Tallinn Trip – Soviet Statue Graveyard (Memorial to Hans Pöögelmann)

Coming back to this series, and there aren’t a huge amount left, this is a statue of Hans Pöögelmann. He was born on 30 December 1875 in Aidu Parish, Governorate of Livonia (present-day Estonia) and was a dedicated socialist and later communist politician and poet. He began his career in journalism and became deeply involved in the Estonian socialist movement, joining the Bolshevik faction. In 1917, he was elected to the Estonian Provincial Assembly and rose as a leading figure in the Estonian Bolshevik movement, translating The Communist Manifesto into Estonian. However, after the Estonian War of Independence, Pöögelmann left Estonia for the Soviet Union in 1919. He continued his political activities and writing while in the USSR, producing numerous works on economics and the workers’ movement in Estonia. During the Stalinist Great Purge in 1938, Pöögelmann was arrested on charges of ‘anti-Soviet activities’ and executed in Moscow. His legacy was later revisited, and he was officially rehabilitated by the Soviet authorities after Stalin’s death.

The memorial was designed by August Vomm and was unveiled in Tallinn at the Imanta Street Square on 30 December 1960. The bronze element was removed in July 1992 and then the granite base was removed in spring 2000. From 25 September 1959 until 1 January 1991, there was a Hans Pöögelmann Street in Tallinn, but it has now been renamed Kaupmehe tänav (or Merchant Street). There’s limited evidence to suggest that he was involved directly in war crimes, but he remains a controversial figure.