Correspondence between Harald Keiland and Ilmar Malin: Views on Conditions in Estonia from Near and Far
This article provides insight into the correspondence between Harald Keiland (1921, Tartu – 1997, Stockholm; until 1954, Malin) and his brother Ilmar Malin (1924, Tartu – 1994, Tallinn). The letters are part of H. Keiland’s personal archive, which was handed over to the Estonian Cultural History Archives by his son, Markus Keiland, in 2015. The letters, along with several other documents preserved by H. Keiland, are now available for examination and can be found in Collection No. 417.
H. Keiland’s collection attracts attention due to the diversity of his correspondents. For example, letters from functionaries of the Committee for Developing Ties with Estonians Abroad (VEKSA) can be found. However, the majority of the letters are from Estonians in creative occupations, many of whom reached the peak of their careers during the 1960s–1980s, a period when H. Keiland frequently visited his homeland. In Estonian cultural circles, Keiland was regarded as an enthusiastic mediator of cultural information between East and West. H. Keiland’s correspondence with his brother I. Malin began in 1943 in Finland, where both fought as soldiers in the Finnish Army against the Soviet Union. Their correspondence was interrupted in 1944 when I. Malin returned to Estonia and later retreated with the German Army to the West. He was imprisoned in Czechoslovakia and sent to a prison camp in Siberia. After his release, I. Malin graduated from the Art Institute in Tallinn and became a painter. Meanwhile, H. Keiland fled Finland for Sweden and settled in Stockholm, where he graduated from university and became a doctor. Based on H. Keiland’s collection, it can be said that the brothers resumed their correspondence, which had been interrupted in Finland in August of 1944, in the mid-1950s. The collection contains 134 letters sent by I. Malin to H. Keiland and copies of 149 letters sent by H. Keiland to I. Malin.
The brothers’ letters tell a dramatic yet typical story of how World War II divided one family into homeland Estonians and expatriate Estonians. However, this is not the main value of these letters. In the Estonian Cultural History Archives, a researcher can easily find letters or memoirs from war refugees expressing a negative attitude toward VEKSA since it operated under KGB influence. There is far less material that shows that some refugees held the opposite point of view. H. Keiland’s letters offer a glimpse into this alternative perspective, shedding light on the background of its formation. The brothers’ correspondence covers a variety of topics that are intriguing from the perspective of Estonian cultural history. Since one brother was a painter and the other was involved in compiling a personal art collection, they mainly exchanged information about new artistic movements and exhibitions in Estonia and Sweden. However, the letters also reveal a profound difference in their worldviews. H. Keiland’s letters express a genuine Soviet-friendly attitude. Living in Stockholm, he viewed Estonia from a distance, overlooking the negative aspects of the Soviet regime. On the other hand, I. Malin, who experienced the social and economic problems inherent to the Soviet regime firsthand, sees things very differently from his brother.
Their contrasting views on the situation in Estonia created tensions, which become noticeable in the letters in the early 1970s and continue to grow, peaking around the late 1980s to early 1990s. The collapse of the Soviet regime did not bring any resolution to their disagreements. By early 1994, as I. Malin’s health deteriorated, politics faded from their discussions. Their final letters, philosophical in content, were exchanged in the first days of March. Shortly afterward, I. Malin passed away, and his brother followed him three years later.