Meie võõrad ja meie omad. Saksastumisest, ülikooliharidusest ja karjäärist Heinrich Rosenthalist Feliks Urbaninini

Abstract

The article explores some aspects of the creation of the Estonian nationality
based on a number of examples mainly from the history of
the University of Tartu. Heinrich Rosenthal (1846–1916) and Feliks
Urban (1913–2008) were chosen for analysis as personified chronological
milestones. Rosenthal was among the founders of the Estonian
Students’ Society in 1870 but he was born in a German-speaking
family. In his memoirs Kulturbestrebungen des estnischen Volkes
während eines Menschenalters (1869–1890) published in 1912 he tried,
among others things, to define the identity of an Estonian whose
native tongue was German, like himself and many of his contemporaries.
During the interwar period there were many students at the
University of Tartu whose nationality was changed from German to
Estonian in the university matriculation book. Feliks Urban, matriculated
in 1937, was the last of them.