizens. 547 01:00:23,570 --> 01:00:25,030 It was simply political violence. 548 01:00:25,370 --> 01:00:28,390 Therefore, Estonian citizenship still exists. 549 01:00:28,710 --> 01:00:35,230 So, since Estonian citizenship still exists, why don't we register all of the 550 01:00:35,230 --> 01:00:37,490 people who are Estonian citizens? 551 01:00:38,990 --> 01:00:44,010 A campaign was begun to register people as citizens of the Republic of Estonia, 552 01:00:44,110 --> 01:00:45,550 rather than the USSR. 553 01:00:46,010 --> 01:00:50,520 In essence, denying the legitimacy of the Soviet occupation. 554 01:00:51,820 --> 01:00:55,980 It started quite slowly because in the beginning we gave everybody a small 555 01:00:55,980 --> 01:01:00,400 ticket, that registration number and so on, that I am registered citizen of the 556 01:01:00,400 --> 01:01:01,359 Soviet Republic. 557 01:01:01,360 --> 01:01:05,840 They were called the tickets to the Siberia. And it was possible that they 558 01:01:05,840 --> 01:01:09,480 can be the tickets for Siberia, especially for those first 5,000 who 559 01:01:09,480 --> 01:01:10,480 were registered. 560 01:01:11,000 --> 01:01:12,640 It was easy to start. 561 01:01:13,880 --> 01:01:15,760 The rest was... 562 01:01:16,970 --> 01:01:18,370 A huge unknown. 563 01:01:19,870 --> 01:01:26,770 But within months, 860,000 people, nearly every adult, had registered as 564 01:01:26,770 --> 01:01:27,770 Estonian citizens. 565 01:01:28,070 --> 01:01:32,890 This was an overwhelming referendum publicly expressing the desire for a 566 01:01:32,890 --> 01:01:34,510 truly independent nation. 567 01:01:35,970 --> 01:01:41,510 In February of 1990, the newly registered citizens voted for an 568 01:01:41,510 --> 01:01:45,570 alternative governing body called the Congress of Estonia. 569 01:01:49,230 --> 01:01:52,750 In March, the Congress of Estonia met for the first time. 570 01:01:53,950 --> 01:01:59,290 Moscow wasn't happy. But Gorbachev's new policies made it nearly impossible to 571 01:01:59,290 --> 01:02:00,930 prevent the Congress from meeting. 572 01:02:15,660 --> 01:02:20,660 For 50 years, most Western nations had not recognized the legality of the 573 01:02:20,660 --> 01:02:23,020 Soviet occupation under international law. 574 01:02:23,300 --> 01:02:28,060 Therefore, many representatives felt that the Congress of Estonia was in fact 575 01:02:28,060 --> 01:02:30,160 the legitimate governing body of the country. 576 01:02:30,640 --> 01:02:36,820 But in reality, the Congress of Estonia had no army, no police, no money, and no 577 01:02:36,820 --> 01:02:38,080 organized government. 578 01:02:39,300 --> 01:02:45,690 There was a tempting idea that The Congress of Estonia 579 01:02:45,690 --> 01:02:52,270 rightfully could proclaim it supreme authority in the country. In other 580 01:02:52,270 --> 01:02:53,410 words, take the power. 581 01:02:54,090 --> 01:03:00,670 Then it could have provided a pretext for Gorbachev 582 01:03:00,670 --> 01:03:04,230 and Moscow to intervene and crush the movement. 583 01:03:04,850 --> 01:03:10,230 So after much debate, the Congress of Estonia decided it would not declare any 584 01:03:10,230 --> 01:03:11,230 official authority. 585 01:03:11,550 --> 01:03:13,670 At least, not yet. 586 01:03:18,120 --> 01:03:22,720 But now the hundreds of thousands of Russians living in Estonia saw the 587 01:03:22,720 --> 01:03:23,720 writing on the wall. 588 01:03:24,120 --> 01:03:29,340 They stood to lose the privileges that they had enjoyed for decades if Estonia 589 01:03:29,340 --> 01:03:30,460 moved towards independence. 