Estonian ethnographers’ fieldwork in Nazi-occupied Ingria, 1942–1943

This article focuses on an intriguing, but little-known, episode in the history of Estonian ethnography. During World War II, Estonian researchers had the opportunity to undertake two expeditions to study the Votians, close linguistic relatives, whom they had previously been unable to visit for political reasons. These expeditions took place with the permission and backing of German security and military authorities, which has raised the question of their collaboration. In this article, however, I argue that the research interests of Estonian ethnographers and the Nazi aims of racial studies overlapped only a little.