Herojinės sakmės kūrimas Estijos žiniasklaidoje: brolių Voitkų atvejis
Reconstruction of a Heroic Legend in the Estonian Media. Th e Case Study of the Voitka Brothers

Summary/Abstract: On February 28, 2000, Estonian special police unit arrested two brothers, Aivar and Ülo Voitka, who had committed several acts of theft and violence and had been hiding in the forests for 14 years. The capture and the following arrest of the Voitka brothers was a media event which attracted the attention of both the entertainment and commercial circles. Many months before this event, the press, supported by popular opinion, had already turned the brothers Voitka into a kind of heroes. This was absolutely remarkable and atypical story in the modern society. The roots of its telling and understanding lie in both the period of the historical legend of forest brothers and the sociopolitical situation about 8–10 years ago. So, the Voitka case prompted a public dialogue about social and political values in the Estonian society. The article analyses how heroic legend repertoire has influenced the media case of the Voitkas, its literary associations and the historical Estonian forest brother lore. Following the discourse of Voitka’s story in media, one notices that different aspects of their saga communicate national ideology and national self-vision as the people of nature, but also idealized image of fighting for freedom in Estonian recent history.

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