590 01:03:31,560 --> 01:03:36,500 Interfront played into these fears and began organizing increasingly hostile 591 01:03:36,500 --> 01:03:37,500 protests. 592 01:03:38,320 --> 01:03:43,560 I remember they had really big gatherings at public places, which were 593 01:03:43,560 --> 01:03:46,040 really scary to see that there are so many. 594 01:03:46,720 --> 01:03:49,600 people in numbers who are against the independence. 595 01:03:50,180 --> 01:03:53,400 There was a feeling that they are a really strong threat. 596 01:03:56,439 --> 01:04:01,380 To support the unity of the Soviet people in Estonia. 597 01:04:01,700 --> 01:04:04,580 To protect from whom? From whom? 598 01:04:06,240 --> 01:04:12,060 The Estonian government spoke correctly with the Russians and correctly solved 599 01:04:12,060 --> 01:04:13,060 all the questions. 600 01:04:13,220 --> 01:04:15,000 Estonians are very cunning people. 601 01:04:15,280 --> 01:04:21,460 They speak very well with you, and keep a knife in their chest. That's what 602 01:04:21,460 --> 01:04:22,460 Estonians are like. 603 01:04:26,990 --> 01:04:33,130 In May of 1990, the Estonian Supreme Council made it illegal to fly the 604 01:04:33,130 --> 01:04:34,890 Soviet hammer and sickle flag. 605 01:04:35,330 --> 01:04:40,650 An angry Gorbachev publicly reprimanded Estonia for violating Soviet laws. 606 01:04:41,630 --> 01:04:47,070 The very next day, Interfront protesters marched on Tompea, the capital of 607 01:04:47,070 --> 01:04:52,170 Estonia. They shouted a list of demands, including the restoration of the Soviet 608 01:04:52,170 --> 01:04:55,750 flag and the resignation of the Supreme Council. 609 01:05:12,520 --> 01:05:15,100 But this demonstration was different. 610 01:05:15,300 --> 01:05:19,820 The hostility was escalating. And for all intents and purposes, it was 611 01:05:19,820 --> 01:05:21,920 starting to look like an attempted coup. 612 01:05:34,730 --> 01:05:36,610 And then there could have been a conflict. 613 01:05:37,530 --> 01:05:39,490 It could have been elementary. 614 01:05:40,370 --> 01:05:42,030 Because, first of all, no one came out to the people. 615 01:05:43,770 --> 01:05:48,270 No one wanted to listen to their demands. But then there were hotheads 616 01:05:48,270 --> 01:05:50,730 who began to crack these gates and so on. 617 01:05:58,730 --> 01:06:03,870 They were shouting, they were climbing into windows, they were dragging down 618 01:06:03,870 --> 01:06:06,250 the Estonian flag and so on. 619 01:06:07,630 --> 01:06:11,550 Eventually, the crowd broke through the gates and found themselves in the 620 01:06:11,550 --> 01:06:14,930 courtyard, ready to storm the building and take officials hostage. 621 01:06:15,590 --> 01:06:20,830 Word of the attack spread quickly, and Prime Minister Edgar Savisa got on the 622 01:06:20,830 --> 01:06:22,370 radio to inform the public. 623 01:06:44,510 --> 01:06:50,710 Within minutes, thousands of Estonians flocked to defend Tompea. 624 01:06:56,530 --> 01:07:01,470 Interfront was now trapped within the courtyard with no way out except through 625 01:07:01,470 --> 01:07:03,170 the Estonian crowd outside. 626 01:07:08,850 --> 01:07:14,410 But it was really a tense situation because everybody thought that now the 627 01:07:14,410 --> 01:07:15,870 first violence starts. 628 01:07:16,070 --> 01:07:19,130 If it goes violent, there might be a big problem. 629 01:07:27,720 --> 01:07:30,040 It seemed that violence was inevitable. 630 01:07:38,960 --> 01:07:41,940 But the Estonians remained level-headed. 