Estonia in World War II

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The fate of Estonia in World War II was decided by the German-Soviet Nonaggression Pact and its Secret Additional Protocol of August 1939.

World War II losses in Estonia, estimated at around 25%, were among the highest in Europe. War and occupation deaths have been estimated at 90,000. These include the Soviet deportations in 1941, the German deportations and Holocaust victims.^[1]

World War II began with the invasion and subsequent partition of an important regional ally of Estonia — Poland, by a joint operation of Nazi Germany and Soviet Union.

Contents 1 Preface 1.1 Kellogg-Briand Pact 1.2 Non-aggression treaty 1.3 The Convention for the Definition of Aggression 1.4 Declaration of Neutrality 2 The Beginning of World War II 3 Soviet occupation 3.1 Soviet regime of terror 3.2 Soviet repression of ethnic Russians 3.3 Historical Soviet sources 4 German occupation 4.1 Estonian military units in 1941-1944 4.2 Estonian Rifle Corps in the Red Army 4.3 The Holocaust 5 Soviet return 6 Controversies 6.1 The position of the European Court of Human Rights 6.2 Position of the Estonian government 6.3 Governments of the Western democracies 6.4 Position of the Russian government 6.5 Positions of the soldiers from both sides 7 References

[edit] Preface

Before the World War II, the Republic of Estonia and USSR had both signed and ratified following treaties:

[edit] Kellogg-Briand Pact

August 27, 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact renouncing war as an instrument of national policy Ratified by Estonia and USSR on July 24, 1929^[2]

[edit] Non-aggression treaty

With USSR on May 4, 1932^[3]

[edit] The Convention for the Definition of Aggression

On July 3, 1933 for the first time in the history of international relations, aggression was defined in a binding treaty signed at the Soviet Embassy in London by USSR and among others, The Republic of Estonia.^[4][5]

Article II defines forms of aggression. There shall be recognized as an aggressor that State which shall be the first to have committed one of the following actions:

Relevant chapters:

• Second — invasion by armed forces of the territory of another State even without a declaration of war.
• Fourth — a naval blockade of coasts or ports of another State.

[edit] Declaration of Neutrality

Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania jointly declared their neutrality on November 18, 1938, in Riga, at the Conference of Baltic Foreign Ministers with their respective parliaments passing neutrality laws later that year. Estonia passed a law ratifying its neutrality on December 1st, 1938, which was modelled on Sweden's declaration of neutrality of May 29, 1938.^[6] Also importantly, Estonia had asserted its neutrality in its very first constitution, as well as the Treaty of Tartu concluded in 1920 between Republic of Estonia and the Russian SFSR.

[edit] The Beginning of World War II

• September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland.
• September 3, Great Britain, France, Australia, New Zealand declare war on Germany.
• September 14, the Polish submarine ORP Orzeł reached Tallinn, Estonia.
• September 17, Soviet Union attacked Poland.
• September 18, Orzeł incident, the Polish submarine escaped from internment in Tallinn and eventually made her way to the United Kingdom, Estonia's neutrality questioned by the Soviet Union and Germany.

On September 24, 1939, with the fall of Poland to Nazi Germany and USSR imminent and in light of the Orzeł incident, the Moscow press and radio started violently attacking Estonia as "hostile" to the Soviet Union. Warships of the Red Navy appeared off Estonian ports, Soviet bombers began a threatening patrol over Tallinn and the nearby countryside.^[7] Moscow demanded that Estonia allow the USSR to establish military bases and station 25,000 troops on Estonian soil for the duration of the European war.^[8] The government of Estonia accepted the ultimatum signing the corresponding agreement on September 28. 1939.

The Pact was made for ten years:

• 1) Estonia granted the USSR the right to maintain naval bases and airfields protected by Red Army troops on the strategic islands dominating Tallinn, the Gulf of Finland and the Gulf of Riga;
• 2) Soviet Union agreed to increase her annual trade turnover with Estonia and to give Estonia facilities in case the Baltic is closed to her goods for trading with the outside world via Soviet ports on the Black Sea and White Sea;
• 3) USSR and Estonia undertook to defend each other from "aggression arising on the part of any great European power"
• 4) It was declared: the Pact "should not affect" the "economic systems and state organizations" of USSR and Estonia.^[7]

There is no consensus in Estonian society about the decisions that the leadership of the Republic of Estonia made at that time.^[9]

When the Soviet troops marched into Estonia the guns of both nations gave mutual salutes, bands played both the Estonian anthem and the Internationale, the anthem of USSR at the time.^[10]

Similar demands were forwarded to Finland, Latvia and Lithuania. Finland resisted,^[11] and was attacked by the Soviet Union on November 30.^[12] Because the attack was judged as illegal, the Soviet Union was expelled from the League of Nations on December 14.^[13] Finland held out in the Winter War until March 1940, when the Moscow Peace Treaty was signed.

