«Здесь русский дух… здесь Русью пахнет!»: Борьба с «русским духом» в Таллине в начале 1920-х гг. (Реконструкция событий и их отражение в карикатуре) [The Fight Against the “Russian Spirit” in the Tallinn of the Early 1920s]

Abstract

This article is aimed at reconstructing the course of events that resulted in the relocation of a monument of Peter the Great in the capital of Estonia. The bronze standing figure of Peter by Léopold Bernstamm (unveiled in September 1910 to commemorate the bicentennial of the siege of Reval) was removed in April 1922. The reasons for its demolition were mainly ideological: for Estonians Peter the Great symbolized years of suffering under Russian rule. The controversy around Peter the Great attracted Georg Tõnisson (Gori), a graphic artist, who portrayed the czar in a series of caricatures published by Waba Maa and Meie Mats.