More on Estonian victims of communism

Reader Nils Andersson, who sent me the Wall Street Journal article about Baltic victims of communism, writes

The Baltic states, and Estonia in particular, have always been of particular interest to me, for several reasons, the most obvious being geographical proximity—I grew up in Stockholm, about 150 miles from the nearest point in Estonia.

My wife and I visited Tallinn in the summer of 1994, only a few years after the liberation (approximately August, 1991 [IIRC]). When the ship was pulling up to the pier, there was a sign about traffic regulations, trying to depict speed limits or somesuch. The heading, however, was “EESTI VABARIGIS,” i.e. “In the Republic of Estonia” (yes I understand a smattering of Estonian). Yours truly, who had not expected to live to see such a heading, burst into tears.

Later in the day, we had lunch with Krista, an old friend of the family (born in Estonia, grew up in Sweden, spent most of her adult life in Canada and the US, but she moved back to Tallinn to run a travel agency, at local wages, when it became free).

The following converstation is noteworthy:

Nils: I know you had an election here a few months ago. I saw it on CNN, and ended up calling and complaining. The reporter said something like “It is a peculiar election, because a third of the citizens don’t have the right to vote.”

Krista: (Hissing) They are not citizens.

Nils: No, I know. That’s why I called and complained.

Left as an exercise: Figure out who are the “They” two lines above.