The German occupation of Estonia, beginning in mid-1941, was not of a normal society, but of one which had been brutalized, significantly altered by an earlier totalitarian occupation.
Except for isolated exceptions the pre-war leadership of all sectors of Estonian society had been annihilated by the Soviets prior to the German occupation, in true Soviet fashion – arrest, deportation, murder. This destruction peaked on June 13-14 1941, a week before the German invasion, when thousands of families were arrested, put into cattle cars bound for Russia’s hinterlands.
Estonia’s military had numbered about 16,000 with a mobilization potential of 100,000 prior to war. During the Soviets’ one year rule, June 1940 to June 1941, the senior officer corps was effectively destroyed – again through arrest, deportation and murder, with most dying in Siberia. The regular forces were reduced in size and transferred to the Red Army. The Defense League (partially a military reserve force) was disbanded and their weapons confiscated. With an illegal mobilization of 33,000 men into the Red Army and other losses through arrest, murder etc., 50% of Estonia’s pre-war military mobilization potential of 100,000 had now been lost.
Estonia’s population by mid-1941 had been reduced 10%. The civil structure had been profoundly altered, the society shattered. Organizations in the main were banned.
In July 1941, the invading Germans did not occupy the Estonian Republic per se, and then establish a Nazi regime there. The German occupation simply replaced the Soviet occupation.
Estonians have been glibly accused of not resisting the German invasion. Without a government, without forces, without weapons, how does one mobilize a significant defence? Did Estonians have any realistic choices under a totalitarian regime?
A passive resistance during the Soviet occupation did exist, especially in Tallinn and Tartu. Known in Estonian as brothers of the forest - “metsavennad”, a formidable partisan movement emerged, consisting initially of those avoiding arrest and deportation. This movement grew sharply in June of 1941 during the mass deportations. With defections from the Red Army, there was a significant, though not yet unified guerilla force in the woods waiting for a prime opportunity. No credible evidence exists that the partisan units were godfathered by Germany’s secret services. They were clearly a spontaneous response to Soviet oppression.
By the time the Wehrmacht arrived at Estonia’s borders in early July 1941 the “metsavennad” were a sizable group. Estonians sincerely wanted to revive both their country and their military. Neither would be allowed. The “metsavennad” were disbanded. To fight the Soviets only one choice existed for those Estonians in their occupied homeland and that was on German terms.
Thus thousands of men fled to Finland and joined the Finnish army to battle the Soviets there. Although Finland was a co belligerent with Germany, many wanted to avoid being directly subordinate to German superiors and to fight an aggressor in Finnish uniforms.
In the meanwhile many attempts were made for Estonian national units to be formed. Documentary evidence reveals that Estonians who survived the Soviet occupation had exhausted all efforts under the circumstances not to be involved with the Waffen SS. In spite of the sympathetic ear of the Wehrmacht the wishes of Estonians mattered very little. Germany’s war, as Germany itself, was not controlled by the Wehrmacht.
The historical question remains: at what point did these men have a choice? When were meaningful choices no longer possible? It is clear, that these men did not volunteer to fight Germany’s battles. They fought for Estonia.
The German SS was was condemned at Nuremberg as a criminal endeavour. But a distinction was nevertheless made between volunteers and non-volunteers in the Waffen SS, the elite combat units. In a 1950 letter to the Estonian Acting Consul General in New York, the U.S. Displaced Persons Commission stated: “The Baltic Waffen SS Units (Baltic Legions) are to be considered as separate and distinct in purpose, ideology, activities, and qualifications for membership from the German SS, and therefore the Commission holds them not to be a movement hostile to the Government of the United States…” In fact, Estonian veterans served in Allied guard units under U.S. Army command during the Nuremberg trials.
To pass judgment on the struggle of Estonians against the Soviet Union under German command, to call them fascist, without considering Soviet aggression against Estonia even before the war between Germany and the USSR had begun, indeed while the two were erstwhile allies, is ludicrous.
(to be continued)
Estonians ask: who’s a fascist? (II) (24)
Archived Articles | 19 Nov 2004 | EWR
Viimased kommentaarid
Kommentaarid on kirjutatud EWR lugejate poolt. Nende sisu ei pruugi ühtida EWR toimetuse seisukohtadega.
In your commentary, you advertise your intellectual rigour to advance arguments to higher knowledge....and that's where it ends.
Hey! It's time to belly up to the bar and strut your stuff!
Hey! It's time to belly up to the bar and strut your stuff!
So, you wish (in your words) "to take a stand for intellectual rigour ... good argument and higher knowledge". Is that your perception of your childish spats with those who can't acknowledge your ineffable wisdom? You (lucky devil) left high-school before the teacher got to the boring and (in your view) inconsequential parts of English grammer. Now, you've "seen the light and moved to Estonia" to advance their intellectual life. (I'll bet that they'd like to deport you.) And your finished with us are you? BS. Tomorrow, you'll be here barking at us for our inability to appreciate your knowledge and intellectual majesty.
I personally prefer commentary from eesti poeg and maksim, as opposed to the 'smart alecks'.
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