860i.00/466
The Minister in Finland (Schoenfeld) to the Secretary of State
[Received April 22.]
Sir: With reference to the Legation’s despatch No. 1976 of February 10, 1941,33 reporting conversations had by members of the Legation with refugees from Estonia on conditions in that country, I have the honor to state that the Legation has again been in contact with persons recently escaped from Estonia.
During the past two weeks fifty young men of military age have fled to Finland across the ice. One particularly enterprising group of six men even took a white horse to draw a white sledge from the Estonian coast to the Finnish port of Kotka, escaping Russian patrols on air-propelled ice sleighs.
The reports from this latest group of refugees continue to bear out the stories previously related and incorporated in the Legation’s despatch under reference. More progress has been made toward the collectivization of Estonian agriculture. It is notable that the owners of large farms in Estonia have disappeared and it is feared that their [Page 610] liquidation is complete. Smaller farmers are being persuaded to enter collective organizations by promises of more favorable prices for their goods. It is expected that all Estonian agriculture will be collectivized on the Soviet model by spring.
The industrial picture continues to be far from bright. Estonian refugees report that the incidence of industrial accidents and breakdowns has risen sharply of recent months. These mishaps are apparently due in part to characteristic Russian mishandling of machinery and in part to the fact that the former management of Estonian mills and factories has been replaced by workers’ committees or by Russian technicians. It was thought by the Legation’s informants that production of the shale oil industry had dropped notably, and that the Estonian railway system was deteriorating.
Despite Russian attempts to maintain the student enrollment of the centuries-old University of Tartu (Dorpat), it is reported that the University is now practically a dead institution. Students have boycotted classes and most of the faculty have been able to secure German assistance in emigrating to the Reich.
The most interesting fact developed in the Legation’s most recent conversations with Estonian refugees was the careful selectivity with which the German commission in Tallinn has backed Estonians of alleged or actual German extraction for emigration to Germany. It is reported that practically the entire intellectual class in Estonia and scientists, technicians and former naval and military officers have been claimed by the German commissioners as of German origin. The corresponding Russian commission meeting in Tallinn to effect the recently signed Protocol between Germany and the Soviet Union for the repatriation of German nationals34 has been forced to acquiesce in German requests that these Estonians be permitted to leave the country. The fact that persons who might be leaders of an irredentist movement, or might be qualified to reorganize Estonian industry or defense, are being brought to Germany is regarded in Estonia as evidencing continued German interest in the strategic possibilities of the Baltic States, and as characteristic of German thoroughness in preparation for possible future events. It is reported that twelve thousand Estonians of real or alleged German antecedents have been brought to Germany during the past few months. It is understood that the deadline for this exodus is March 25.
Respectfully yours,