Open AccessLeisure in Stalin’s Estonia
Author(s) -
Olaf Mertelsmann
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
revista română de studii baltice şi nordice
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2067-1725
pISSN - 2067-225X
DOI - 10.53604/rjbns.v2i2_6
Subject(s) - everyday life , reign , period (music) , state (computer science) , reading (process) , resistance (ecology) , active listening , history , leisure time , population , character (mathematics) , poverty , economic history , political science , literature , sociology , aesthetics , law , politics , art , physical activity , demography , medicine , ecology , geometry , mathematics , communication , algorithm , computer science , physical medicine and rehabilitation , biology
The period of Stalinism is usually overshadowed by accounts of terror and a topic like leisure seems not to be appropriate. Nevertheless, leisure was an important aspect of everyday life in Estonia under Stalin’s reign. Some elements of continuity with the interwar period might be identified. The state struggled to control leisure activities and to re-educate the population but obviously failed. Listening to foreign radio stations or reading forbidden books might have been subversive but were not yet signs of resistance. Many leisure activities bore the character of escaping from a harsh reality and from poverty. The paper is based on archival documents, oral history and life stories.