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German occupation of Estonia during World War II

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After Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, and the Wehrmacht reached Estonia (July 1941), the country became governed by of the Reichskommissariat Ostland. The occupation lasted until the autumn of 1944 when Adolf Hitler, in response to Finland leaving the war (see also Ryti-Ribbentrop Agreement), on September 16, 1944 ordered military withdrawal from Estonia.

Administrators of German occupied Estonia 1941 - 1944

German administrators

In 1941 Estonia was occupied by German troops and after a brief period of military rule - dependent of the Commanders of the Army Group North (in the occupied U.S.S.R.) - a German civilian administration was established and Estonia was organized as a General Kommissariat becoming soon afterwards part of the Reichskommissariat Ostland.

Generalkommissar

(subordinated to the Reichskommissar Ostland)

S.S. und Polizeiführer

(responsible for internal security and war against the resistance - directly subordinated to the H.S.S.P.F. of Ostland, not to the Generalkommissar)

Lagerkommandant

(responsible for the operation of all concentration camps within the Reichskommissariat Ostland)

Estonian administrators

Main article: Nazi Germany's puppet government for Estonia

A puppet government, masked in an ethnic autonomy, was set up by Nazi administrators after the invasion. It was formally recognized by the German central authorities in 1942, but it never had any real power, most administrative tasks being done by the offices of the Generalkommissariat.

Landesdirektoren

Landsdirector - General

Landsdirector for Home Affairs

Landsdirectors for Justice

Landsdirector for Finance

Holocaust in Estonia 1941 - 1944

Estonia had a Jewish population of 4,500 people before the war. In Lithuania in particular, and Latvia and Estonia to some extent, there was an already existing foundation of anti-Semitism. The German Nazis were able to use these feelings in certain segments of the local population to incite them into collaboration with their anti-Jewish policies. One of the significant aspects of The Holocaust in the Baltics is the fact that the Germans were able to solicit executioners from the local population. Prior to the German invasion of Russia, Jews in other German occupied countries were being ghettoized and murdered, but not to the extent and with the swiftness that happened in the Baltic countries .

Map titled "Jewish Executions Carried Out by Einsatzgruppe A" from the December 1941 Jager Report by the commander of a Nazi death squad. Marked "Secret Reich Matter," the map shows the number of Jews shot in Ostland, and reads at the bottom: "the estimated number of Jews still on hand is 128,000". Estonia is marked as judenfrei.

Round-ups and killings of Jews began immediately following the arrival of the first German troops in 1941, who were closely followed by the extermination squad Einsatzkommando (Sonderkommando) 1A led by Martin Sandberger, part of Einsatzgruppe A led by Walter Stahlecker. Arrests and executions continued as the Germans, with the assistance of local collaborators, advanced through Estonia. Estonia was declared Judenfrei quite early, on January 20, 1942, as the Jewish population of Estonia was small (about 4,500), and the majority of it managed to escape to the Soviet Union before the Germans arrived. Virtually all the remainder (921 according to Martin Sandberger, 929 according to Evgenia Goorin-Loov and 963 according to Walter Stahlecker) were killed. Fewer than a dozen Estonian Jews are known to have survived the war in Estonia. The Nazi regime also established 22 concentration and labor camps in Estonia for foreign Jews, the largest, Vaivara concentration camp, had 20,000 Jewish prisoners pass through its gates, and several thousand foreign Jews were killed at the Kalevi-Liiva camp. Four Estonians most resposible for the murders at Kalevi-Liiva were accused at war crimes trials in 1961. Two were later executed, two other avoided sentencing in exile.

Estonian military units' involvement in crimes against humanity

An International Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity has reviewed the role of Estonian military units and police battalions in an effort to identify the role of Estonian military units and police battalions participation during the World War II in following actions: escorting Jews deported from Vilnius to camps in Estonia; providing guards for the Vaivara camp complex, the camps at Tartu, Jägala, Tallinn, and camps for Soviet POWs, in all of which prisoners were killed; guarding the transit camp for Jews at Izbica in Poland, where a significant number of Jews were killed; providing guards to prevent the escape of Jews being rounded up in several towns in Poland, including Lodz, Przemysl, Rzeszow, and Tarnopol; and the roundup and mass shooting of the Jewish population of at least one town in Belarus (Novogrudok). Conclusions of the Estonian International Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity.

Estonian Waffen-SS

File:20SSEstland.jpg
Estonian language recruitment poster for the estnische SS-Legion: 'The pride of the Estonian nation - the Estonian Legionnaire!'
Main article: 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian)

The Estonian Legion of Waffen-SS was formed on the order of Adolf Hitler in 1942. In January 1944 the unit was expanded to division size via conscription and designated as the 20-th Division SS.

Controversies today

Ever since Estonia regained independence in 1991, the country's occupation by the Soviet Union in the 1940-1941 period and for more than four decades after World War II, and by the Nazi Germany during the 1941-1944 period, has been the subject of bitter debate between the Estonian majority and the country's ethnic minorities - Russians and Jews. While the Estonians prefer to emphasize their suffering under Soviet rule and the role played by Russians and Jews in Communist crimes, while ignoring or minimizing Estonian collaboration with the Nazis, the latter continue to view the victory of the Red Army in Estonia and the end of the Nazi occupation as liberation and salvation.

See also

References

  1. ^ The Holocaust in the Baltics
  2. Birn, Ruth Bettina (2001), Collaboration with Nazi Germany in Eastern Europe: the Case of the Estonian Security Police. Contemporary European History 10.2, 181-198.
  3. ^ Conclusions of the Estonian International Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity

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