{"id":1498,"date":"2024-04-03T23:41:26","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T20:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/aitsam\/"},"modified":"2024-04-04T00:07:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T21:07:05","slug":"aitsam","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/a\/aitsam\/","title":{"rendered":"Mihkel Aitsam"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\t\"Mihkel<\/a><\/p>\n

Mihkel Aitsam (1 December \/ 19 November 1877 \u2013 17 June 1953) was a prose writer, playwright, journalist and local historian.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tAitsam was born as the son of Aitsamaa farm renter at S\u00e4\u00e4la village in Vigala parish, L\u00e4\u00e4nemaa County (nowadays in Rapla County). His father Mihkel Aitsam (1833\u20131913) was known as the man who sued the lord of the manor, baron Bernhard von Uexk\u00fcll in Tallinn district court because of rent and won the case against him. From 1885\u20131893, Aitsam attended Velise parish school and continued his education as an autodidact. From 1894\u20131903, he sent folklore from Vigala to the pastor and folklore collector Jakob Hurt. From 1900, he was a contributor to Valgus, Teataja, Uudised<\/em> and other newspapers for which he wrote news items, satires, short stories, and where he published translations. In 1905, he was imprisoned for five months for participating in revolutionary events at Vigala and in the congress of people\u2019s deputies in the festive hall of the University of Tartu. In 1906, Russian punitive squads destroyed Aitsam\u2019s father\u2019s farm. Then he settled in Tallinn where Karl August Hermann invited him to work for the newspaper H\u00fc\u00fcdja<\/em>. He worked there until the closure of the newspaper in 1907.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom 1909\u20131920, Aitsam worked as manager of the Estonian Farmers Society in Tallinn; from 1919\u20131940, he worked for the newspaper P\u00e4evaleht<\/em> and in 1940 for the newspaper Kommunist<\/em>. Aitsam also contributed to two Russian newspapers of St Petersburg. After retirement in 1941 to his death, Aitsam lived at Vigala where he supervised singing groups and performed as a violin player.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn the newspaper P\u00e4evaleht<\/em>, Aitsam published nine historical novels and stories based on archive materials and folk stories. All of them depict peasants\u2019 struggle against feudal lords in North and West Estonia. Three of his novels were published as books, but they are little known because of their small print run and the revolutionary historical events following their publication. The protagonist of the novel Hiiu lossist \u2013 Siberisse<\/em> (\u2018From Hiiu Palace to Siberia\u2019, 1937) is Baron von Ungern-Sternberg, a legendary pirate in Hiiumaa Island. The novel Eestimaa kuningas<\/em> (\u2018King of Estonia\u2019, 1937) depicts serfs\u2019 uprising led by K\u00f5lli Toomas at Kose-Uuem\u00f5isa manor in 1805. The novel Hiislari t\u00fctar<\/em> (\u2018Sacred Grove Warden\u2019s Daughter\u2019) creates an artistically convincing picture of people\u2019s life and beliefs at Vigala in the 16th century.\u00a0 The three best-known of Aitsam\u2019s four plays \u2013 Koerakasvatuse eriteadlane<\/em> (\u2018Specialist in Dog Breeding\u2019, 1923), autobiographical Salmisto<\/em> (1925) and Maakuld<\/em> (\u2018Country Gold\u2019) were played by both professional and amateur theatres.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 1937, Aitsam published the book 1905. aasta L\u00e4\u00e4nemaal<\/em> (\u2018Year 1905 in L\u00e4\u00e4nemaa County\u2019), which was based on his memories and research. His bulky historical studies Vigala kihelkonna ajalugu<\/em> (\u2018History of Vigala Parish\u2019) and 1905. aasta revolutsioon ja selle ohvrid Eestis<\/em> (\u2018The Revolution of 1905 and Its Victims in Estonia\u2019) were published in the 21st century. 1905. ja 1906. aasta Vigalas<\/em> (\u2018Years 1905 and 1906 at Vigala\u2019) remains in manuscript. During his lifetime, Aitsam published about a hundred shorter writings on history in the press.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tIn 1935, Mihkel Aitsam was awarded the Order of the Estonian Red Cross, Class 2, Rank 2. In 1937, he received the Order of the White Star, Class 4.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHe was the father of photographer Mihkel Aitsam (1913\u20131999) and grandfather of journalist Viio Aitsam (born 1955).<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tL. P. (Translated by I. A.)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em>\n<\/p>\n

Books in Estonian<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/strong>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tNovels<\/em><\/strong>
Hiiu lossist \u2013 Siberisse<\/strong>: ajalooline romaan legendaarseist Hiiu merer\u00f6\u00f6vleist. Tallinn: Tallinna Eesti Kirjastus-\u00dchisus, 1937. 175 lk.
Eestimaa kuningas<\/strong>: s\u00f5da Kose-Uuem\u00f5isas. Ajalooline jutustus. Tallinn: Tallinna Eesti Kirjastus-\u00dchisus, 1938. 586 lk.
Hiislari t\u00fctar<\/strong>: ajalooline jutustus v\u00f5\u00f5ruskude sissetungist Eestisse. Tallinn: Tallinna Eesti Kirjastus-\u00dchisus, 1940. 509 lk.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tPlays<\/em><\/strong>
N\u00e4ituse b\u00fcroos<\/strong>: 1-s vaatuses epiloogiga [n\u00e4idend]. Tallinn, 192-?. 19 lk.
Koerakaswatuse eriteadlane<\/strong>: n\u00e4ituse jant 2 waatuses. Tallinn: M. Aitsam, 1923. 39 lk.
Salmisto<\/strong>: 1905. a. revolutsiooni p\u00e4evilt: rahvat\u00fckk 4 vaatuses. Tallinn: Mutsu, 1925. 147 lk.
Maakuld<\/strong>: rahvat\u00fckk 4 vaatuses. Tallinn: Eesti Haridusliit, 1930. 120 lk.<\/span><\/span><\/span>\n<\/p>\n

\n\tHistory books<\/em><\/strong>
1905. aasta L\u00e4\u00e4nemaal<\/strong>: eel- ja j\u00e4rellugudega. Isiklikke m\u00e4lestusi ja uurimusi. Tallinn: Tallinna Eesti Kirjastus-\u00dchisus, 1937. 423 lk. [2. tr\u00fckk: \u2019J\u00f5ulud Vigalas: 1905. a L\u00e4\u00e4nemaal: eel- ja j\u00e4rellugudega. Isiklikke m\u00e4lestusi ja uurimusi\u2019, Tallinn: Hea Lugu, 2014, 445 lk.]
Vigala kihelkonna ajalugu<\/strong>. Kivi-Vigala: Vigala Vallavalitsus, 2006. 447 lk.
1905. aasta revolutsioon ja selle ohvrid Eestis<\/strong>. Tartu: Ilmamaa, 2011. 470 lk.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mihkel Aitsam (1 December \/ 19 November 1877 \u2013 17 June 1953) was a prose writer, playwright, journalist and local historian. Aitsam was born as the son of Aitsamaa farm renter at S\u00e4\u00e4la village in Vigala parish, L\u00e4\u00e4nemaa County (nowadays …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":0,"parent":485,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1498","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/43"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1498"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1498\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3578,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1498\/revisions\/3578"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sisu.ut.ee\/ewod\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}