The first population loss for Estonia was the repatriation of about 12,000-18,000 Baltic Germans to Germany.^[9][14]

[edit] Soviet occupation

See also: Occupation of Baltic states

In summer 1940 the occupation of Estonia was carried through as a regular military operation. 160,000 men, supported by 600 tanks were concentrated for the invasion into Estonia. 5 divisions of the Soviet Air Force with 1150 aircraft blockaded the whole Baltic air space against Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia. The Soviet Baltic Fleet blockaded the operation from the sea. The Soviet NKVD was ordered to be ready for the reception of 58,000 prisoners of war.^[9]

On June 12, 1940 the order for a total military blockade on Estonia to the Soviet Baltic Fleet was given: according to the director of the Russian State Archive of the Naval Department Pavel Petrov (C.Phil.) referring to the records in the archive^[15][16]

On June 14 while the world’s attention was focused on the fall of Paris to Nazi Germany a day earlier, the Soviet military blockade on Estonia went into effect. Two Soviet bombers downed Finnish passenger airplane "Kaleva" flying from Tallinn to Helsinki carrying three diplomatic pouches from the U.S. legations in Tallinn, Riga and Helsinki and over 120 kilograms of diplomatic mail by two French embassy couriers. The US Foreign Service employee Henry W. Antheil, Jr., the French couriers and other passengers were killed in the crash.^[17]

On June 16 1940, the Soviet Union invaded Estonia.^[18] The Red Army exited from their military bases in Estonia, some 90,000 additional Soviet troops entered the country. Molotov had accused the Baltic states of conspiracy against the Soviet Union and delivered an ultimatum to Estonia for the establishment of a government the Soviets approve of. The Estonian government decided according to the Kellogg-Briand Pact not to use war as an instrument of national policy. Given the overwhelming Soviet force both on the borders and inside the country, not to resist, to avoid bloodshed and open war.^[19]

On June 17, the day France surrendered to Germany,^[18] Estonia accepted the ultimatum and the statehood of Estonia de facto ceased to exist. The military occupation of the Republic of Estonia was complete by the June 21 1940 and rendered "official" by a communist coup d'état supported by the Soviet troops.^[20]

Most of the Estonian Defence Forces and the Estonian Defence League surrendered according to the orders believing that resistance was useless and were disarmed by the Red Army. Only the Estonian Single Signal Battalion stationed in Tallinn at Raua Street showed resistance. As the Red Army brought in additional reinforcements supported by six armoured fighting vehicles, the battle lasted several hours until sundown. There was one dead, several wounded on the Estonian side and about 10 killed and more wounded on the Soviet side. Finally the military resistance was ended with negotiations and the Single Signal Battalion surrendered and was disarmed.^[21]

On the same day, June 21, 1940 the Flag of Estonia was replaced with a Red flag on Pikk Hermann tower, the symbol of the government in force in Estonia.

14-15 July rigged elections were organized in which only Soviet-supported candidates were permitted to run^[22] Those who failed to have their passports stamped for so voting were allowed to be shot in the back of the head.^[23] Tribunals were set up to punish "traitors to the people." those who had fallen short of the "political duty" of voting Estonia into the USSR. The "parliament" so elected proclaimed Estonia a Socialist Republic on July 21, 1940 and unanimously requested Estonia to be "accepted" into the Soviet Union.  Estonia was formally annexed into the Soviet Union on August 6 and renamed the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic.^[24] The 1940 occupation and annexation of Estonia into the Soviet Union was considered illegal and never officially recognized by Great Britain, the United States and other Western democracies.^[25]

[edit] Soviet regime of terror

See also: Soviet deportations from Estonia

The Soviet authorities, having gained control over Estonia, immediately imposed a regime of terror. Order № 001223 "On the Procedure for carrying out the Deportation of Anti-Soviet Elements from Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia" was issued.

During the first year of Soviet occupation (1940-1941) over 8,000 people, including most of the country's leading politicians and military officers, were arrested. About 2,200 of the arrested were executed in Estonia, while most others were moved to prison camps in Russia, from where very few were later able to return alive. On July 19, 1940 the Commander-in-chief of the Estonian Army Johan Laidoner was captured by the NKVD and deported together with his spouse to the Town of Penza. Laidoner died in the Vladimir Prison Camp, Russia on March 13, 1953.^[26] President of Estonia, Konstantin Päts was arrested and deported by the Soviets to Ufa in Russia on July 30, he died in a psychiatric hospital in Kalinin (currently Tver) in Russia in 1956. 800 Estonian officers i.e. about a half of the total were executed, arrested or starved to death in prison camps.

