ABSTRACT
This chapter examines how historical narratives are constructed and used for political purposes. It focuses on the German-uniformed monument erected at Lihula in 2004 and the relocation of the Red Army monument in Tallinn in 2007. The chapter addresses the relevance of the past and those semantic battlefields fueled by interpretation of history that still matter in Eastern Europe. After the heated debate surrounding Victory Day in 2005, the traditional celebration of 9 May by the Russian community at the Bronze Soldier monument the following year attracted unprecedented attention from the Estonian press, which had previously simply treated the annual event with dismissive irony. In subsequent weeks, Estonian nationalists organized protests at the site demanding the removal of the Bronze Soldier. It is this part of history where the Russian Government most eagerly claims complete control over Russia's Soviet history.