631 01:07:42,540 --> 01:07:48,360 Eventually the crowd parted, allowing a column of Interfront members to run the 632 01:07:48,360 --> 01:07:49,600 gauntlet and retreat. 633 01:07:54,110 --> 01:07:58,110 In this situation, the Estonian crowd kept very calm, very cool. 634 01:07:58,870 --> 01:08:04,970 For me, the real value, the real symbol of this Estonian type of making 635 01:08:04,970 --> 01:08:09,770 politics, making it calmly and without blood, but making it so that you will 636 01:08:09,770 --> 01:08:13,090 have your objectives, your aims to be fulfilled. 637 01:08:14,050 --> 01:08:19,529 It was a major, major, really, victory we had that we didn't have any drop of 638 01:08:19,529 --> 01:08:20,529 blood. 639 01:08:21,029 --> 01:08:22,029 Any drop. 640 01:08:36,629 --> 01:08:38,550 Thank you, thank you! 641 01:09:27,630 --> 01:09:30,970 Things weren't going as peacefully in the other Baltic countries. 642 01:09:32,630 --> 01:09:35,850 Lithuanians were engaged in their own battle for independence. 643 01:09:37,649 --> 01:09:43,870 In January of 91, Soviet soldiers killed 14 people who were part of a 644 01:09:43,870 --> 01:09:45,529 demonstration at the TV tower. 645 01:09:48,830 --> 01:09:50,770 Hundreds more were wounded. 646 01:09:56,560 --> 01:10:02,480 The Soviet leadership thought that a dozen of our victims will just be a good 647 01:10:02,480 --> 01:10:08,200 lesson. What they forgot was the role of the free media. 648 01:10:08,420 --> 01:10:13,520 The people who were slaughtered were recreated as symbols. 649 01:10:15,340 --> 01:10:19,840 Less than a week later, six more people were killed in Riga, Latvia. 650 01:10:22,580 --> 01:10:25,140 Many thought Estonia was next. 651 01:10:27,850 --> 01:10:33,130 In preparation for an expected Soviet attack, Estonians put up barricades 652 01:10:33,130 --> 01:10:34,130 around the capital. 653 01:10:34,350 --> 01:10:37,810 It was something we expected from the Soviets. 654 01:10:38,210 --> 01:10:44,170 It was a normal way of behavior to protect their power, to protect their 655 01:10:44,170 --> 01:10:48,290 occupation, to protect their ideologies. And we were prepared that they will 656 01:10:48,290 --> 01:10:50,530 repeat it in all Baltic countries. 657 01:10:51,950 --> 01:10:54,610 The Soviet system was collapsing. 658 01:10:55,200 --> 01:10:57,440 And Gorbachev's policies were not working. 659 01:10:58,520 --> 01:11:03,100 Communist hardliners in Moscow felt that he had not gone far enough in 660 01:11:03,100 --> 01:11:05,420 suppressing the Baltic independence movements. 661 01:11:05,800 --> 01:11:09,380 And people in the Baltics were as anti-communist as ever. 662 01:11:09,900 --> 01:11:12,400 In fact, they were emboldened. 663 01:11:13,540 --> 01:11:17,440 Gorbachev was desperately short of time. He was always late. 664 01:11:17,680 --> 01:11:20,300 Always the ideas came a little too late. 665 01:11:22,280 --> 01:11:27,180 In a final attempt to hold the Soviet Union together, Gorbachev agreed to a 666 01:11:27,180 --> 01:11:33,140 massive restructuring in which the USSR would become a group of semi-independent 667 01:11:33,140 --> 01:11:36,540 republics sharing a common presidency and military. 668 01:11:37,320 --> 01:11:39,840 Communist hardliners were appalled. 669 01:11:40,060 --> 01:11:45,340 One day before the agreement was to be signed, they arrested Gorbachev, staged 670 01:11:45,340 --> 01:11:48,200 a coup, and seized the government in Moscow. 671 01:12:00,750 --> 01:12:06,490 In the morning of 19th of August, when I listened to the radio news, it was like 672 01:12:06,490 --> 01:12:07,890 a nightmare dream. 