On June 14, 1941, when mass deportations took place simultaneously in all three Baltic countries. In Estonia one night alone over 60,000^[22] civilians were deported to Siberia and other remote areas of the Soviet Union, where nearly half of them later perished. Of the 32,100 Estonian men who were forcibly relocated to Russia under the pretext of mobilisation into the Red Army after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, nearly 40 percent died within the next year in the "labour battalions" through hunger, cold and overworking. During the first Soviet occupation of 1940-41 about 500 Jews were deported to Siberia.

When Estonia was proclaimed the Soviet Republic, the crews of 42 Estonian ships in foreign waters refused to return to homeland (about 40% of Estonian pre-war fleet) These ships were brought into requisition by the British powers and were used in the Atlantic convoys. During the time of the war, approximately 1000 Estonian seamen served at the British militarised merchant marine, 200 of them as officers. A small number of Estonians served in the Royal Air Force, in the British Army and in the US Army, altogether no more than two hundred.^[9]

[edit] Soviet repression of ethnic Russians

Ethnic Russians in Estonia: Sergei Zarkevich, an activist of Russian organizations in Estonia, The owner of a book store "Russian Book": arrest order issued by NKVD on June 23, 1940, executed on March 25, 1941. Oleg Vasilovski, a former General in the Russian Imperial Army. Arrest order issued by NKVD on July 1, 1940. Further fate unknown. Sergei Klenski, one of the former leaders of the Russian Peasants Labor Party. Arrested on July 22. On November 19 1940, sentenced to 8 years in a prison camp. Further fate unknown. Mikhail Aleksandrov, Arseni Zhitkov.^[27] Other ethnic Russians in Estonia arrested and executed by different Soviet War Tribunals in 1940-1941. Ivan Salnikov, Pavel Mironov, Mihhail Arhipov, Vassili belugin, Vladimir Strekoytov, Vasili Zhilin, Vladimir Utekhin, Sergei Samennikov, Ivan Meitsev, Ivan Yeremeyev, Konstatin Bushuyev, Yegor Andreyev, Nikolai Sausailov, Aleksandr Serpukhov, Konstatin Nosov, Aleksandr Nekrasov, Nikolai Vasilev-Muroman, Aleksei Sinelshikov, Pyotr Molonenkov, Grigory Varlamov, Stepan Pylnikov, Ivan Lishayev, Pavel Belousev, Nikolai Gusev, Leonid Sakharov, Aleksander Chuganov, Fyodor Dobrovidov, Lev Dobek, Andrei Leontev, Ivan Sokolov, Ivan Svetlov, Vladimir Semenov, Valentin Semenov-Vasilev, Vasili Kamelkov, Georgi Lokhov, Aleksei Forlov, Ivan Ivanov, Vasili Karamsin, Aleksandr Krasilnikov, Aleksandr Zhukov, etc. Full list at:^[28]

[edit] Historical Soviet sources

Up to the reassessment of Soviet history in USSR that began during Perestroika, before the USSR had condemned the 1939 secret protocol between Nazi Germany and itself that had led to the invasion and occupation of the three Baltic countries including Estonia.^[29]

The events in 1939 according to the pre-Perestroika Soviet sources were following: in a prior province of the Russian Empire: The Governorate of Estonia (Russian: Эстляндская губерния) Soviet power was established in the end of October 1917. The Estonian Soviet Republic was proclaimed in Narva on November 29, 1918 but fell to counter-revolutionaries and the White movement in 1919. In June 1940 Soviet power was restored in Estonia as workers had overthrown the fascist dictatorship in the country.^[30][31][32]

