From Empire to Minority: Baltic Germans from Late Nineteenth Century to the 1930s Conference at the University of Latvia, Riga January 23–24, 2026
ABSTRACTS Prof. Bradley Woodworth (University of New Haven; Yale University) Imperial Paragons to National Minority: Baltic Germans and the Challenges of Political Modernity Over the period addressed by the presentations in this symposium, the Baltic Germans moved from being paragons of empire – from the perspective of both the multiethnic Russian Empire and the expanding German presence across imperial outposts worldwide – to losing their position of political, economic, and social authority. This loss was not confined to those whose ancestral homelands became the new republics of Estonia and Latvia, but also affected those who had built careers across the broader empire. These latter Baltic Germans were perhaps the quintessential group “in between.” The singular achievements of this small number of highly talented individuals – many of whom occupied central positions at the highest levels of one of Europe’s and Eurasia’s major powers – continue to attract scholarly interest. While we may now describe them, in retrospect, as a “minority group,” this was not how they understood themselves. These introductory remarks for the conference focus on the opportunities available to Baltic Germans in an imperial setting that was not explicitly national and in which individual achievement was rewarded; this position is contrasted with its seemingly inevitable erosion under the conditions of political modernity. Dr. Kadi Kähär-Peterson (University of Tartu) The Never-born Baltia? Baltic German Responses to Harry Jannsen’s Call for Shared Baltic Identity In 1879, Harry Jannsen interrupted his intellectual pursuits in Europe to return home at the invitation of his father, Johann Voldemar Jannsen, and join the newspaper Eesti Postimees as associate editor. Upon assuming this role, the young Jannsen articulated his political vision: to foster a sense of shared identity among the inhabitants of the Baltic provinces as “Balts.” The program was remarkably ambitious: he envisioned a society in which hostility and mutual estrangement would give way to coexistence, while the distinct nationalities and languages of the Baltic provinces would be preserved. Few journalists begin their careers by promoting an idea that meets with such a hostile reception. Famously, Jannsen’s proposal encountered strong resistance in Carl Robert Jakobson’s Sakala. Although one of the intellectual roots of his vision was Edmund von Heyking’s appeal in Baltische Monatsschrift that same year, existing historiography suggests that Baltic German newspapers largely also rejected Jannsen’s program. Yet the specific arguments underlying this opposition remain insufficiently explored. This paper focuses on the response to Harry Jannsen’s idea in the Baltic German press. How might the reaction in these newspapers have been shaped by different social and national factors, as well as by the position between two empires – the German and the Russian? In addition, Jannsen’s vision was highly demanding: it presupposed a sustained willingness 1