673 01:12:08,170 --> 01:12:11,190 So the old, old things have returned. 674 01:12:12,090 --> 01:12:16,270 Soviet military reinforcements immediately rushed across the Estonian 675 01:12:16,270 --> 01:12:19,350 border to put down any independence-minded resistance. 676 01:12:19,930 --> 01:12:25,710 When the tanks were in the streets, we didn't sleep at all in the night. 677 01:12:28,110 --> 01:12:29,590 Then we were afraid. 678 01:12:29,830 --> 01:12:33,310 Absolutely. This was very, very bad. Very bad days. 679 01:12:33,970 --> 01:12:36,690 This was not first time in Estonian history. 680 01:12:37,070 --> 01:12:43,590 Our grandfathers was in Siberia and was killed and we afraid about our 681 01:12:43,590 --> 01:12:45,070 children's future. 682 01:12:45,790 --> 01:12:47,350 This was hard time. 683 01:12:48,550 --> 01:12:52,070 One thing I told everybody, move your family out. 684 01:12:52,490 --> 01:12:54,570 If you are the leader of any... 685 01:13:01,919 --> 01:13:06,560 At Tallinn's airport, crack paratroopers landed and then moved into positions on 686 01:13:06,560 --> 01:13:07,560 the outskirts of town. 687 01:13:08,440 --> 01:13:12,480 Witnesses say fear is everywhere as Estonians wait for the military to 688 01:13:12,480 --> 01:13:13,480 strike. 689 01:13:14,560 --> 01:13:15,560 This is awful. 690 01:13:15,800 --> 01:13:17,680 I worry about my children, this woman says. 691 01:13:17,980 --> 01:13:19,480 What is to become of us? 692 01:13:21,900 --> 01:13:26,120 Two young Estonian policemen were called upon to defend the country's primary 693 01:13:26,120 --> 01:13:30,540 broadcast tower in order to keep the Soviet military from taking over the 694 01:13:30,540 --> 01:13:35,520 television and radio broadcasts. If they failed in their mission, Estonia's only 695 01:13:35,520 --> 01:13:39,740 source of information would be silenced and replaced with hardline communist 696 01:13:39,740 --> 01:13:40,740 propaganda. 697 01:14:04,079 --> 01:14:07,860 Many of these tanks tonight are reportedly moving toward the television 698 01:14:07,860 --> 01:14:08,860 station. 699 01:14:09,100 --> 01:14:12,980 Estonians, expecting some kind of assault, have ringed the TV station with 700 01:14:12,980 --> 01:14:16,680 trucks in a last ditched attempt to protect this precious source of 701 01:14:16,680 --> 01:14:17,680 information. 702 01:14:32,249 --> 01:14:36,830 The young policeman spent the night stationed at the tower, waiting. 703 01:14:39,310 --> 01:14:43,910 Meanwhile, members of the Estonian Supreme Council realized that this might 704 01:14:43,910 --> 01:14:45,550 be their last chance to act. 705 01:14:46,570 --> 01:14:49,210 They called for a special session at the capital. 706 01:14:51,080 --> 01:14:57,780 Be there tanks shootings or be there the happy end It was clear that we have 707 01:14:57,780 --> 01:15:04,500 to act anyway because we have to restore Legitimate state of Estonia is something 708 01:15:04,500 --> 01:15:09,200 which which is the will of people and there have to be resolutions I have to 709 01:15:09,200 --> 01:15:14,540 be legal solution for that The coup presented a window of opportunity to 710 01:15:14,540 --> 01:15:19,480 reaffirm Estonia's independence to the world a few members of the Supreme 711 01:15:19,480 --> 01:15:23,660 Council invited leaders of the Congress of Estonia to the capital. 712 01:15:23,900 --> 01:15:29,240 This was a controversial move, but it was also a critical step to ensure that 713 01:15:29,240 --> 01:15:32,720 any resolution reflected the wishes of all Estonians. 