“Gross distortion of history”: why Estonia calls the liberation of Tallinn “occupation”

On September 22, on the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Tallinn from Nazi invaders, the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that on this day the people of the country began to struggle against the “Soviet occupation forces”.

“On this day in 1944, Estonia began its resistance to the Soviet occupation forces and the struggle for a free and democratic Estonia. Estonia never gave up, and resistance continued in various forms until the independence of the Republic of Estonia was restored in 1991, ”the Estonian Foreign Ministry said on an official Twitter post.

#OTD 1944, Estonia began its resistance against the Soviet occupation power and began to fight for a free and democratic Estonia. Estonia never surrendered and resistance persisted in different forms until the independence of the Republic of Estonia was restored in 1991. pic.twitter.com/DZkgbNXVXW

Recall that on September 17, 1944, the offensive Tallinn Red Army operation began. Five days later, Soviet military leaders reported on the capture of the capital of the Estonian SSR. Published in 75 years later, the documents of the Ministry of Defense of Russia indicate that the local population "very warmly welcomed" the Red Army.

The total losses of the Soviet troops during the Tallinn operation, which culminated in the liberation of all of mainland Estonia, amounted to a little more than 30 thousand people killed and wounded. An active role in the defeat of the Nazis was played by units of the Red Army, consisting of native Estonians, the 8th Estonian Corps of General Lembit Pärn.

Heirs of collaborators

September 22, the organizers of commemorative events in Tallinn were not the Estonian authorities, but the Russian embassy and Russian compatriots. In particular, activists of the Russian compatriots of Europe association lit the flame of the Eternal Flame at the Maaryamäe memorial, which was extinguished after Estonia gained independence.

Representatives of the republic’s leadership were not seen either there or at another iconic monument - the monument to the Soldier-Liberator in the military cemetery, better known as the Bronze Soldier.

On the other hand, the schedule of the Minister of Population Affairs of Estonia, Riina Solman, included a speech in honor of the 75th anniversary of the “government of Otto Tiif”. This body lasted only four days - from September 18 to September 22, 1944. It was formed from the leaders of the National Committee of Estonia that existed during the German occupation of the country, the leadership of which called for resistance to the Soviet troops and join the collaborative formations of the Nazis. However, in official Estonian historiography this government is considered legitimate.

In modern Estonia, the liberation of Tallinn and the entire territory of the country by the Red Army is interpreted by the official authorities as “occupation”.

In particular, Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu criticized the statement of Russian Ambassador Alexander Petrov about the circumstances of the liberation of Tallinn in 1944. According to the Estonian official, when the Soviet troops entered the city, there were allegedly no Germans in it, the Estonian flag fluttered on the Long Herman tower in Tallinn, and Estonian volunteers who arrived from Finland showed resistance to the Red Army.

True, the head of Estonian diplomacy did not explain what made the Nazis hurriedly leave the city, and forgot to mention that the flag of the Kriegsmarine - the German naval forces with a swastika in the middle - was waving near the Estonian flag.

On September 20, the Russian ambassador was summoned to the Estonian Foreign Ministry. The reason for this step was the statement of the diplomat that the inhabitants of the country honor the memory of Soviet soldiers who liberated the republic from fascism. Earlier, the Estonian Foreign Ministry called the representative of the Russian Embassy amid reports of the preparation in Moscow of a festive salute in honor of the liberation of Tallinn. However, a solemn event in the Russian capital on September 22, despite the objections of the Estonian Foreign Ministry, was still held.

Erase memory

As President of the Russian Association of Baltic Studies, professor of St. Petersburg State University Nikolai Mezhevich noted in an interview with RT, "naturally, in reality it was the liberation of Estonia, not the occupation."

“The attitude to the arrival of the Red Army as an occupation is, of course, a gross distortion of the history of the Second World War,” the expert said.

According to Mezhevich, Tallinn uses statements about the occupation "to justify repression against the Russian-speaking population."

“In order to create a legal framework for depriving citizenship of hundreds of thousands of people in 1991, we needed the concept of a shiftable occupation: Soviet, then German, then Soviet,” the expert noted.

However, he emphasized that "Estonian politicians prefer not to talk about German occupation."

Moreover, many politicians from the current cabinet previously spoke very favorably of those Estonians who collaborated with the Nazis, including Waffen SS soldiers of Estonian origin. So, in 2012, Reinsalu, who was then the head of the country's defense department, said that members of the "Union of Freedom Fighters of Estonia", who fought on the side of Germany, "saved the honor of the Estonian people."

• Minister of Foreign Affairs of Estonia Urmas Reinsalu
• AFP
• © Ilmars Znotins

On July 27 this year, at the traditional events in memory of the legionnaires of the 20th Grenadier Division of the Waffen SS in Sinimäe, deputies from the Conservative People's Party (EKRE), a member of the government coalition, were seen.

At the same time, experts note that the "revanchism" and claims for compensation for the "Soviet occupation", which are periodically voiced by the Baltic regimes, are combined with statements about the security threat that allegedly comes from Moscow.

“The people must be intimidated, united. And there is nothing better for its unification than the Russian threat, ”Mezhevich emphasized.

In the interests of the West

In turn, the scientific director of the Russian Military Historical Society (RVIO) Mikhail Myagkov noted in an interview with RT that such an interpretation of history by the Estonian authorities "is connected with the fact that Estonia is a member of NATO and the EU."

According to the expert, an official understanding of history in this Baltic country is only a continuation of the "historical policy of the Western states, which today is carried out to the detriment of Russia's interests."

The revisionist steps of the Baltic republics are not criticized in the West, analysts say.

So, on September 19, the European Parliament adopted a resolution in which responsibility for the outbreak of World War II is shifted to the USSR. The large-scale conflict was "a direct result of the notorious Nazi-Soviet Non-aggression Pact of August 23, 1939, also known as the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact," the document says.

“Everything is done in order to erase among the Estonian population, especially among the younger generation, the memory of who really liberated Estonia, that its inhabitants owe to the Soviet soldier-liberator for the opportunity to speak and write in their native language. But, apparently, manipulators or puppeteers located in Europe and the USA pull the string of politicians of this country, ”said Myagkov.