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Arnold Meri (b. 1919) is an Estonian veteran of the Great Patriotic War and a Hero of the Soviet Union. He is the cousin of former President of Estonia, Lennart Meri.
Meri voluntarily joined the Red Army in 1940. He was wounded in battle while serving as a platoon commander in north-west Russia in 1941. In August 1941 he was awarded a Gold Star of the Hero of the Soviet Union for organizing the defense of the headquarters of the Estonian Territorial Corps when the German army broke through the lines near Dno. In reality, the defense was commanded by captain Georg Loog, but he was not deemed to be suitable for the decoration as he wasn't a member of the Communist Party and had been an officer of the Estonian Army. Meri retired from the Red Army as a colonel.
From 1945 to 1949 he served as the secretary of the central committee of Komsomol in Estonia. In 1948 he was awarded the highest Soviet order, the Order of Lenin.
In 2003, the Estonia Security Police investigated Meri for allegedly participating in the deportations of Estonians in Hiiumaa in 1949.
Quotes
Estonia's participation in World War II was inevitable and only a fool could have believed otherwise. ... Every Estonian had only one decision to make: whose side to take in that bloody fight - the Nazis' or the anti-Hitler coalition's.
References
- Entisen presidentin serkkua syytetään neuvostoajan kyydityksistä - Baltic Guide
- When giants fought in Estonia - BBC, May 9, 2007
- Võõrad Suled - Eesti Ekspress, November 18, 2003
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