Thanks to the Germans! Jewish cultural autonomy in interwar Estonia

Abstract The article explores the context of the Estonian law on cultural autonomy from February 1925. It argues that the Jewish minority was an unintended beneficiary of the concession granted by the Estonian government to the Baltic Germans whose land ownership had been previously revoked. Unlike the ethnic Germans, who considered cultural autonomy a tactical retreat, the Jews took full advantage of the opportunity to strengthen communal bonds. Cultural autonomy was upheld throughout the 1930s mainly due to the strenuous desire of the authoritarian regime that ceased power in Estonia in 1934 to avoid a conflict with Nazi Germany. As for the Jews, the lack of irredentist tendencies ensured that they could preserve their status. Keywords: EstoniaJewscultural autonomyantisemitismethnic minoritiesnationalismthe League of Nations Notes 1. Jokton, Juutide ajaloost Eestis, 12, 22; Saks, Kes on Juudid, 133; Berg, “Juudi asustuse iseärasusi Eestis,” 827. 2. Evreiskaia Molodaia Mysl (Reval), April 1 and June 28, 1919. 3. Alenius, “Under the Conflicting Pressures,” 38. 4. AJDC, “Esthonia: Narva,” no date 1926, Yidisher Visnshaftlekher Institute of Jewish History (hereafter: YIVO), RG‐335.2/Box 1/Folder 8. 5. “Aiding Jews Overseas,” report of the AJDC for 1940 and the first five months of 1941, YIVO, RG‐335.1/Box 1. Of all European Jewish communities only the one in Greece received less money. 6. American Jewish Committee, The Jewish Communities, 4–5. 7. Pflug, “Aspekte jüdischen Lebens,” 55–6. At the same time, per capita, Jews spent more money on education than any other ethnic group in the country. 8. Weiss‐Wendt, “The Soviet Occupation,” 310. 9. Hehn, Die Umsiedlung, 11, 165. 10. Verschik, Estonian Yiddish, passim. 11. Levin, Baltic Jews, 4. 12. American Jewish Committee, The Jewish Communities, 3. 13. Lindroos, “Judaistika otildeppetool,” 2143–48. 14. Mendelsohn, The Jews, 227–33, 247–50. 15. 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See also Junghann, National Minorities, 41–6. 30. German Foreign Office to the German diplomatic mission in Tallinn, November 15, 1922, US National Archives and Records Administration (hereafter: NARA), T‐120/5769. 31. Fink, “Defender of Minorities,” 330–2, 335–7. 32. Grundmann, Deutschtumspolitik, 278. 33. Rosenberg, “Eesti 1919,” 74, 77. 34. Putins Peters, “Baltic State Diplomacy,” 293–4. 35. Garleff, Deutschbaltische Politik, 16–18, 79. 36. Ibid., 108–9, 112 37. Ketola, The Nationality Question, 144–70. 38. Hasselblatt, “Der Gedanke der Kulturautonomie,” 41. 39. Alenius, “Under the Conflicting Pressures,” 35, 36. 40. Garleff, Deutschbaltische Politik, 158. 41. Ibid., 161, 172; idem, “Die Parteiorganisation,” 55. 42. Congress of the Jewish Communities in Estonia, Resolution, May 11, 1919, YIVO, Vilno Archives, RG‐33/13. 43. US Legation in Estonia, “Survey of Conditions in Esthonia for the Month of February 1925,” March 10, 1925; ibid. for the month of September 1925, October 19, 1925, NARA, M‐1170/2. 44. Maddison, Die nationalen Minderheiten, 30–3; Ammende, Die Nationalitäten, 22. 45. Hasselblatt, “Hat sich die Kulturautonomie in Estland gewährt?” 443. 46. Mendelsohn, The Jews, 254. 47. Ammende, Die Nationalitäten, 23, 24; Ruutsoo, “Rahvusvähemused,” 12; Paul, “Eestlaste ja juutide suhetest,” 247. 48. Pflug, “Aspekte jüdischen Lebens,” 54–5; Gurin‐Loov and Gramberg, Eesti Juudi Kogukond, 11. 49. Hasselblatt, “Der Gedanke der Kulturautonomie,” 46. 50. Parming, “The Jewish Community,” 252, 254. 51. Grundmann, Deutschtumspolitik, 290–1. 52. Mendelsohn, On Modern Jewish Politics, 131. 53. US Legation in Estonia to the Secretary of State, March 9, March 20, May 28, 1935, NARA, M‐1170/10. 54. “Lage: Estland,” Nation und Staat 8 (1934/5): 795, 796. 55. “Die Lage: Estland,” Nation und Staat 10 (1936/7): 773, 774. 56. Garleff, Deutschbaltische Politik, 185. 57. “Estland,” Nation und Staat 5 (1931–2): 327. 58. Crampton, Eastern Europe, 103. 59. Pöhl, “Die Estlandschweden,” 600. 60. “Von einer russischen Kulturselbstverwaltung in Estland;” “Die Lage: Estland;” Mikhail Kurchinskii, “Kulturautonomie und die russische Minderheit in Estland,” Nation und Staat 2 (1928–9), 642–3, 716–17, 775–84. 61. “Die Lage: Estland,” Nation und Staat 11 (1937/8); Isakov, Russkoe natsional’noe men’shinstvo, 44–7. 62. Vasara, “Die deutschbaltische Minderheit,” 587–8. 63. Wrangell, “Zur Situation,” 402–03. 64. Ungern‐Sternberg, Die Bevölkerungsverhältnisse, 16.