Collaborator or victim?

Nazi Germany invaded Estonia in 1941, driving out Soviet Russian forces who had occupied the country a year earlier under an agreement with Hitler. The Nazi occupation lasted till the fall of 1944.

Estonians fought in German armed forces. Were they Nazi collaborators or Estonian freedom fighters? An answer derives from the historical context.

During the first Soviet occupation (1940-1941), men serving in the Estonian forces were transferred into the Red Army. Added to this was the forced Soviet mobilization of Estonian men in 1941, many of whom died in forced labour camps.

A majority of the approximately 100,000 Estonians under uniform fought with the Germans or Finns (70-80%). Why did they line up with Axis forces against mostly democratic nations (the prime exception being the USSR)?

Prior to, and even at the beginning of WWII, Estonia was unquestionably pro British. Britain had given Estonia a military as well as political boost in Estonia’s war of independence 20 years before. Hence the prevailing goodwill towards the Brits.

Estonians watched in abhorrence as Poland was attacked frontally by Germany in September 1939 and then in the back by the Soviets two weeks later. Also detestable for Estonians was German aggression against other European nations.

Witnessing these events reminded Estonians of the German occupation of 1918 and the Estonian war against the Landeswehr – the German professional army backed by the Baltic German nobility. For centuries the Baltic German landed gentry had been considered to be the oppressor, a prevailing perception that generated enmity towards Germans.

The Communist and thereafter Nazi occupations of Estonia presented Estonians with a profound dilemma – whether to accommodate or to oppose the occupying power. One had to decide between active or passive accommodation on the one hand, and active or even armed resistance on the other. The options in Estonia were limited. The choice that was made would determine the degree of survival for the population and the amount of destruction for the nation.

Before the Germans invaded, the actions of the occupying Soviets during 1940-41 changed the public stance somewhat. Communist rule was brutal. Thousands were killed outright; tens of thousands were deported to Soviet prison camps where many died. The Soviets targeted primarily those not willing to adapt to Soviet ideology.

That was the Communist legacy. Nothing could be equally devastating. The Germans were reluctantly accepted as a change that would relieve Estonia of Soviet oppression.

In the October 21st issue of Estonian Life, Peeter Bush’s article “The Museum of Occupations” states: “The [video] presentation showed footage of Mr. [Harald] Nugiseks being awarded his medal as he lay in a hospital bed recovering from wounds. The thought that went through my mind was that here were all the senior Estonian Nazis or collaborators decorating a young soldier. All were subsequently named as being criminally responsible for atrocities committed by the Nazis during their brutal occupation that lasted more than three years.”

(To be continued.)

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