Most Estonians serving in the German armed forces were mobilized, not volunteers. Oftentimes the use of the word “volunteer” by German authorities, was a deliberate maneuver intended to dismiss the fact that mobilization campaigns were illegal. But as the war progressed, the exigency of opposing the Soviets was taken as a necessity, and avoiding German mobilization was significantly less widespread than was avoiding Soviet mobilization during their occupation in 1940-41.
With the arrival of Soviet occupation forces in June 1940, Jüri Uluots, Estonia’s Prime Minister went underground. The powers of President Konstantin Päts, who had been arrested by the communists, were transferred, according to the consitution, to Uluots. Although Western powers did not accept the occupation and continued to recognize the sovereignty of the Republic of Estonia, in reality they had abandoned Estonia.
Uluots and several prominent Estonian politicians who had also survived the Soviet occupation identified the main enemy as still being the Soviet Union and they summoned all to mobilize a maximum effort against communism. The historic public exhortations were: a major newspaper address by Uluots and other public figures called “Estonian men and Estonian women” in September 1941; Uluots’ radio speech in February 1944; Orders of the western-oriented National Committee of the Republic of Estonia of August 1 and August 24, 1944 which supported fighting alongside the Germans. For the soldier, his fight had been sanctioned, by authoritative Estonians, not foreigners, and the enemy had been clearly determined by the first occupation – the Soviet occupation of 1940-41.
There’s no question that these and other missives helped form the collective will and orientation of the people. Estonians did not have a choice between western democracy and Germany. The only choice was between two major totalitarian states, Stalinist Russia and Nazi Germany. Under these critical conditions it was national survival that dictated that the battle should continue against Soviet Russia, Estonia’s mortal enemy.
Those who fought alongside the Germans have been often labeled inherently as war criminals. However Gen. Dwight. D. Eisenhower’s postwar Allied Forces HQ, and the U.S. Displaced Persons Commission ruled that Baltic soldiers in the Waffen SS, where they had been forcibly placed, were not to be considered war criminals collectively, nor was such military service a direct cause for denying them immigration to the U.S.A. Specifically the Commission stated that Baltic Waffen-SS units, including the Estonian Legion, were to be considered as separate and distinct in purpose, ideology, activities and qualifications from the German SS.
It must be noted that abundant archival evidence of German origin attest to intense anti-German feelings in the Estonian units. National Socialism as an ideology was alien to them. Songs and anecdotes of the time bespeak of how much it was detested and ridiculed. Reports of German correspondence censors refer to letters of Estonian soldiers stressing the prime goal for fighting – the independence of Estonia! Defense against Bolshevism was only the secondary goal. Officers were even discussing the need to defend Estonia against Germans as well, should the need arise.
But even though Estonian combat units were not directly involved in war crimes, the accusations state, that by fighting, Estonians helped the Germans, amongst other things, to commit crimes against humanity. This is an extremely simplified approach, dismissing the desperate nature of the situation for Estonians. Following similar logic, one can accuse Estonian soldiers forcibly mobilized by the Soviets of murdering Polish officers at Katyn, arresting and deporting hundreds of thousands of people in Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, the Caucasus etc. By further extension one can argue that Allied forces in liberating some nations from German occupation, were in fact colluding with the Soviet Union by forcing millions deeper into Communist captivity and thus helping to preserve the GULAG system which resulted in the deaths of tens of millions.
Ah, war – who is the enemy, who’s the friend? Is collaboration a crime? It depends on who wins the war.