714 01:15:33,580 --> 01:15:38,800 For hours, the Supreme Council and the Congress of Estonia debated details of 715 01:15:38,800 --> 01:15:39,800 the resolution. 716 01:15:40,380 --> 01:15:44,280 With Soviet troops closing in, they held a vote. 717 01:15:57,730 --> 01:16:01,410 The resolution passed unanimously. 718 01:16:02,950 --> 01:16:09,170 After years of disagreement about how best to achieve freedom the competing 719 01:16:09,170 --> 01:16:14,610 Estonian movements came together in order to give the world one common voice 720 01:16:14,610 --> 01:16:16,310 of Estonia's desire. 721 01:16:16,960 --> 01:16:18,700 to reclaim its independence. 722 01:16:19,120 --> 01:16:25,080 And suddenly we saw over the TV these events in our Parliament House. 723 01:16:25,320 --> 01:16:29,440 It was 11 o'clock and three minutes at night. 724 01:16:29,760 --> 01:16:35,440 I remember exactly this time because the camera was showing this clock. 725 01:16:36,940 --> 01:16:42,700 I remember to the end of my life these feelings. 726 01:16:44,570 --> 01:16:46,450 This feeling was fantastic. 727 01:16:48,170 --> 01:16:48,970 The 728 01:16:48,970 --> 01:17:01,950 vote 729 01:17:01,950 --> 01:17:08,570 for independence was a 730 01:17:08,570 --> 01:17:13,050 symbolic triumph, but it didn't stop the coup in Moscow. 731 01:17:14,000 --> 01:17:19,980 The conflict was far from over. At dawn, Soviet tanks arrived at the TV tower. 732 01:17:28,580 --> 01:17:35,380 Many Estonians headed to the streets to form 733 01:17:35,380 --> 01:17:38,340 human shields outside the TV and radio stations. 734 01:17:40,329 --> 01:17:45,930 So I called to my mother and I said, come now to babysit my children. I have 735 01:17:45,930 --> 01:17:49,210 to go there and protect the radio and TV station. 736 01:17:50,370 --> 01:17:53,970 The natural thought was that I have to be there. 737 01:17:54,910 --> 01:17:57,570 It's your place where you are living. 738 01:17:58,110 --> 01:18:00,350 The people hated Soviet regime. 739 01:18:01,290 --> 01:18:07,490 If this regime was attacking you, they just went to resist it. 740 01:18:08,620 --> 01:18:10,160 You are doing what you have to do. 741 01:18:17,900 --> 01:18:24,880 You haven't had any guns, any arms to fight 742 01:18:24,880 --> 01:18:29,560 with the tanks. And it's stupid actually to fight with your fits. 743 01:18:31,180 --> 01:18:35,480 But somehow it felt so that you have to stay here. 744 01:18:37,930 --> 01:18:42,530 Everybody knew this was hopeless, but they were ready to give their 745 01:18:42,530 --> 01:18:43,530 assistance. 746 01:18:44,130 --> 01:18:46,190 And those were brave people. 747 01:18:48,230 --> 01:18:53,370 By mid-morning, Soviet troops had stormed the tower and were preparing to 748 01:18:53,370 --> 01:18:55,450 break down the door on the 22nd floor. 749 01:18:56,130 --> 01:18:59,150 But the two police officers devised a plan. 750 01:19:24,829 --> 01:19:29,690 Their plan would have killed anyone in the immediate area, including the two 751 01:19:29,690 --> 01:19:33,990 policemen, but it would also have then left the tower undefended. 752 01:19:34,590 --> 01:19:36,130 Their trump card... 753 01:19:36,490 --> 01:19:37,610 was really a bluff. 754 01:19:38,730 --> 01:19:44,670 However, given the uncertainty of events in Moscow, a confused Soviet army waited 755 01:19:44,670 --> 01:19:47,870 a crucial 12 hours debating what to do next. 756 01:20:01,160 --> 01:20:04,720 Boris Yeltsin, the freely elected president of the Russian Republic, 757 01:20:04,980 --> 01:20:06,360 denounced the coup leaders. 