Chapter 8.7: Lifestyle
A selection of covers of the monthly women´s magazine Maret.
Some covers of the weekly picture magazine “Week in pictures”.
A selection of covers of the “Garden” magazine.
The youth magazine “Viiking” (Viking)
Estonian Pronunciation.
Childhood and personality. A couple of books released as a part of the “Living Science” series (1932-1940), popularising science. Books covering politics, physics, history, arts, chemistry, biology and many other topics were released as part of the series, by both domestic and foreign authors.
A popular pastime became going to the more than 50 cinemas in pre-war Estonia, where mostly Hollywood and German movies were shown. However there was a small domestic movie industry as well with companies like Estonia-Film and Konsantin Märska Filmiproduktsioonid producing a handful of both silent and voiced movies. The first voiced movie was created in 1932 and was called “Päikese lapsed” or Children of the Sun. In 1931 the first animated Estonia was produced as well, called “Kutsu-Juku seiklusi” or Adventures of Juku the Dog.
Here is a scene from the animated movie.
What was more common were different newsreels from both abroad and from home. Various events, sceneries and so on were recorded and shown in cinemas.
Here is a newsreel which includes interviews with Estonian athletes at the 1936 Berlin olympics. At 2:42 the National Basketball Team starts singing a song.
Here is a newsreel about a day at the War School from 1939. At 4:20 the Estonian soldiers sing a patriotic song called “Jää vabaks, Eesti meri.” (Stay Free, Estonian Sea.)
Here is one about the president's visit of Tartu in 1939. From 4:42 onwards there is a parade of local Defence League units, university students and civic organisations.
Cinema Bi-Ba-Bo in Tallinn (destroyed during the war).
Some cinema screening adverts from newspapers.
Doing sport became more common as time went on. The areas of sport that had been popular in the 1900s and 1910s, like wrestling and weightlifting remained common, but new sports such as track and field and ball games, such as football, volleyball and basketball, became more popular.
An important role in the spread of sport was the success of Estonian athletes. Merely from the Olympic games Estonia managed to win 21 medals, 6 of which were gold. Wrestler Kristjan Palusalu, who won two gold medals during the 1936 Olympics, was regarded as a national hero.
Kristjan Palusalu (1908-1987).
The Estonian sharpshooters team, becoming world champion in both 1937 and 1939. The man third from the left is Elmar Kivistik, who won 13 gold, 3 silver and 3 bronze medals from World Champion competitions and had 8 world records to his name. They used Estonian made guns produced in Arsenal. During the 1930s there was a boom in the popularity of shooting as a sport, thanks to the efforts of the Estonian Shooting Union, which meant that many shooting ranges were built across the country and many competitions were held.
Paul Keres (1916-1975). He rose to prominence in the global chess scene during the second half of the 1930s. In 1938 he won the AVRO tournament, where the 8th strongest chess players in the world faced each other. He was supposed to play against reigning world champion Alexander Alekhine, but that match was cancelled due to World War 2. He continued being one of the top players in the world well into the 1960s, narrowly missing a chance to become world champion 5 times. He is regarded as one of the greatest chess players in history and the strongest chess player to never winning the world champion title, despite managing to win against several of the ruling world champions of the era.
Travelling and going on holidays became a normal part of people's lives. Although foreign travels were out of reach for most people due to financial reasons, there were cheap holiday trains during summer which allowed Estonians to visit the sights of their homeland. It was possible to travel by ship and by bus as well. The main destinations were the popular sea resort towns of Pärnu, Haapsalu and Narva-Jõesuu, as well as cheap inland resort towns like Viljandi and Elva.
An advertisement for Pärnu.
A poster for Haapsalu. 
Narva-Jõesuu beach building and cafe, built in 1936 by Robert Ederma. Destroyed during WW2.
Pärnu Rannahotell, (Pärnu Beach Hotel), opened in 1937 and designed by Olev Siinmaa and Anton Soans.
Scenes at Pärnu beach in the 1930s.
The beach at the town of Elva.
In addition to the printing press, which was ever expanding and increasing in terms of both the number of newspapers and printing sizes, a new medium appeared, the radio. The first regular radio broadcasts began in 1926, which were organised by the private company “Raadio-Ringhääling”. As it was lacking capital and the amount of technical difficulties were abundant, the number of listeners stabilised around the 15 thousand mark. The situation started to change after the creation of the state-owned Riigi Ringhääling (State´s Broadcast) in 1934 and the construction of a powerful broadcasting station in Türi in 1937. By 1939 the number of radio listeners had increased to over 100 thousand and the length of daily broadcasts up to 9 hours.