Estonians trapped in stereotypes: Collaborator or victim? (IV) (94)
Archived Articles | 09 Dec 2005 | Estonian Central Council in CanadaEWR
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Hey! This is your lucky day. Today I’m going to show you how to pick out a Neanderthal in the crowd. Don’t be surprised, but they are all around you, really! Shhhh! Don’t stare! It’s actually pretty easy to spot a Neanderthal in the crowd. Not only do they sometimes have a heavy brow and an especially small forehead, they talk very loudly, and they are usually sporting a nationalist flag pin on their lapel. They are everywhere. You’ve seen them. But first off, we’ve got to get the terminology of some fashion items’ names down pat. May we? Great. The first item that you need to know the name of is the Hinomaru. The Hinomaru literally translates into the "Round Sun." It is the flag of Japan. Even though Japan lost World War II, Japan still uses this flag. You can see the Hinomaru above government buildings in Japan or on buses during national holidays and such. One thing you probably won’t see is your average everyday Japanese sporting one of these Hinomaru flag lapel pins any day of the year. In fact, I don’t ever recall even seeing a Japanese Prime Minister sporting one of these pins. Why? I’ll get to that in a moment. The next flag is the Nishoka. The Nishoka was used specifically by the old Japanese Imperial Navy. I personally think this design is pretty cool. You will rarely ever see one of these flags in Japan today. I guess if you go to a museum or such, you’ll find one. On national holidays in Japan you can sometimes see the Hinomaru on display in a very – very – few people’s homes, but I cannot recall even once seeing the Nishoka on public display. If you do see one of these flags on display in Japan today, that is a sign that the person displaying the flag is a nationalist. In most countries that have an educated populace in today’s modern world, being a nationalist is a sign of a poor education.
This next one is a real crowd pleaser: it’s called the Hakenkreuz. It was the symbol of the National Socialist Party of Germany from the 1920’s to 1945. I’ll bet that the Hakenkreuz was the tops in fashion back in the days when Germany was winning the war. But, today, in either of the two above-mentioned nations, you don’t see educated normal people wearing these types of things on their clothing anymore. Why? Well, the answer is obvious; wearing items like these on one’s clothing is a sign of oafish, thuggish behavior. Sporting these types of accessories tells people around you that you are not intelligentsia, that you are probably a right-winged nutcase and therefore, you have a poor education and don’t read. Admit it. I’m absolutely correct on this one, right? If you saw some Japanese guy or some German guy wearing one of these things, you’d think he were some sort of psychotic living in the past.
In fact, in Japan, this sort of bizarre behavior works great for some things: You don’t want any salesmen coming to your door? No visitors? You want everyone to be afraid of you so that no one would dare break into your apartment and rip you off? No problem. Just put a Hinomaru and a Nishoka on your door and mailbox. No one will even want to talk to you; including your own neighbors. Everyone will think you are some sort of fascist, and they will leave you alone. Because, you see, sporting these kinds of fashion accessories in a normal country full of normal people (like Japan) is a sign that you indeed are a right-winged nut and need to be left alone; if not institutionalized for your own safety.
It’s a sure bet that back in Nazi Germany there were lots of them too. It didn’t matter what was going on, they were there. Heck, what are a few dozen lost freedoms and a few major setbacks on the front to a true patriot, right? If you aren’t doing anything wrong, then what’s to fear from the Gestapo taping your phones? So what if it’s 2,500 kilometers lost on the Russian front, or a firebombing of Dresden? So what if it’s Russian troops entering Berlin? You’ve got to support the troops, right? My country right or wrong. These colors don’t run. To question the leadership is a cowardly and despicable act and truly anti-patriotic.
Am I confusing you? I shouldn’t be if you’d just stop to think about this for a moment. I must admit though, most probably a war veteran of any country should have the right to wear these types of "pledge pins."
EKN is doubtless delighted that both Maxim the erudite patriot in Estonia and Zundel fan Peter support them. Well done EKN!
You will be happy to know, Peter, that I have changed my mind on the issue of coming to live in Estonia. With the steady increase of former Soviet immigrants and their descendants learning the local language and customs, as well as taking out citizenship, it seems that things are moving in a better and certainly more desirably direction than before. I understand I have made some strong statements about this in the past, but as many have commented before, I have said my piece in good faith, hoping that I could move mountains and encourage people to take on more than a casual interest in Estonia as a prospective home. Hopefully things will get back into balance themselves over time, and besides, everyone should live exactly where they want to and for whatever reasons they wish. Canada is a great country, and I'm glad to have been born there, but by the same token I'm even more pleased with my life now in Estonia. Those of you who are doing a great job keeping up the culture back in Canada, keep up the good work, including everyone at the EKN. Have a wonderful Christmas, whether you celebrate it on the 25th or a couple of weeks later (January 13th) as I will be doing.
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