758 01:20:06,720 --> 01:20:12,100 We must demand their immediate resignation and bring them to justice. 759 01:20:13,100 --> 01:20:17,460 Mikhail Gorbachev, the head of the Soviet Union, remained powerless under 760 01:20:17,460 --> 01:20:18,460 house arrest. 761 01:20:18,940 --> 01:20:22,680 Boris Yeltsin stepped in to face down the coup leaders. 762 01:20:23,860 --> 01:20:28,560 Yeltsin was head of Russia, the largest of the 15 Soviet countries. 763 01:20:29,020 --> 01:20:30,740 and his power base was strong. 764 01:20:31,600 --> 01:20:38,220 He publicly declared that Russia was seceding from the Soviet Union, just as 765 01:20:38,220 --> 01:20:40,360 Estonia had done the night before. 766 01:20:42,180 --> 01:20:48,080 The coup collapsed, and the Soviet troops in Estonia were ordered to leave 767 01:20:48,080 --> 01:20:49,080 the TV tower. 768 01:21:10,820 --> 01:21:12,680 Within days, 769 01:21:27,760 --> 01:21:30,040 the Soviet Union completely dissolved. 770 01:21:30,840 --> 01:21:35,580 One by one, each of its 15 countries announced their independence. 771 01:21:36,120 --> 01:21:42,140 Around the world, countries formally acknowledged Estonia as an independent 772 01:21:42,140 --> 01:21:43,140 nation. 773 01:21:45,140 --> 01:21:47,880 I believed all the time. 774 01:21:48,360 --> 01:21:52,440 I believed all the time that Estonia will get free. 775 01:21:53,500 --> 01:21:59,990 I always felt inside that Estonia is free and has been free it's just a 776 01:21:59,990 --> 01:22:05,950 temporary occupation here somewhere deep inside you felt that it is not true that 777 01:22:05,950 --> 01:22:12,530 there is something else and it was it was it was our destiny it was always 778 01:22:12,530 --> 01:22:13,530 there 779 01:22:36,700 --> 01:22:39,380 For me, it feels like it's normal now. 780 01:22:39,700 --> 01:22:46,380 We just do our song festival and we sing our songs what we like, 781 01:22:46,560 --> 01:22:48,960 and it's one part of our culture. 782 01:22:49,540 --> 01:22:52,800 And we are free, we can do what we want. 783 01:22:56,220 --> 01:23:01,060 Because this singing tradition goes from heart to heart. 784 01:23:01,530 --> 01:23:08,310 from family to family from mother to daughter and this is like you can't 785 01:23:08,310 --> 01:23:15,210 describe this is uh they they want to sing and say sing and we are 786 01:23:15,210 --> 01:23:17,010 very happy for it 787 01:23:44,270 --> 01:23:46,230 If it rains, so what? 788 01:25:30,640 --> 01:25:37,620 It is free in our heart, in our mind. All these possibilities are now 789 01:25:37,620 --> 01:25:43,360 real, but was not real when we were young, young people. Everything has 790 01:25:43,360 --> 01:25:44,740 changed now. Absolutely. 791 01:25:47,600 --> 01:25:54,340 It's a very unbelievable example how a totalitarian rule 792 01:25:54,340 --> 01:25:59,800 could be changed, not by violence, but through... 793 01:26:00,380 --> 01:26:03,960 creating a democratic alternative. 794 01:26:09,420 --> 01:26:16,340 I think that to have freedom through singing was the 795 01:26:16,340 --> 01:26:21,300 most important thing maybe in my life. 796 01:26:28,940 --> 01:26:32,820 It's very important that the Estonians were able to save the language. 797 01:26:33,340 --> 01:26:35,540 They were able to save the culture. 798 01:26:35,860 --> 01:26:39,320 They were able to save the national thought about themselves. 799 01:26:40,880 --> 01:26:47,140 They were able to save something which can be called Estonianess.