In 2007, the Estonian parliament, to commemorate the Otto Tief Government (see below), declared September 22 to be Resistance Day. This day symbolises the Estonian nation’s resistance to the repressive occupations, by two totalitarian great powers, that were unleashed upon the three Baltic states in the course of the Second World War.
On 22 September 1944, units of the Red Army captured Tallinn. Although it was a milestone on the road to Allied victory in Europe, the recapture of Tallinn by Soviet forces was far from being a "liberation" for the Estonian people. It merely marked a change in foreign regimes and the beginning of a nightmarishly repressive occupation that would last for nearly 50 years. This Soviet occupation was never recognized by most Western countries. For Estonia, World War II did not end, de facto, until 31 August 1994, with the final withdrawal of former Soviet troops from Estonian soil.
Read the entire article on the Estonian Foreign Ministry website at http://www.vm.ee/estonia/kat_5...
Just prior to the events of 22 September 1944, an attempt was made to restore Estonia’s independence. The Otto Tief Government, appointed by the acting Estonian president, Jüri Uluots, remains, to this day, historically significant from the standpoint of the legal continuity of the Republic of Estonia.
22 September 1944: From One Occupation to Another
Archived Articles | 23 Sep 2008 | EWR
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