The Government of the Soviet Union suggested that the Government of the Republic of Estonia conclude a mutual assistance treaty between the two countries. The pressure from Estonian working people forced the Estonian government to accept this suggestion. On September 28, 1939 the Pact of Mutual Assistance was signed^[33] which allowed the USSR to station a limited number of Red Army units in Estonia. Economic difficulties, dissatisfaction with the Estonian government policies 'that had sabotaged fulfillment of the Pact and the Estonian government' and political orientation towards Nazi Germany lead to a revolutionary situation on June 16, 1940. A note from the Soviet government to the Estonian Government suggested that they stick strictly to the Pact of Mutual Assistance. To guarantee fulfillment of the Pact additional military units entered Estonia, welcomed by the Estonian workers who demanded the resignation of the Estonian government. On June 21 under the leadership of the Estonian Communist Party political demonstrations by workers were held in Tallinn, Tartu, Narva and other cities. On the same day the fascist government was overthrown, and the People's government lead by Johannes Vares was formed. On July 14-15 1940 elections for the Estonian Parliament, the State Assembly(Riigikogu) were held. The "Working People’s Union", created by an initiative of the Estonian Communist Party received with 84.1% electorate participation 92.8% of the votes.^[34].^[35] On July 21 1940 the State Assembly adopted the declaration of the restoration of Soviet power in Estonia and proclaimed the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic. On July 22 the declaration of Estonia's wish to join the USSR was adopted and the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was addressed accordingly. The request was approved by the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on August 6, 1940. On July 23 the State Assembly proclaimed all land to be People's Property while banks and heavy industry were nationalized. On August 25 the State Assembly adopted the Constitution of the Estonian SSR, renamed itself the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR and approved the Council of People's Commissars of the Estonian SSR.^[35]

[edit] German occupation

For more details on this topic, see Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany.

After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, On June 25, Finland sided with Germany in the Continuation War. On July 3, Stalin made his public statement over the radio calling for Scorched earth policy in the areas to be abandoned. In Estonia, the assault of the Soviet destruction battalions was the worst, because the northernmost areas were the last to be "liberated," allowing the Soviet occupiers more time to linger. The Estonian forest brothers, numbering about 50,000 inflicted heavy casualties on the remaining Soviets with as many as 4800 were killed and 14000 captured.

The Germans crossed the Estonian southern border on July 7-9. The Russian 8th Army (Major General Ljubovtsev), retreated in front of the 2nd corps of the German Army behind the Pärnu River- the Emajõgi line on July 12. As German troops approached Tartu on July 10 and prepared for another battle with the Soviets, they realized that the Estonian partisans were already fighting the Soviet troops. The Wehrmacht stopped its advance and hung back, leaving the Estonians to do the fighting. The battle of Tartu lasted two weeks, and destroyed most of the city. Under the leadership of Friedrich Kurg the Estonian partisans drove out the Soviets from Tartu on their own. Meanwhile the Soviets had been in the process of murdering citizens held in Tartu Prison and had killed 192 before the Estonians captured the city.

At the end July the Germans resumed their advance in Estonia working in tandem with the Estonian forest brothers. Both German troops and Estonian partisans took Narva on August 17 and the Estonian capital Tallinn on August 28. On that day, the red flag shot down earlier on Pikk Hermann was replaced with the Flag of Estonia by Fred Ise. After the Soviets were driven out from Estonia German troops disarmed all the partisan groups.^[36] The Estonian flag was replaced shortly with the flag of Germany.

Most Estonians greeted the Germans with relatively open arms and hoped for restoration of independence. Estonia set up government administrations, led by Jüri Uluots as soon as the Soviet regime retreated and before German troops arrived. Estonian partisans who drove the Red Army from Tartu made this possible. This was all for nothing since the Germans disbanded the provisional government and Estonia became a part of the German-occupied "Ostland". A Sicherheitspolizei was established for internal security under the leadership of Ain-Ervin Mere.

In April 1941, on the eve on the German invasion, Alfred Rosenberg, Reich minister for the Occupied Eastern territories, a Baltic German, born and raised in Tallinn, Estonia, laid out his plans for the East. According to Rosenberg a future policy was created:

1. Germanization (Eindeutschung) of the "racially suitable" elements.
2. Colonization by Germanic peoples.
3. Exile, deportations of undesirable elements.

Rosenberg felt that the "Estonians were the most Germanic out of the people living in the Baltic area, having already reached 50 percent of Germanization through Danish, Swedish and German influence". Non-suitable Estonians were to be moved to a region that Rosenberg called "Peipusland" to make room for German colonists.^[37]

The initial enthusiasm that accompanied the liberation from Soviet occupation quickly waned as a result and the Germans had limited success in recruiting volunteers. The draft was introduced in 1942, resulting in some 3400 men fleeing to Finland to fight in the Finnish Army rather than join the Germans. Finnish Infantry Regiment 200 AKA (Estonian: soomepoisid) was formed out of Estonian volunteers in Finland.

In June 1942 political leaders of Estonia who had survived Soviet repressions held a meeting hidden from the occupying powers in Estonia where the formation of an underground Estonian government and the options for preserving continuity of the republic were discussed.^[38]

On January 6 1943 a meeting was held at the Estonian foreign delegation in Stockholm. In order to preserve the legal continuation of the Republic of Estonia, it was decided that the last constitutional prime minister, Jüri Uluots, had to continue to fulfill his responsibilities as prime minister.^[38]

On June 1944 – the elector’s assembly of the Republic of Estonia gathered in secrecy from the occupying powers in Tallinn and appointed Jüri Uluots as the prime minister with responsibilities of the President. On June 21 – Jüri Uluots appointed Otto Tief as deputy prime minister.^[38]

With the Allied victory over Germany becoming certain in 1944, the only option to save Estonia's independence was to stave off a new Soviet invasion of Estonia until Germany's capitulation.

