Ottomar Laaman, Crimea Estonian and 25-year president of the Calgary Estonian Society
Helgi Leesment
The year 2008 marks 30 years since Ottomar Laaman, former president of the Calgary Estonian Society resigned his position, and 20 years since his passing. He lived through a major revolution, two world wars, two escapes, a divorce and two new starts in life, maintaining a passion for reading and literature throughout.
Ottomar Laaman was born on February 27, 1900 in the village of Samruk (now Beregovoye) on the western shores of the Crimean peninsula which at that time was part of Russia (currently Crimea is part of Ukraine). At the turn of the 20th Century, approximately 2200 Estonians lived on that well known peninsula in the Black Sea; they were many of the original trekkers who made the 2000 km journey on foot or by a series of riverboat and horse cart trips, and their descendants. Ottomar’s grandfather came from Tiskre, a village west of Tallinn. They arrived at Samruk in 1861 after a trying journey where many fellow travelers perished enroute from disease and abhorrent conditions. Upon reaching the abandoned Tatar farm that was to be their home, they discovered a Greek sheep herder was using it. There were many other initial setbacks to be overcome.
The house was of the standard Tatar design: an entry way with a kitchen behind it and a single room to each side. Otto’s grandparents lived in one end and Otto with his five siblings and both parents lived in the room at the other end. After considerable initial effort, the Estonians grew various grain crops including wheat, barley and oats, also grapes and apricots. A dairy herd provided supplementary income as did the small general store operated by the Laaman family. Theirs was the only store in Samruk village. Horses and oxen worked their farm, although camels and a type of buffalo could be seen labouring on other farms. Father died when Otto was only 15, creating a very heavy workload for the mother and for Otto as the eldest child. Otto himself was saved from certain death by a cousin who happened to be nearby and dragged the youngster out of a gasoline barrel into which he had fallen. Later at hospital little Otto’s stomach was pumped to get rid of all the gasoline he had swallowed.
The value of education was well understood by Estonians. There were elementary schools in all the Estonian villages where all subjects were taught in Russian except for Estonian language courses, Bible study, catechism and music (singing) classes. Most often the school building had the same design as homes, with the classroom at one end, entry way and kitchen in between, and the teacher’s residence at the other end. For decades the Crimean schools doubled as churches. Although Otto had a school in his own village, he later travelled to another Estonian village, Utš- Kuju-Tarhan (now Kolodeznoje), to attend confirmation classes as the Estonian Lutheran tradition held that the rite of confirmation was a major life-step for youths approaching adulthood, around ages 15 to 20. Mostly the school teachers were ethnic Estonian, so, naturally, they formed choirs and orchestras. On November 10, 1911, the Samruk choir participated in the 50 year jubilee of the settlement of this village by Estonians. One of the difficulties of maintaining a choir was that customarily, when the Estonian women married, they resigned from their choir. Despite that, the Crimean Estonian Song Festival was held in 1914.
For high school, the students went to a larger centre. Often the entire Estonian family moved off the farm into a town just so the children could obtain post- elementary education. Otto was fortunate to be able to attend high school in the town of Eupatoria (now Yevpatoria, Jevpatoria or Evpatoria), north of Samruk. But he was not accepted the first year he tried to gain admission, at age 11. He remained in Eupatoria at his aunt’s place, studied determinedly on his own all winter, and next year was accepted into the second year of studies at the boys’ school there. Girls attended a different school. Eventually many other Estonian boys and girls boarded at his aunt’s home, including the parents of some current and past Alberta residents. Life was fun in Eupatoria with relatives and friends, swimming in the Black Sea, going on frequent rowboat excursions and seeing the occasional silent movie. The 48 km shoreline route between Samruk and Eupatoria was a muddy grain transportation road. Otto traversed it on horse cart, or sometimes hiked the entire distance during the school years so he could help out at the farm from time to time after father’s death.
A steady stream of letters, newspapers, magazines and books flowed between Crimea and Estonia. All printed material was shared among villages so everyone could keep up with matters at home. Otto read it all voraciously. Interest was especially high in Eduard Vilde’s writings as he had visited many of the Crimean Estonian settlements in 1904 as well as those in the Caucuses; he even lived in Crimea for a time researching the life of Johan Leinberg, better known as Prophet Maltsvet. Crimean Estonians admired Vilde’s writing skills but cursed at some of the content, complaining that he had deliberately been given misinformation. This was apparent to them both in Vilde’s historical novel Prohvet Maltsvet = Prophet Maltsvet and in the series of newspaper columns about his southern travels, later combined into book form. The arrival of the Russian Revolution and WWI cut off all communication with Estonia as of 1917. After that, the Crimean residents had no idea what was going on in their original homeland.
The warring brought horrors. The peninsula was occupied or attacked at various times by the Russian Red forces, the Russian White forces, the Ukrainian forces and German forces. These each were usually followed by various wandering adventurers, including many criminals. There was complete breakdown of law and order, streets became dangerous. There was terrorism, bombing, frequent arrests, hunger, a freeze on all imports and exports regarding Crimea. Governments changed frequently; Estonian organizations were forbidden to function. Nature added to the woes by bringing drought in 1918. Despite such conditions, school graduation took place for Otto Laaman in 1919, albeit in a restricted manner.
