Estonian displaced persons in post-war Germany

Abstract

The immediate aftermath of the Second World War brought about a lot of uncertainty and a great number of displaces persons (DPs) in post-war Germany. During that time around 40 000 Estonians immigrated to Germany. The aim of this thesis is to provide an in-depth understanding of lives of Estonian DPs in post-war Germany under the U.S. occupation zone and to understand how people contextualized their experience in the broader post-war environment. For these purposes two research questions were set: (1) How honestly did Estonian DPs look at their own past history? and (2) How did Estonian DPs represent themselves (to the world)? This is a discourse analysis that is based on the discussions in Estonian DP press and British press. The analysis showed that Estonian DPs press did present Estonian DPs from a perspective, which at times was a bit too idealistic and ignored the true past of Estonia. British press was more on a neutral position and the narratives presented in Estonian DP press were not evident here.