[edit] Estonian military units in 1941-1944

In 1941 it was announced in Germany that additional Combat Support Forces, the Waffen-SS Verfügungstruppe units would be raised from non-German foreign nationals. The goal was to acquire additional manpower from occupied nations. Some of these formed foreign legions included volunteers from Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Norway, and the Netherlands.

Up to March 1942 drafted Estonians mostly served in the rear of the Army Group North security. On August 28, 1942 the German powers announced the legal compilation of the Estonian Legion within the Combat Support Forces, the Waffen SS Verfügungstruppe units. Oberführer Franz Augsberger was nominated the commander of the legion. As of October 13, 1942 500 volunteers had appeared. In the Spring 1943 additional men were drafted from the police and the number rose to 1.280.^[39] 90% of the volunteers had lost a relative in the Red Terror.^[40]Batllion Narwa was formed from the first 800 men of the Legion to have finished their training at Dębica (Heidelager in 1943), being sent in April 1943 to join the Division Wiking in Ukraine. They replaced the Finnish Volunteer Battalion, recalled to Finland for political reasons.^[41]

In March 1943 the German occupying powers turned to mobilization by conscripting men born in Estonia between 1919 and 1924. Until August 1943 5300 men were drafted for the Estonain Legion and 6800 for support service (Hilfswillige) to the German Wermacht. A moblization in October 1943, calling up men born in 1925-1926. On May 5, 1943 the 3rd Estonian Waffen-SS brigade was formed and sent to front near Nevel.A consequence of the 1943 mobilizations was the wave of an estimated 5.000 Estonian men fleeing to Finland in order to avoid the German draft. Over half of these men volunteered for service in the Finnish armed forces. About 2.300 joined the army and 400 the navy.

By January 1944, the front was pushed back by the Red Army almost all the way to the former Estonian border. On January 31. 1944 general conscription-mobilization was announced in Estonia by the German authorities.^[42] Jüri Uluots, the last constitutional prime minister of the republic of Estonia,^[43] the leader of the Estonian underground government delivered a radio address on February 7^[38]that implored all able-bodied men born from 1904 through 1923 to report for military service (Before this, Uluots had opposed Estonian mobilization.) The call drew support from all across the country: 38.000 men were drafted.^[44] After the mobilization there were some 50.000-60.000 Estonians under arms in Estonia.^[42] The initial formation of the volunteer Estonian Legion created in 1942 was eventually expanded to become a full-sized conscript division of the Waffen SS in 1944, the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) as other Estonian units that had fought on various fronts on the German side were rushed to Estonia.^[42] In addition six border defence battalions were also formed^[45]In autumn 1944 it is estimated that there was the same number of Estonians under arms as at the time of the Estonian War of Independence, in total about 100,000 men.^[9]

With these reinforcements the Soviet advance was halted for about six months and the front was settled on Narva line throughout 1944.^{[citation needed]} It was hoped that by engaging in such a war Estonia would be able to attract Western support for the cause of Estonia's independence from the USSR and thus ultimately succeed in achieving independence.^[46]

On February 1, 1944 the Red Army reached the border of Estonia as a part of the Leningrad-Novgorod strategic offensive operation which began on January 14. Field Marshal Walter Model was nominated the leader of the German Army Group North. The Soviet attack lead by Soviet General Leonid A. Govorov, the commander of the Leningrad Front, began on February 13. On February 24 (Estonian National Day) the counterattack of the Estonian Waffen-SS division to break the Soviet bridgeheads began. The Estonian 43/II Battalion lead by Freiwilligen-Haupsturmführer Rudolf Alfred Bruus nov 1943- jan 1944)^[47] destroyed the Soviet bridgehead.^{[citation needed]} The Estonian 46/I Battalion leaded by Waffen-Sturmbannführer Ain-Ervin Mere (aug. 1944 transferred to Generalinspector's office)^[48] liquidated another bridgehead of Vaasa-Siivertsi-Vepsaküla.^{[citation needed]} On March 6, the task was fulfilled. The leadership of the Red Army drew 9 corps against Narva against 7 divisions and one brigade. On March 1, a new Soviet offensive began to the south of Narva to outflank and surround the citadel. The assault was stopped by the 658th battalion leaded by Alfons Rebane. On March 17, Soviets attacked with the forces of 20 divisions against 3 divisions in defensive positions, but could not break the defence.^{[citation needed]} On April 7, the leadership of the Red Army ordered their troops to go over to defence. In March the Soviets organised many aerial bombing attacks towards the towns of Estonia including bombing of Tallinn on March 9.

