Figure 1.--
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Figure 1.-- |
Estonia was part of the Tsarist Empire, but achieved independence after World War I through a war with the Bolshevicks (1918–1920). Estonia became one of the three small independent Baltic reoublic along with Latvia and Lithuania. Hitler and Stalin divided Eastern Europe with the NAZI-Soviet Non-Agression Pact (August 1939). After the start of World War II, the Soviet Union occupied Estonia and annexed it (1940). Large numbers of Estonians who opposed to Communism and Soviet intervention were arrested, executed, and deported. About 60,000 Estoniansd were involved. The Soviets were especially harsh in the NARVA region where Russian "colonists" to a substabntial degree ethnic Estonians. Estonia was occupied by the NAZIs in the opening phase of Operation Barbarossa (1941). The NAZIs quickly hunted down and killed Estonia's small Jewish population. The resurgent Red Army drove the NAZIs out (1944). Estonians fought a guerilla war for independence after the War, but faced overwealming forces.
Tsarist Russia seized Estonia from Sweeden under the Peace of Nystad (1721). The landlords remained the Balts (Baltic Germans) under the political control of the Tsar.
Estonia was part of the Tsarist Empire, but achieved independence after World War I through a war with the Bolshevicks (1918–1920). Estonia became one of the three small independent Baltic republic along with Latvia and Lithuania. Russia weakened by World War I, the Revolution, and Civil War, could not hold the new Baltic republics.
Hitler and Stalin divided Eastern Europe with the NAZI-Soviet Non-Agression Pact (August 23, 1939). This provided Hitler the opportunity to invade Poland without the far of Soviet interference. A secret memorandum attached to the pact divided Eastern Europe. Estonia was located in the Soviet spehere of influence.
The Soviet Union after the start of World War II began the process of seizing the Baltic Republics. Hitler called the ethnic German populastion (about 21,000) home to the Reich. There was some disagreement between the NAZIs and Soviets as into whose zone of influence Lithuania fell. There was no doubt about Estonia.
The Polish submarine ORP Orzeł when thevGermans seized Danzig, sought refuge in Tallinn. This lead to the Orzeł incident. The Soivet Union had also invaded Poland (September 17). The Siviets accussed the Estonians of harboring an ememy war ship. The Soivet Union threatened to invade if Estonia did not accept a Pact of Defense and Mutual Assistance. Similar demands wee made on Lithuania and Ltvia. The pacts required allowing the Soviet Union to build Military Bases into Estonia. Estonia officials realized that military resstance was futile and agreed to the pact (September 28, 1939). This allowed the Soviets to station Soviet troops and maintain bases in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
The NAZI victory in the West with the fall of France fundamentally changed the European ballance of power (June 1940). The Soviets proceeded to absorbed the Baltic Republics. The Red Army compleleted the occupation of Estonia. Soviet officials claimed that Estonia had violated the Pact of Mutual Assistance. The Soviets than oversaw the establishment of a new government with Communists who quickly seized power. A sham election was held after all political parties were outlawed except the Communists. The Communist government then proclaimed the Estonian Socialist Republic (ESR) (July 21). The ESR "requested" admission to the Soviet Union as one of the Soviet republics and was admitted to the Soviet Union (August 6). Large numbers of Estonians who opposed to Communism and Soviet intervention were arrested, executed, and deported. About 60,000 Estoniansd were involved. The Soviets were especially harsh in the NARVA region where Russian "colonists" to a substantial degree replaced ethnic Estonians.
NAZI Germany launched Operation Barbarossa, the massive invasion of the Soviet Union (June 1941). The Red Air Force was qickly destroyed. Whole Soviet armies were engulfed by powerful Panzer pincers. Estonia was occupied by the NAZIs in the opening phase of Barbarossa. After furious figting around Lenningrad, the front stabilized. The NAZIs fauled to take the city by storm and then set out to pound and starve the city into submission.
A key facor here is that the NAZIs allies, the Finns, refused to moved significantly beyond pre-War Finnish territory.
Many Estonians saw the Germans as liberators from brutal Soviet occupation. Some Estonians inlisted in the German military and security forces. The NAZIs at first were not sure how to administer the occupied east. Estonia was incorporated into the NAZI Ostland. This included the Baltics and the northwestern Soviet Union. Ostland was administered by military officials.
The NAZI occupation regime had a racial component. The Russians were Slavs and seen as subhumans. The NAZI goal was to substatially reduce the Slavic population and to use those who were not killed or deported for slave labor. The ethnic Baltic population includung the Estonians were accorded a higher status.
Estonia had the smallest Jewish population of the three Baltic republics. There were about 6,000 Jews in Estonia before the NAZI invasion of the Soviet Union--Opperation Barbarosa (June 22, 1941). Estonia is the most easterly of the three Baltic Republics. As a result, the Estonian Jews had more of a chance to escape east. About 5,000 Estonian Jews fled to Russia before the Wehrmacht reached Estonia. Only about 1,000 Jews remained. They were quickly rounded up by the NAZI security forces. Of those who fell into NAZI hands, only seven persons are known to have survived. I'm not sure where they were killed. One report indicated that they were deported to Auschwitz. I am not sure about that. The NAZIs also killed 7,000 other people, including 6,000 ethnic Estonians, mostly Comminists or others known to be critical of the NAZIs. Some Estonians worked with the NAZIs in the Holocaust. Some Estonians participated in actions against Jews and as concentration camp guards.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center has provided the Estonian Security Police Board with the names of 16 Estonians it claimed helped murder Jews in Belarus in August 1942.
The resurgent Red Army drove the NAZIs out. The Red Army reached Estonia (September 1944). Many Estonians having experienced one Soviet invasion, wanted no pat of the Soviet Union. An estimated 70,000 Estonians left Estonia, many to neutral Sweden. Many of thesecrefugees eventually emmigrated to Canada and the United states. Estonia with the entry of the Red Army was restored as a Soviet Republic. The Western Allies had protested Soviet actions in the Baltics during 1940 and did not recognized Soviet annexation. The Allies had no military capability to contest the Soviet annexation.
Estonians fought a guerilla war for independence after the War. The Amemericans with the outbreak of the Cold war did attempt clandestine aid to the Baltic republics. The Estonians, however, faced overwealming forces. An estimated 15,000 Estonians wre killed in the fighting
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