The article examines the foundations of the historical paradigm of the modern Republic of Estonia and the degree of its perception by the local population. With the proclamation of independence, the local establishment decided to completely break with the Soviet past and had to construct not only its own political mechanism, the vertical of power, but also a new historical paradigm that could become a fastening link of the emerging statehood, as well as the Estonian society itself (its Estonian-speaking and Russian-speaking parts).