Tallinn Trip – Soviet Statue Graveyard (Mihkel Aitsam, Jüri Kalmus and Rudolf Imberg Monument)

There will now be a heap of posts about the Soviet Statue Graveyard to excite my two loyal blog readers, a fascinating site (the Soviet Statue Graveyard, not this blog) where old statues go to die when they’re no longer appropriate for their location. This one commemorates Mihkel Aitsam, Jüri Kalmus and Rudolf Imberg, who were Red Guards who were killed by White Guards on 11 December 1917 during the Estonian War of Independence. They were part of a group of Red Guards who were attempting to take over the Püssi manor in Ida-Viru County. The manor was owned by the Stackelberg family, who were Baltic German nobles and the Red Guards were met with resistance from the White Guards, and a shootout ensued. Aitsam, Kalmus and Imberg were killed in the fighting.

The monument was sculpted by Albert Eskel and unveiled in Kadriorg Park on 13 December 1961. It was pushed over following Estonia’s independence from the Soviet Union. It was seemingly forgotten about for twenty years before it was brought to this statue graveyard in 2008. This one is a little more complex than some over statues at the site, because some left-wing Estonians still believe that these three were fighting for social justice again oppression. However, others associate them with the Red Guards who fought against Estonia in the War of Independence following the end of the First World War. Either way, their story lives on here at least.