Paper short abstract:

Estonian ethnologists made two expeditions to the Votians in Ingria during the Second World War. Why, how and with what results? Was it collaboration with the Nazis or just exploiting their help to study a minority closely related to the Estonians?

Paper long abstract:

In 1942-1943, when Estonia and bigger part of Ingria were occupied by the Nazi Germany, a group of Estonian ethnologists carried out two expeditions to the Votians, an ethnic minority group closely related to the Estonians in linguistic terms. Ingria, or the western part of Leningrad Oblast, formed the rear of German forces besieging Leningrad back then and was administered by the army. These two expeditions, possible only with permission and support of the Nazi authorities, are an intriguing chapter in the history of Estonian ethnology and bring up many questions. Who initiated these fieldworks and why? Pre-war Estonian ethnology was considered an important branch of Estonian studies and Estonian ethnologists tended to be patriots. They were opposing the Nazi occupation. What was their motivation to visit Ingria in the war-time? Did the Nazi ideology and propaganda influence them somehow? What about their fieldwork practices and relationship with the locals? What kind of academic results did these expeditions have? I try to answer these questions using fieldwork diaries, archive documents, newspaper articles of the time, and academic texts. There are ethical questions, of course, but I do not hurry to condemn my former colleagues. I try to understand.