Eyewitness: Estonia 1909-1949: Memoirs of an Estonian Sea Captain

This is the definitive story of the first fourty years of the life of Wello Rattur. In 1949 he wrote a manuscript, in which he describes his experience as a boy in Tallinn, Estonia, then a province of the Russian empire. With the overthrow of the Tsar in Russia in 1917, the change in regimes, and the rise of the Bolscheviks, the story of the subsequent revolution is told as seen through the eyes of the child.

His life under the Bolsheviks is a potent sign of hardship in the times to come. The entry of the German army in 1917, and their abrupt departure at the insistence of the 'Great Powers' in 1918. leaves a power vacuum which i seized by the Estonians to declare a nation. The period serves as a background to Wello Rattur's personal story and provides the reader with a unique account of the times. In this new book the reader will also discover a concept of democracy, the deeds necessary to achieve it, and the humanity of a remarkable man.

* First narrative of Estonia in the period 1909-1949 written in English
* An Eyewitness account of momentous events in Estonian history
* Only narrative of the borth of the Estonian state in English
* A sea-captain's momoir of the Estonian sailing ship fleet
* A tale of a family of Estonian refugees in Sweden
* Only book with comprehensive maps of locales