Americans tend to have a limited view of the politics and policies of other nations. The policies of Estonia and the feelings of the Estonian people (and the other Baltic States) to the German invasion of 1941 is a perfect illustration of this. Estonia is inhabited by an ethnically and linguistically different people than their near neighbors, the Russians. Russia is overwhelming larger and more powerful, and really the bulk of Estonian history over at least the last five hundred years is largely a reaction to Russian power and an attempt to maintain independence from it. So when the Germans invaded Russia, many of the Balts viewed them as liberators. Only after some experience of German occupation did the Estonians start to see the Nazis for what they were. But even then the calculation was a difficult one. If the Germans beat the Russians, Estonia stayed under Nazi domination. If the Russians won, it was back to being part of Stalin’s empire.
The stamps illustrated were prepared locally in Estonia and were issued as part of the Nazi occupation
Yesterday, we had nearly 30 inches of snow in my neighborhood of suburban Philadelphia. By three hours into the storm, the Internet, television and phone…