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.

Märkmed: