The Bronze Night (), also known as the April Unrest () and April Events (), refers to the riots in Estonia surrounding the controversial 2007 relocation of the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn, a Soviet World War II memorial in Tallinn.
Many ethnic Estonians considered the Bronze Soldier in the city centre a symbol of Soviet occupation and repression. At the same time, the monument has significant symbolic value to Estonia's large ethnic Russian community, symbolising not only Soviet victory over Nazi Germany in World War II, but also their claim to equal rights in Estonia.
Amid political controversy, in April 2007 the Government of Estonia started final preparations for the relocation of the statue and reburial of the associated remains, according to the political mandate received from the previous elections (held in March 2007). Disagreement over the appropriateness of the action led to mass protests and riots (accompanied by looting), lasting for two nights, the worst in Estonia since the Soviet reoccupation in 1944. During the riots, one Russian rioter was killed. In the early morning hours of April 27, 2007, after the first night's rioting, the Government of Estonia decided, at an emergency meeting, to relocate the monument immediately, referring to security concerns. By the following afternoon, the stone structure had been dismantled as well. As of the afternoon of April 30, the statue without the stone structure had been placed at the Defence Forces Cemetery of Tallinn. An opening ceremony for the relocated statue was held on May 8, VE Day. (Soviet Army veterans celebrate Victory Day a day later, on May 9.) During June 2007, the stone structure was rebuilt. Relatives have made claims to bodies of four of the war dead. Unclaimed remains were reburied at the military cemetery, next to the relocated monument, on July 3, 2007.
Background
Historical background
On July 3, 1933, aggression was defined in a binding treaty signed at the Soviet Embassy in London by the USSR and The Republic of Estonia. Forms of aggression were defined: "A naval blockade of coasts or ports of another State; Invasion by armed forces of the territory of another State even without a declaration of war." On September 24, 1939, warships of the Red Navy appeared off Estonian ports and Soviet bombers began to patrol over Tallinn and the nearby countryside. On June 12, 1940, the order for a total military blockade on Estonia was given to the Soviet Baltic Fleet. On June 16, 1940, the Soviet Union invaded Estonia. The Soviet Union occupied and subsequently annexed Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania as Soviet republics in 1940.
After the German occupation of 1941–1944, Soviet forces reconquered Estonia in the autumn of 1944 and Estonia remained a part of the USSR until 1991. During this era, Soviet authorities removed and obliterated numerous historical Estonian monuments. Cemeteries that were destroyed by the authorities during the Soviet era in Estonia include Baltic German cemeteries established in 1774 Kopli cemetery, Mõigu cemetery and the oldest cemetery in Tallinn, from 16th century, Kalamaja cemetery. At the Tallinn Military Cemetery (where the Bronze Soldier was relocated in 2007) the graves of 240 Estonian soldiers from the Estonian War of Independence were reused by the Red Army. The monument for Estonia's independence was destroyed by the Soviet authorities. Only the graves of two Estonian generals and 15 British servicemen from the era were saved by making the ground a maintenance area.
Interpretation of history
In 1989, during perestroika, the era of reassessment of Soviet history in the USSR, the USSR condemned the 1939 secret protocol between Nazi Germany and itself that had led to the invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries. The collapse of the Soviet Union led to the restoration of the Republic of Estonia's sovereignty (See History of Estonia: Regaining independence.) The mass deportations of ethnic Estonians during the Soviet era together with migration into Estonia from other parts of the Soviet Union had resulted in the share of ethnic Estonians in the country decreasing from 88% in 1934 to 62% in 1989. (See Demographics of Estonia.)
According to the Government of Estonia, the European Court of Human Rights, the EU, and the US, Estonia remained occupied by the Soviet Union until restoration of its independence in 1991; the 48 years of Soviet occupation and annexation were never recognized as legal by the Western democracies.