The so-called “Hõbehall”, a radio reportage car.
Türi sender tower, which was 196,6 metres tall, at the time the tallest structure in both the Baltic and Nordic countries. It was one of the best and most energy efficient of its kind in Europe. The broadcasts it sent could be regularly heard even in Spain, and in some cases as far as Canada. It was blown up in 1941 by a Soviet destruction battalion.
The project for the Raadio Ringhääling building. It was designed by Elmar Lohk in 1939, but it was never built in its original form due to the war. In the 1950s an altered version of it was built, which is now called the Old Radio House.
Whilst at the beginning of the republic there was a post-war scarcity of food and people´s meals were quite basic, from the middle of the 1920s onwards the table of the urban upper and middle class became much more diverse. The number of food stores increased and the variety of both domestic and imported food products increased. The consumption of vegetables, milk products and eggs increased, and grain products decreased.
A family at a dinner gathering, on the table coffee, cake and donuts can be seen.
Whilst before people in cities had kept big supplies of food long term, like their peasant ancestors, now it became common to go out and buy food at the market or the store several times a week. In the 1930s culinary products and pre-prepared foods started to appear as well, which were especially popular during different holidays.
Tens of thousands of to-be housewives were educated in home economics schools, where amongst other things also the modern principles of healthy eating and food preparation were introduced. Many women also attended courses that taught similar things. People learnt about the nutritional value of different products, about concepts such as vitamins and calories
The 1938 Christmas party at a home economics school.
Next to simpler canteens and taverns, modern cafes and restaurants started to appear as well. These were popular social venues, where events, such as concerts or charity rallies were held and where people went to intermingle.
Cafe Kultas on Freedom Square during the 1930s.
Cafe Harju in Tallinn.
Restaurant Kuldne Lõvi (Golden Lion) in Tallinn.
The quick rise of living standards and the construction boom of the 1920s and 30s meant that the domestic quality of life increased quickly as well. Whilst at the beginning of the independence years two thirds of all apartments were one bedroom and with a single kitchen-living room, by the end of the 1930s 2-3 bedroom apartments with a separate kitchen had become the norm. By 1937 87% of apartments had their own separate toilet and 42% had a bath. Modern furniture found its way to houses.
A modern 1930s apartment in Viljandi.
A guide for a kitchen in a modern farm, 1939.
An ad for an electric iron made by the local Volta factory. Modern household appliances such as vacuum cleaners, electric stoves, and washing machines found their way in homes as well.
More attention was given to children. Even in the countryside they still helped out on the farm like they had done for hundreds of years before, they were given more free time, not to mention the cities. Toy workshops and stores appeared, and manufactured toys found their way to every home. Board games became common, children were enchanted by characters such as Mickey-Mouse and Shirley Temple. As the number of cars on the street was low, streets were also the playground for urban children, where games like tag, hide and seek and volleyball were played.
The board game “Trip around Estonia” from the 1930s, with the goal to visit all towns.
Estonia at the time had a mixed healthcare system, with both public state or municipally owned hospitals and clinics as well as private ones. In 1939 22 hospitals were public and 23 hospitals were private. Healthcare was not free of charge, however there were forms of healthcare insurance. The expenses of all civil servants and their families were covered by the state. In 1936 a mandatory healthcare insurance was put in place for farmers and factory workers. Each company had to establish health funds, where workers would pay a percentage of their income, commonly 2%. Smaller companies would band together to create joint-health funds. If a worker would get into an accident his healthcare costs would be covered by their health fund. The number of apothecaries increased from 145 in 1920 to 238 in 1939.
An ambulance in the 1920s.
A few more random tidbits:
A group of young girls in Spring 1930.
A group of women in the 1930s.
The submarines Kalev and Lembitu, state of the art and entered their service in the Estonian navy in 1937. After the occupation they were taken over by the Red Navy and took part in World War 2, where Kalev was sunk. Lembitu however survived, and nowadays it can be seen and visited at the Seaplane Harbour Museum of the Estonian Maritime Museum.
Here is proof :P
In 1922 the largest religion in the country was protestantism, with 78,6% of the population adhering to it. 19% of the population was Orthodox, 1,7% was other Christian faiths (Baptists, Adventists and so on.), 0,4% were Jewish and 0,3% were atheists.
Also in 1939 the number of ethnic Estonians living in Estonia crossed the 1 million mark. 1939 and 1940 would be the only years in history when there would be so many Estonians in Estonia, post war that number never recovered.
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