A recent group list email advised of a new venture with the goal of keeping Estonia in the public eye and the challenges involved with telling others briefly and accurately about the nation's history. The following reached our office from California via Australia. It is reproduced here verbatim. The originating email address, for those interested in getting more information by following that avenue, was

I am writing to let you know that I have composed a leaflet which contains the entire 8000 year history of the Estonian nation - but compressed into just two sides of an American "legal size" sheet of paper (8-1/2 by 14 inches), which is then folded twice to reduce it to 3-1/2 by 8-1/2 inches pocket size.

The reader of this leaflet will get an excellent overview of Estonia's history from the very beginning until regaining independence.

For a long time, I have sensed a need for a leaflet like this in America, but nothing has been available that even comes close. Therefore, I decided to compose one myself, and I have just completed it. I allow anyone to make as many copies of it as they wish — without any payment to me — but I do retain the copyright to prevent anyone from making modifications to the content or appearance.

By covering the full range of Estonian history, the leaflet makes it plain that Estonia existed and was independent for thousands of years before it was occupied by Czarist Russia in 1721. It avoids the very common hand-wringing by Estonians about "our tiny little Estonia", "our brief period of independence", etc.

In America, Estonians and their history are under relentless attack from various quarters. Those attacks sometimes masquerade as "research". One common theme is that our War of Independence 1918-20 did not amount to much — independence was handed to us by outsiders; or even worse — it never existed according to one standard reference book from England. Another common theme is that Estonians are "fascists". Still another is that Estonia yielded to Russia's occupation without resistance, as if that were unique, and as if good reasons for that did not exist. Denmark yielded to Germany in 1940 without any resistance, but do you ever read "research" about that?

Estonia's history is somewhat complex to summarize briefly on the spur of the moment. Also, none of us can keep all important dates and details in our heads. This leaflet is intended to help with that challenge.

To receive one sample copy, please mail to me one American dollar bill (in cash, no checks please!) to cover postage and printing cost. Recipient can then make additional copies themselves at a local copy shop.

If every Estonian organization would send a copy to each of its members, and the members, in turn, would duplicate the leaflet and distribute it to family, friends, colleagues, etc., then Estonia would become much better known.

AGO KOERV
PO Box 103
San Luis Rey CA 92068-0103
USA

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