In March the first Estonian volunteer Battalion SS-Waffen-Füsilier Battalion 20 (former battalion “Narva” from division „Wiking“) returned to Estonia, and was reformed in April to join the Estonian devision on the Narva front.^[41]

On July 24 the Soviets began a new attack in the direction of Sillaväe via Auvere . They were stopped by 45/I Battalion (Waffen-Haupsturmführer Paul Maitla ) of the Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 45 “Estland” (estnische nr. 1) (Riipalu) and the SS-Waffen-Füsilier Battalion 20 (former battalion “Narva” from division „Wiking“) under the leadership of Waffen-Obersturmführer Hando Ruus. Finally the evacuation of Narva was organised and front was settled on the line of "Tannenberg" in Sinimäed on July 26.

On August 1 the Finnish government and President Ryti were to resign. On the next day, Aleksander Warma the Estonia's Ambassador to Finland (1939-1940(1944)), announced that the National Committee of the Estonian Republic had sent a telegram, which stated "Estonians return home!" On the following day, the Finnish government received a letter from the Estonians. It had been signed in the name of "all national organizations of Estonia" by Aleksander Warma, Karl Talpak and several others. In the letter, the Finnish government was asked to send the Estonian volunteer regiment back to Estonia fully equipped. It was then announced that JR 200 would be disbanded and that the volunteers were free to return home. An agreement had been reached with the Germans, and the Estonians were promised amnesty if they were to return. As soon as they landed, the regiment was sent to perform a counter-attack against the Soviet 3rd Baltic Front, which had managed a break-through on the Tartu front, and was threatening the capital Tallinn.

When the break-through in Tannenberg Line/Sinimäed failed, the main struggle was carried to the south of the Lake Peipus, where on August 11, Petseri was taken and Võru on August 13. Near Tartu the Red Army was stopped by the military groups sent from Narva under the command of Alfons Rebane and Paul Vent and 5th SS Volunteer Sturmbrigade Wallonien leaded by Léon Degrelle.

On August 19, 1944 Jüri Uluots called in a radio broadcast for holding back the Red Army until a peace treaty was reached.^[38]

As Finland left the war on September 4, 1944 according to the peace agreement with Soviets the defence of the mainland became impossible and the command of the German Army decided to evacuate from Estonia. Estonian islands showed resistance until November 23, 1944, when Sõrve was evacuated. According to the Soviet data, the conquering of the territory of Estonia cost them 126,000 casualties, in the German data the number is 170,000. On the German side, their own data shows 30,000 dead which is most likely underrated, the more realistic figure would be 45,000.^[9]

Other volunteers that paricipated in the Battle of Narva and the Battle of the Tannenberg Line within the Waffen-SS were from Norway, Denmark, Holland and Belgium.

As the Germans retreated in September 1944, on September 18 Jüri Uluots formed a government led by the Deputy Prime Minister, Otto Tief. On September 20 the Nazi German flag on Pikk Hermann was replaced with the flag of Estonia‎. On September 22 the Red Army took Tallinn and the Estonian flag on Pikk Hermann was replaced with the Red flag. The Estonian underground government, not officially recognized by either Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union, fled to Stockholm, Sweden and operated in exile until 1992, when Heinrich Mark, the Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia in duties of the President in exile,^[49] presented his credentials to the newly elected President of Estonia Lennart Meri. On February 23. 1989 The flag of the Estonian SSR had been lowered on Pikk Hermann, having been replaced with the flag of Estonia on February 24, 1989.

[edit] Estonian Rifle Corps in the Red Army

In June 1940 while the Estonian army was integrated into the Soviet military structure, where in June 1940 there were 16,800 men, was changed into "22nd Territorial Rifle Corps" 5,500 Estonian soldiers served in the corps during the first battle. 4,500 of them went over to the German side. In September 1941, when the corps was liquidated, there were still 500 previous Estonian soldiers.

Having mobilized some 33,000 Estonians as the Soviets were evacuating in the summer of 1941, no more than half of those men were used for military service, the rest perished in labour battalions, mainly in the early months of the war.

