War Memorials and the Politics of Memory: the Soviet War Memorial in Tallinn

The article discusses issues of political symbolism surrounding a war memorial in Estonia, which featured a statue of an Estonian soldier in a Red Army uniform. In 2007, the statue was moved from its location in the center of Tallinn, Estonia to a military cemetery. This was due to a controversy over whether the figure symbolized Estonian liberation from Nazi occupation, or Estonian occupation by Soviet forces. A discussion of various types of commemorative monuments, such as cenotaphs and tombs of unknown soldiers, found in various countries, including the United States, Germany and Russia, is presented.