The fact of Estonia’s 1918 independence was generally known even though there was no communication at that time between Crimea and Estonia. By 1920, two years after Estonia’s independence, the southern Russian government formally recognized the new nation. This meant that Estonia could send an official government representative, a Consul, to Crimea. Through his office, the mail began to flow again. Also, the Consul was able to issue Estonian passports to those wishing to have one; a requirement if one wanted to go live in the newly created country. These passports also excused the holder from military service in the Russian forces. Naturally, the young men especially sought passports, including Otto Laaman. At age 20, along with a group of friends, he decided to move to Estonia.
Travelling through Russia was out of the question, so they decided to take a ship to Constantinople/Istanbul and continue north through war torn Europe by train. It was a muddy sad day in October 1920 when Otto said goodbye to his family in Samruk and travelled to the port city of Sevastopol. On board the ship, a fellow passenger warned the Estonian youths that before arrival at Constantinople they would have to go to a steam bath where they would be scrubbed by staff who would charge a fee based on how dirty their client was! As it happened, the ship moored at Tuzla on Turkey’s Asian shore where the Estonians had to give all their clothes to be “disinfected” but thankfully showered on their own. They took advantage of their opportunity to do a little sightseeing in the fabled ancient city of Constantinople.
During the trip on various trains northward, Otto’s group met several other similar groups of Crimean Estonians and Latvians, all heading towards their ancestral lands to start new lives. Eventually a ship took the group from the south Baltic shore to Paldiski on Estonia’s north coast and yet another train from there brought them to their final destination, Tallinn.
At that point Otto Laaman’s adventures in his book Mälestused Krimmist = Memories from Crimea come to an end. All of the above, and much more, is described in that book.
Had he lived a great deal longer, Ottomar Laaman would have been amazed to learn that in September of 2001, his home village of Samruk, now called Beregovoye, hosted the celebration of 140 years of Estonians in Crimea. It was a huge event with choirs, soloists and folk dance groups from Estonia and the Ukraine, commemoration services, parties, speeches and a conference where academic papers were presented. One family from Alberta, descendants of Crimea residents, was also among the participants, the only Canadians present. In 2004 a conference was held in the Crimean city of Simferopol in honour of the 100th anniversary of Eduard Vilde’s trip to Crimea.
Upon settling into a new life in Estonia, Otto studied agriculture and law intermittently at Tartu University from 1922 to 1926. He landed a management position in the government cadastral unit which compiled detailed maps for taxation and other legal purposes. In 1938, the Estonian government awarded him the Order of the White Star Class V medal, presumably for excellence in carrying out his civil service duties; archive records of the award in the Estonian National Archive of Tallinn lack supporting information to determine the exact reason.
Otto married Pauline Elfriede Puusepp in 1929 and they had three children: one son and twin daughters. The marriage dissolved in divorce in 1941. Thus, when WWII brought a second Soviet Russian invasion to Estonia in September 1944, Otto escaped along with approximately 70,000 fellow countrymen, but without any members of his family. He lived in a refugee camp in Germany before working briefly as a surveyor in Scotland. He immigrated to Canada in 1948, heading straight to Calgary where a close relative, also from Crimea, was already settled.
By 1953 Otto Laaman was elected president of the Calgary Estonian Society whose entire budget of $40 for that year was kept in a shoebox. As was the common experience of many immigrants, Otto’s education and qualifications were not recognized here, so he initially worked as a kitchen aid at a sanatorium/hospital along with several other newly arrived Estonians.
Remaining true to his deep interest in reading, he became a local agent for various exile Estonian publishers of books and magazines. He also wrote two chapters about Alberta Estonians for the compilation Eestlased Kanadas: ajalooline koguteos / Estonians in Canada: a historical account published in Toronto in 1975.
Two long term former colleague executive members of the Calgary Estonian Society characterize Otto Laaman as being serious, honest and a man of this word; adding that he performed his leadership duties in a competent professional manner, being neither talkative nor a dazzling socializer. In 1978 when a new president was elected for the first time in 25 years, the Society held a reception in honour of Otto Laaman’s quarter century of volunteer service to the community.
By 1979 the ex-president re-settled into rural life on an Estonian society vacation property called Seedrioru, near Kitchener, Ontario. One of his daughters from Estonia visited him shortly after he moved to Ontario. This was not an easy feat to arrange, considering that travel permission was needed from the Soviet Russian bureaucracy in Moscow.
Surrounded by the lush greenery of southern Ontario nature and the fellowship of countrymen also residing at the same property, Otto compiled his book Mälestused Krimmist = Memories from Crimea, self-publishing it in Toronto in 1981.
Twenty years ago, in 1988, the other daughter came to Canada for an elongated visit of several months. Unfortunately, during that time, Otto became ill and died in hospital on October 10th.
One of Otto Laaman’s granddaughters tells us of her grandparents’ personal lives “because it seems so romantic. Ottomar divorced from the mother of his children. Then came the war and escape, etc. but he never did find another mate. When my aunt visited him in Canada, she saw he kept lovely pictures of his former wife. Grandmother remarried, however that match also ended in divorce. Grandmother and grandfather did not correspond with each other at all, but on what would have been their 50th wedding anniversary, both sent each other a card to mark the occasion.”
