ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about "memory wars" between the Baltic States and Russia against the backdrop of their struggles over the contents of a common European remembrance of World War II (WWII). It argues that both the Baltic and Russian attempts to seek pan-European recognition of the "Europeanness" of their narrative of WWII. Recent years have witnessed intensified action on the "memory front" in the Russian-Baltic relations, be they debates over "occupation" or "liberation" of the Baltic's in WWII in the context of the Estonian-Russian and Latvian-Russian border treaties, the celebration of the sixtieth anniversary of the Victory Day in Moscow in May 2005, controversies over WWII monuments in Estonia, or the writing of history. The chapter unfolds these competitive claims for Europeanness in the context of the acrimonious diplomatic confrontation between Russia and Estonia over the relocation of a Soviet war memorial in Tallinn in the spring of 2007.