Estonian National military Units within the Red Army began to be formed in January 1942 from among ethnic Estonians living in the USSR, A Soviet source suggests that in May 1942 there were nearly 20,000 Estonians in the national units. The Eight Estonian Rifle Corps, as these units came to be called after September 1942, reached the front in Velikie Luki in December 1942 and suffered heavy losses in battle as well as the defection of about 1,000 men to the German side. After Velikie Luki the Rifle Corps was replaced with other nationalities from USSR. The corps' major activity in the latter part of the war was participation in the battles for Estonia.^[37]

[edit] The Holocaust

Main article: History of the Jews in Estonia

Historical background

The process of Jewish settlement in Estonia began in the nineteenth century, when in 1865 the Russian Tsar Alexander II granted them the right to enter the region.

The creation of the Republic of Estonia in 1918 marked the beginning of a new era for the Jews. Approximately 200 Jews fought in combat for the creation of the Republic of Estonia and 70 of these men were volunteers. From the very first days of her existence as a state, Estonia showed her tolerance towards all the peoples inhabiting her territories. On 12 February 1925 the Estonian government passed a law pertaining to the cultural autonomy of minority peoples. The Jewish community quickly prepared its application for cultural autonomy. Statistics on Jewish citizens were compiled. They totaled 3045, fulfilling the minimum requirement of 3000. In June 1926 the Jewish Cultural Council was elected and Jewish cultural autonomy was declared. Jewish cultural autonomy was of great interest to global Jewish community. The Jewish National Endowment presented the Government of the Republic of Estonia with a certificate of gratitude for this achievement.^[50]

There were, at the time of Soviet occupation in 1940, approximately 2000 Estonian Jews. Many of Jewish people were deported to Siberia along with other Estonians by the Soviets. It is estimated that 500 Jews suffered this fate. With the invasion of the Baltics, it was the intention of the Nazi government to use the Baltics countries as their main area of mass genocide. Consequently, Jews from countries outside the Baltics were shipped there to be exterminated. Out of the approximately 4,300 Jews in Estonia prior to the war, between 1,500 and 2,000 were entrapped by the Nazis.^[51] and an estimated 10,000 Jews were killed in Estonia after having been deported to camps there from elsewhere in Eastern Europe.^[52] There have been knowingly 7 ethnic Estonians: Ralf Gerrets, Ain-Ervin Mere, Jaan Viik, Juhan Jüriste, Karl Linnas,Aleksander Laak and Ervin Viks who have faced trials for crimes against humanity. Since the reestablishment of the Estonian independence Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity has been established.^[53] Markers were put in place for the 60th anniversary of the mass executions that were carried out at the Lagedi, Vaivara^[54] and Klooga (Kalevi-Liiva) camps in September of 1944.^[55]

In May 2005, Estonian Prime Minister Andrus Ansip gave a speech while visiting Klooga: "Although these murderers must answer for their crimes as individuals, the Estonian Government continues to do everything possible to expose these crimes. I apologise for the fact that Estonian citizens could be found among those who participated in the murdering of people or assisted in the perpetration of these crimes."^[56]

Estonia (together with Austria, Lithuania, Norway, Romania, Sweden, Syria and Ukraine) has been given the grade Category F-2: Failure in practice by the Simon Wiesenthal Center Status Report on Investigation and Prosecution of Nazi War Criminals for both 2005-2006 and 2006-2007.^[57][58] As Estonian prosecutors have closed the case of WWII crime suspect Harry Männil now resident in Venezuela, on basis of no proof found linking Männil to crimes against humanity. Estonia's security police had opened a criminal case in March 2001 on the basis of Efraim Zuroff's petition to investigate whether Männil was connected with the persecution and killing of civilians in 1941-42 when he worked as an assistant with the wartime political police in Tallinn.^[59]

[edit] Soviet return

Soviet forces reconquered Estonia in the autumn of 1944 after fierce battles in the northeast of the country on the Narva river and on the Tannenberg Line (Sinimäed). In 1944, in the face of the country being re-occupied by the Red Army, 80000 people fled from Estonia by sea to Finland and Sweden, becoming war refugees and later, expatriates. 25,000 Estonians reached Sweden and a further 42,000 Germany. During the war about 8 000 Estonian Swedes and their family members had emigrated to Sweden. After the retreat of Germans, about 30,000 partisans remained in hiding in the Estonian forests, further on leading a massive guerrilla war. In 1949 27,650 Soviet troops still led the war against the local partisans. Only the 1949 mass deportation when about 21,000 people were taken away broke the basis of the partisan movement. 6600 partisans gave themselves up in November of 1949. Later on the failure of the Hungarian uprising broke the resistance moral of the 700 men still remaining under cover. According to the Soviet data, up to 1953, 20,351 partisans were disarmed. Of these, 1510 perished in the battles. During that period, 1 728 members of the Red Army, NKVD and the militia were killed by the "forest brothers". August Sabbe, the last surviving Forest Brother in Estonia, was discovered and killed^[60] by KGB agents in 1978.

