It often surprises people not familiar with Baltic history that the first monument to Schiller was placed in Helme, Estonia, not Germany. It was erected in 1805, shortly after the poet’s death, by Elisabeth Dorothea von Gersdorff, a Baltic German, in the Helme manor park near the ruins of the Helme Order Castle and the Helme Caves. The original obelisk is long gone but a memorial stone with a plaque has been put in its place. It is remarkable how highly educated the local Baltic German society was at the time. It must have indirectly influenced the local Estonian population, who were living at a time period when serfdom was not yet abolished.
