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Comment by tmilard | Hacker News Reader

I absolutely have to go to this cool museum... Estonia is a great startup country: Online administrations, ect... They love startups. Tallinn, the capital city, is an european hub for small startups. And this comes by no miracle: - First let's not forget that Estonia used to be part of USSR from 1945 to 1991. This is not ideal for startup land... - The real trick is that long before communism came, society in Estonia was rich and full steam on trading with boats. Hansea ligua was a big a thing in Northen Europe. Trade, compromise, innovation was already rooted in the Estonian working culture. Vive l'Estonie

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I (being an Estonian), recently started using the phrase "was occupied by USSR..." instead of "was part of USSR". We never wanted to be a part of that evil empire and never _formally_ were (when looking in from outside), so after seeing someone point it out in a forum, I also started usign the better description.

But yeah, USSR didn't manage to break our culture (and our own language is a noteworthy part of that). Although there was corruption in various government institutions after USSR collapse, systemic open corruption wasn't part of our culture.

Most (many?) people are ok to work for their own success instead of cheating others as the first choice, that helps the startup culture. And Skype is the most notheworthy company affecting Estonian startup culture. Although not founded/funded by Estonians, the tech & business was built in Estonia from scratch, by mostly Estonians. And now there are multiple generations of ex-Skypers who've successfully built startups & businesses more than once.

Culture & neighbors - that's what I usually tell other people, when they ask about our quick recovery after the USSR occupation.

Estonia and Latvia too are some of my favorite places in Europe right now. But: there is a massive shadow hanging over them with the Ukraine war as a painful reminder that Russia is still causing problems in Europe and likely won't be done for a long time to come.

I visit both at least once or twice every year and always come away being very much impressed with all the projects and companies that originate there. Access to funding is still not what it should be though, hopefully that will change in the future.

I am not Estonian, but my mother and her parents were. They emigrated in 1948. That generation has passed but I recognize in your description some of my own attitudes and how they came from their examples. Thank you for your window into the culture.

I know that Estonia was contested at certain points for Russian and German rule. My grandfather was a lawyer, may grandmother was a teacher, and, according to family lore, they were persons of interest to the people who'd invaded and taken over. Do you have recommendations for learning more about that awful phase of history? I wouldn't bring it up, but it is connected to my maternal line's emigration to the US in 1948, so there is a curiosity on my part.

Creepy Sidenote: Estonians had to escape from Sweden too because they feared Social-Democrats will hand them over to Russians. https://eu.news-journalonline.com/story/news/local/flagler/2...

This is probably a decent start, there are useful references & further reading links in the end:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_deportations_from_Eston...

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