Martyrdom, Massacre Narratives and Entangled Memory: The Commemoration of the Orthodox Victims of the 1918-1919 Communist Terror in Estonia

Focusing on the commemoration of the massacre of prisoners in Tartu (Estonia) by communists in January 1919, this article examines the contentious use of massacre narratives by nationalist actors in the emerging Estonian nation-state. One of the victims, Bishop Platon (Kulbusch), the first Estonian to become an Orthodox prelate, became a figure of symbolic importance in Estonia and beyond. The article analyzes the emergence of the cult of the martyr-bishop in interwar Estonia and the involvement of church and secular actors in the process of martyr making. It argues that commemoration of the massacre and Platon's martyrdom had political implications, mobilizing anti-Bolshevik public opinion in the West and allowing the Orthodox Church in Estonia to present itself as an active agent in the making of the Estonian nation-state. Keywords: martyrdom; massacre narratives; nationalism; commemoration; saints; post-secular memory; communism; Orthodox Church
INTRODUCTION Every year since the mid-1990s, the representatives of the two churches in Estonia, the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church and the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church, have solemnly proceeded on January [...]