Allan Martin - Death in Tallinn

With independence, a new police force was formed. Standards of recruitment were high and there was no shortage of applicants. Consequently, Estonia’s police were held in high regard within the country. The police were formed into three divisions, the uniformed police, focused on minor crime and public order, the criminal police, focused on the solution of major crime, and the political police, focused on the identification and surveillance of individuals and groups judged to be a threat to the state. The police were under the control of the Ministry of the Interior.

Yet the country was not isolated from what was happening in the rest of Europe. The economic crash of 1929 was not good for Estonia, but gradually the country worked its way back towards prosperity. Politically there were threats from both ends of the spectrum. Estonians knew that over its Eastern border was a Soviet state eager to reclaim the provinces of the Old Russian Empire. A Soviet-sponsored coup had failed in 1924, and there was a constant sense of threat from Stalin’s empire. But there was also the rise of totalitarian movements, which happened across the whole of Europe. But the accession of Hitler to power in Germany, with his claim to protect Germans everywhere, added a new source of worry. As the 1930s progressed, Estonians tried to enjoy the life of citizens of a modern European state. But the clouds were not going to go away.

The best history of Estonia available is still Estonia and the Estonians by Toivo U. Raun (Stanford, California, Hoover Institution Press, 2 ndedition, 2001), which includes good coverage of the first independence period. For a wider view of the Baltic states, see A Concise History of the Baltic States by Andrejs Plakans (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2011).

Estonian is similar to Finnish, and completely unlike the Romance or Germanic languages that have shaped English. When you see any Estonian words in the text – names of people, streets, towns, etc. – remember that every letter is pronounced. Even two vowels together are sounded separately. And unless you want to learn Estonian, don’t worry about the accents.

Here are some useful words, which appear from time to time in the text. Any Estonian spoken by characters in the story is shown in italics. There isn’t very much.

Tere! – Hello!

Härra – Mr.

Proua – Mrs., or, as in German, used to address any woman older than her mid-twenties.

Preili – Miss, or used to address any young woman.

Terviseks! – Cheers!

Ülemkomissar – Chief Inspector

Komissar – Inspector

Plats – Place, Square

Pealinna Uudised – Capital City News

© Allan Martin 2020.

Allan Martin has asserted his rights under the Copyright, Design and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.

First published in 2020 by Sharpe Books.