Estonia Sweden

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The Estonian Swede Maria Murman (* March 9, 1911, † February 3, 2004) plays on a box zither kannel and sings the old melody Du hemmets jord ("Du Heimaterde") on her home island Ormsö in Estonia (1993)

As Estonia Sweden or Coastal Swedes (Estonian: eestirootslased or rannarootslased , Swedish: aibofolk or eibofolke ) applies to those ethnic Sweden , which at up to 1944 Estonian west coast and the Estonian Baltic Sea islands ( Aiboland were at home).

Settlement

By the end of the 13th century at the latest, Scandinavians settled on the west coast and on the islands of what is now Estonia in the course of the Christianization of the North Baltic States . In 1294, the ethnic group was first mentioned in a document from the Bishop of Saare-Lääne (German: Ösel-Wiek ). From 1561 Estonia came under Swedish rule. The main source of income for the free Swedes was fishing, cattle breeding and agriculture until modern times. In addition - especially on the island of Ruhnu - there was hunting for seals and, more recently, activities as sailors or captains.

Regional focal points of settlement were today's Lääne County with the centers Noarootsi (Swedish: Nuckö ) and Haapsalu (Swedish: Hapsal ) as well as the islands of Ruhnu (Swedish: Runö ), Vormsi (Swedish: Ormsö ), Osmussaar (Swedish: Odensholm ), Naissaar (Swedish: Nargö ) and Pakri (Swedish: Rågö ).

On Saaremaa (Swedish: Ösel ) the Swedish population declined as early as the 17th century; on Hiiumaa (Swedish: Dagö ), disputes with the new Russian overlords led to a wave of emigration in the 18th century. In 1782 resettlers founded the settlement Gammalsvenskby-Werbiwka- Staroschwedske (German Old Sweden Village ) in what is now southern Ukraine . Residents of Estonian Swedish origin still live there today.

The coastal Swedes were mostly simple people. The Swedish educated bourgeoisie often confessed to Germanness, the leading cultural class in Estonia at the time.

Culture

The language of the coastal Swedes has survived into modern times. It was an old-fashioned Swedish dialect, Estonian Swedish , which was also understood by other Swedes. Scandinavian traditions had been preserved with the coastal Swedes over the centuries. Special customs related mainly to Christmas and weddings. The traditional national costumes also remained in use until modern times. Until the beginning of the 20th century, the petting talharpa was a popular instrument to accompany folk dances and a part of the wedding ceremony.

autonomy

With the Russification of Estonia and Livonia at the end of the 19th century, the national self-awareness of the coastal Swedes grew. In 1909 the "Swedish Educational Association" (Estonian: Rootsi Hariduse Selts , Swedish: Svenska Odlingens Vänner i Estonia ) was founded.

Most Swedes stayed in the country during Estonia's independence from 1918 to 1940. The minority law of 1925, one of the most progressive of the time, guaranteed them extensive cultural and political rights. The coastal Swedes ran 19 elementary schools and a high school in Haapsalu and published the newspaper Kustbon . The Swedish People's Union (Estonian: Rootsi Rahvaliit ) was represented in the Estonian Parliament. In the interwar period, around nine thousand people confessed to the Swedish minority.

Second World War

With the outbreak of World War II and the impending Soviet occupation of Estonia, living conditions deteriorated dramatically. In 1940 the Soviet authorities banned the Swedish Educational Association and began relocating the Swedes from the islands. In 1943 and 1944, almost all members of the Swedish ethnic group in Estonia fled to Sweden with the help of the Red Cross . The centuries-old culture of the coastal Swedes was extinguished.

Today's Estonia

A census in 1989 counted just under 300 Swedes in Estonia. When Estonia regained independence in 1991, the traditions of the pre-war period were continued. The establishment of a Museum of the Coastal Sweden in Haapsalu in 1992, the re-establishment of the Swedish Education Association in 2005 as well as numerous visits (including by the Swedish King), community, school and church partnerships all contribute to this. Land that was nationalized during the Soviet era was restituted. The place-name signs in the Lääne district are partly bilingual in Estonian and Swedish.

literature

  • Karl Friedrich Wilhelm Rußwurm : Eibofolke or the Swedes on the coast of Esthland and on Runo, an ethnographic study with documents, tables and lithographed supplements. Reval 1855 ( E-Text ).

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Estonian Institute: Estonian Swedes ( Memento of July 22, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (English).

Web links