During the first post-war decade of Soviet regime, Estonia was governed by Moscow via Russian-born Estonian governors. Born into the families of native Estonians in Russia, the latter had obtained their Red education in the Soviet Union during the Stalinist repressions at the end of the 1930s. Many of them had fought in the Red Army (in the Estonian Rifle Corps), few of them had mastered the Estonian language.^[61]

Although the United States and the United Kingdom, the allies of the USSR against Germany during World War II, recognized the occupation of the Republic of Estonia by USSR at Yalta Conference in 1945 de facto, the governments of the rest of the western democracies did not recognize the seizure of Estonia by the USSR in 1940 and in 1944 de jure according to the Sumner Welles' declaration of July 23, 1940^[62][63][64] Such countries recognized Estonian diplomats and consuls who still functioned in many countries in the name of their former governments. These aging diplomats persisted in this anomalous situation until the ultimate restoration of Estonia's independence in 1991.^[65]

In August 1994 the last Soviet troops withdrew from the Republic of Estonia.^[66]

[edit] Controversies

Views diverge on history of Estonia during the World War II:

[edit] The position of the European Court of Human Rights

Further information: European Court of Human Rights cases on Occupation of Baltic States

The Court notes, first, that Estonia lost its independence as a result of the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (also known as "Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact"), concluded on 23 August 1939, and the secret additional protocols to it. Following an ultimatum to set up Soviet military bases in Estonia in 1939, a large-scale entry of the Soviet army into Estonia took place in June 1940. The lawful government of the country was overthrown and Soviet rule was imposed by force. The totalitarian communist regime of the Soviet Union conducted large-scale and systematic actions against the Estonian population, including, for example, the deportation of about 10,000 persons on 14 June 1941 and of more than 20,000 on 25 March 1949. After the Second World War, tens of thousands of persons went into hiding in the forests to avoid repression by the Soviet authorities; part of those in hiding actively resisted the occupation regime. According to the data of the security organs, about 1,500 persons were killed and almost 10,000 arrested in the course of the resistance movement of 1944-1953. Interrupted by the German occupation in 1941-1944, Estonia remained occupied by the Soviet Union until its restoration of independence in 1991.

[edit] Position of the Estonian government

The occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany ended with five decades of Soviet occupation of the Baltic nations.^[67] The European parliament has issued a resolution on the issue supporting the positions of The Estonian Government: as an independent Member State of the EU and NATO, it has the sovereign right to assess its recent tragic past, starting with the loss of independence as a result of the Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939 and including three years under Hitler’s occupation and terror, as well as 48 years under Soviet occupation and terror whereas the Soviet occupation and annexation of the Baltic States was never recognized as legal by the Western democracies.^[68]

[edit] Governments of the Western democracies

According to USA, EU: 48 years of Soviet occupation and annexation of the Republic of Estonia was never recognized as legal by the Western democracies.^[69][70]

[edit] Position of the Russian government

Russian government and officials however continue to maintain that the Soviet annexation of the Baltic states was legitimate^[71] and that the Soviet Union liberated the countries from the Nazis^[72] They state that the Soviet troops had entered the Baltic countries in 1940 following the agreements and with the consent of the governments of the Baltic republics. They maintain that the USSR was not in a state of war and was not waging any combat activities on the territory of the three Baltic states, therefore, the argument goes, the word 'occupation' can not be used.^[73][74] "The assertions about [the] 'occupation' by the Soviet Union and the related claims ignore all legal, historical and political realities, and are therefore utterly groundless." (Russian Foreign Ministry)

Russia maintains that Soviet forces liberated the Estonian SSR from Nazi occupation^[72]

[edit] Positions of the soldiers from both sides

• Views of World War II veteran, an Estonian Ilmar Haaviste fought on the German side: “Both regimes were equally evil - there was no difference between the two except that Stalin was more cunning”.
• Views of World War II veteran, an Estonian Arnold Meri fought on the Soviet side: "Estonia's participation in World War II was inevitable. Every Estonian had only one decision to make: whose side to take in that bloody fight - the Nazis' or the anti-Hitler coalition's."
• Views of World War II veteran, a Russian fought on the Soviet side in Estonia answering a question: How do you feel being called an "occupier"? " Viktor Andreyev: "Half believe one thing half believe another. That's in the run of things."^[75]

In 2004 controversy regarding the events of World War II in Estonia surrounded the Monument of Lihula.

In April 2007 the diverging views of World War II history were a factor in the Bronze Soldier of Tallinn controversy.

[edit] References