Reading beyond standard historical texts is part of appreciating the complexity of the birth and growth of the Estonian state, and that includes Parunid, eestlased ja enamlased (Barons, Estonians, and Bolsheviks) by Carl Mothander, translated from Swedish by Anu Saluäär.
Carl Axel Mothander was a Swedish journalist and military officer whose life converged with Estonia during its biggest moments of change. Examining his posthumous Geni page and adjacent historical sources, we see Mothander first came to Estonia 1919 to serve as a volunteer in the War of Independence. However, his long-term connection was established after a 1928 car trip. During a stop in Tallinn, Mothander met Baroness Benita von Wrangel, and they married in 1929. The couple divided their time between winters on Toompea and summers at Tohisoo Manor in Kohila. Through this marriage, Mothander was placed in the core of Baltic German culture. This dual role as a foreign defender of Estonian liberty and a member of the landed aristocracy granted him a vantage point that was cantilevered over separate worlds.
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