“If, prior to the break-up of the Soviet Union, practically all those who had co-operated with Germans during the war had been seen as traitors, then from 1991 a tendency to present these very same people virtually as heroes has appeared. This is particularly noticeable in the Ukraine and the Baltic states (Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia).”

Such observations have been usually attributed to attention hungry Russian Duma members or propaganda-driven foreign ministry officials. But the above position is advanced by Dr. Sergei Kudryashov, a prominent Russian military historian, editor of the journal “Istochnik” and someone with sufficient credentials and reputation to be invited to academic colloquia internationally.

Academics often espouse non-conformist viewpoints from unique historical perspectives. Kudryashov’s approach to the question, however, is the Kremlin-sanctioned, time-worn stance and consistent with Moscow’s line that the Baltics were “liberated” and not re-occupied by the Soviets as WWII ended. It’s intended to discredit all and anybody who suggest that Estonian soldiers in German uniform were in essence fighting for the freedom of their homeland.

(Moscow’s systematic anti-Baltic dirt slinging took a new twist some days ago. A news website accused Estonian “nationalists” of fomenting and organizing the mob violence that struck many parts of France recently. It wrote: “It’s well known that all Finno-Ugric peoples in the west – Estonia, Hungary, Finland fought on the side of fascist Germany during WWII. Currently many Baltic politicians, instigating a revisionist resurgence, have ambitions of becoming leading countries within the European Union. Realizing that Europe is not offering a warm welcome, they have decided to use guerilla tactics [the French riots] as a pressure tactic.”)

Why did they fight with the Germans? In 1940-1941 the Soviet violence and terror on citizens, arrests, mass deportations, the mass graves found after the Germans invaded in 1941 convinced Estonians that the most imminent and serious threat to their existence was communist Russia. Any possible hope that Britain and France would somehow guarantee Estonian independence had collapsed, in fact London and Paris and Washington had seemingly become friends of Moscow.

Centuries old resentment of Germany, German land barons was of necessity subdued due to the crisis at hand. The only realistic ally who could help alleviate the severity of the situation was Germany. The Soviet occupation not only crushed Estonia’s sovereignty, but also liquidated the country’s leadership and destroyed the civil society and wiped out the senior officers’ corps. Germany did not allow the re-establishment of a sovereign government nor Estonian armed forces.

Hoping naïvely that Germany would restore the Republic of Estonia, Estonians volunteered initially for the German armed forces. These units were formed to defend against Stalinist Russia and to avenge the brutality suffered during the Soviet occupation.

German policies, perceived to be more benign than the preceding Soviet conduct, were still occupation policies. Germans rapidly lost the respect and trust of the frustrated and disenchanted Estonians.

Although initially opposing the formation of Estonian units, when finally discovering the necessity of such units, the Germans deliberately kept them small, diffused and under the command of Germans, to prevent the emergence of Estonian armed forces. Any talk of an independent Estonia was verboten.

Even though expectations of the 1918 historical situation repeating itself was illusory, that Russia and Germany would exhaust each other through war, paving the way for a re-gained Estonian independence, the ultimate aim was to keep Russian troops away from Estonian territory.

(To be continued.)

Märkmed: