Dear people of Estonia, dear guests!

Vice-Chairman of the Committee of the Book Year Peeter Tulviste told me that the Book Year can not and may not be opened twice. And I already opened it yesterday. This is why I am here with the program in my hand and the words of our dear Signe that come from the heart and go to the heart do not allow me to remain seated.

Why are we celebrating the Estonian Book Year? I would like to proceed from the words I said yesterday: if the Estonian book had not been born in 1525, the statistical probability is that we would be Germans, Swedes, Russians by today. Is the printed paper, printed word really so powerful that it can change history? Yes and no. The miracle here is that with the appearance of books, people started carrying their memories outside their heads. For the first time. And since they could bear the memories also in German, Swedish or Russian - which all have been official languages here - we understand how closely we escaped.

And we did escape in another meaning: I refer to the home language and official language. After the Normans conquered England, there was a time like in Estonia, only for a shorter period, when the home language was the one that was spoken and French was the official language. The same could have happened here. Historian Paul Johansen, a Dane - which is the reason why he never became a professor of the University of Tartu, for which I am a little ashamed - has said that in the Middle Ages when the term nationality had not really been formed and predetermined yet, language was the thing that determined one's social environment. A German with a negative career became Estonianised. An Estonian with a successful social career left the Estonian-speaking environment and became a German-speaking person.

We understand what a miracle it was that the second and third books followed the first book published in Estonian. Until the fire started to burn, which in no way confirms the proverbs quoted by Signe Kivi. Rudolf Kenkmaa published a document about school visits, where school inspectors admitted that children have left the farms in order to go to school - in the middle of the 17th century! This unbelievable movement towards idealism, towards light in spite of all financial interests - this has always been characteristic of Estonia. Maybe I am wrong when I connect it to the not-so-enthusiastic acceptance of Christianity where belief in the power of words remained on the negative side: words put on paper are a power that has be recognised.

I would also like to draw attention to another achievement of Estonia - one of the smallest populations in Europe. In the beginning of the 20th century, between the First and the Second World Wars, it managed to turn its unpolished, difficult and clumsy language into a refined instrument that could be used in universities. Our precise language of higher education was born. And this is close to a miracle. Through Uppsala and Johannes Aavik, it became an example for many African nations. We are an example for the world - it is a miracle, is it not?

And all this began from the Estonian book.

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