With his German origin, Leopold Haase was part of a small but, up to that time, very influential minority in the Baltic region. A German upper class, the so-called Baltic Germans, descendants of migrants who had arrived as early as the 12th century, exerted great influence on the politics and culture of Estonia, Livonia and Courland. 

Even though the Baltic Germans never made up more than 10% of the population, they formed the largest population group in almost all cities. In Reval, the city where Leopold Haase established his business, this was the case until the mid-19th century.

The influence of the Baltic Germans was not only visible in the fact that high-ranking military and political officials were of German descent, but also in the great influence of the German language. In Estonia, German was the official language in government, church and education until the 1880s. German was taught in the majority of schools until the late 19th century and the university in Dorpat (115 miles from Reval) was completely run in German.

However, the romantic motifs of the picture postcards Leopold sent to his cousin do not indicate the rapidly changing situation of the Baltic Germans around the turn of the century.

Increasing Russification and an awakening sense of an Estonian and Latvian national identity led to a decrease of the German influence in the Baltic provinces. In 1889 Russian became the official language, replacing German as the language taught in schools. In 1897, Estonians replaced the Germans as the largest population group in the city of Reval.

The nevertheless lasting influence of German on the Baltic language can be seen to this day in the German origin of many Baltic words such as the Estonian words pilt (picture, German: “Bild”), kirik (church, German: “Kirche”) or even reisibüroo (travel agency, German: “Reisebüro”).