This article analyses the concepts and phenomena of collaborationism and conformism in Estonia during the Soviet annexation. The focus is on cultural personalities and events connected to choir music and the Song Celebration Movement in 1940–1985. An important source for studying this subject is the correspondence between two creative figures: Tuudur Vettik and Roland Laasmäe. This period in the Estonian Song Celebration history was marked by an ideological pressure from the Communist Party, and creative figures – poets, composers, choirmasters and bodies organising the Song Celebrations – largely depended on the attitude of party leaders and on cooperation with them to ensure their stable and calm day-to-day existence. Rebels could expect a whole range of repressions: imprisonment, deportation to Siberia, or local persecution and boycott. The article briefly delves into the history of the concept of collaborationism by describing its various nuances and periods; manifestations of the phenomenon are analysed in other fields beside the music. Comparison is made with the history of other West European states (incl. former socialist countries), and the experiences of the Baltic states during the period in question are also analysed.
Archive Sources
ERA. R-1205-1-383. [Correspondence on commissioning song lyrics and melodies with writers and composers; minutes of meetings of choir song competition jury]. 22 December 1947.
ERA. R-1958-1-13 (1947); ERA. R-1958-1-17 (1948); ERA. R-1205-2-383 (1948).
ERA. R-1958-1-17. [CU of the Estonian SSR general meeting on 30 June 1948 on the repertoire of the 13th All-Estonian Song Celebration.]
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ERA. R-1958-1-26. [General meeting of the ES Composers’ Union on the situation of musical science and criticism in the ESSR]. 13 March 1949.
ERA. R-1958-1-35 (1949); ERA. R-1958-1-36 (1949); ERA. R-1958-1-70 (1953). [Lists of allowed and banned songs].
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ERA. R-1958-1-43. [Correspondence in the issue of erasing members of the Composers’ Union]. 12 July 1950 – 24 June 1952.
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