Under the sign of swastika. Nazi incidents in Post-Soviet Estonia and Right-wing parties

Igor Rosenfeld

Estonia’s transition to independence since 1991 has raised the hopes of many for the democratic development of the country. However, the rise to power of right-wing parties (especially the “Fatherland” Party) has led to the emergence of the so-called “Nazi episodes,” which of course have had a negative impact on the state reputation. Let’s try to summarize these episodes (treated in more detail in the book, Estonia Before and After the Bronze Night, Tartu-St. Petersburg, 2009).

M. Laar’s book, The Estonian Soldier in World War II

In August 1992, shortly after right-wing parties came to power under the patronage first of the Fatherland Party and after 2005, also the Reform Party, they officially celebrated the 50th anniversary of the creation of the Estonian Legion (full title, the Estonian SS Legion, 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS). This SS unit was active from 1942-44 both in Estonia and abroad, for example, in the Ukraine. The Estonian Legion was formed in 1942 by order of the German commanders of battalions of Werhrmacht and Estonian police units fighting in the East. The Legion was trained in Poland and was then assigned to the 5th Panzer Division “Viking.” The Estonian Legion later became the basis of the Estonian SS Volunteer Brigade, from which was created the 20th Estonian, volunteer SS division. [1]*

Beginning in 1992, the Estonian right-wing political forces led by the Fatherland Party (later the Union of the Fatherland and Fatherland-Republic Union), began actively supporting the installation of monuments to SS Legionnaires with appropriate attributes. The Fatherland Party also promoted the gathering of Estonian Wehrmacht veterans, including the SS Legionnaires. Gatherings, which were usually opened and welcomed by some of the main ideologists of the Party, e.g. Trivimi Velliste, a member of the Estonian Rigiikogu [parliament]. The Fatherland Party’s first official gathering of the Estonian SS men was held in the summer of 1995 in Sinimäe, the site of a major clash between German and Soviet armies in 1944. Nazi veterans arrived from Norway and several other countries. Eventually these gatherings became regular. In 2005, for example, the 13th gathering of the SS veterans took place in Tartu, the so-called “freedom fighters” numbering 2700 people. [2]

Gathering of SS veterans in Sinimäe

Thus, the Estonian government, led in this time by Prime Minister Mart Laar , the current leader of the Fatherland Party, became subject to “pro Nazi” episodes in Estonia. Since then, in Estonia has become typical glorification of Estonian participants Nazi Wehrmacht and SS units, erection of monuments to them, and so on, which peaked in the clashes over the transfer of the Soviet monument (so-called Bronze Soldier ) from Tõnismägi Hill in Tallinn in april 2007.[3] Typical to Mart Laar’s rule was the reburial in Tallinn one of the chiefs of the Waffen SS in Estonia, Colonel (Waffen-Standartenführer) Alfons Rebane, on June 26, 1999. The remains of A. Rebane were transferred from Augsburg (Germany) and buried in Tallinn’s Metsakalmistu cemetery, despite an organized picket protest. The reburial, was conducted at public expense, the funds for it allocated from the state budget. A state funeral was held, in which the Commander of the Defense Force, Johannes Kert, participated. In addition to outcry from Russian parties and organizations, a sharp protest against Rebane’s reburial was lodged by the Jewish community of Estonia[4] and Israeli officials. In August 1999, outgoing Israeli ambassador to the Baltic countries, Oded Ben-Hur, noted the “lack of anti-Semitism in Estonia at the level of public policy.” At the same time, he pointed out that, “Israel regrets the lack of conviction which led some Estonians to participate in organizations denounced as criminal after World War, Moreover, public funds were provided for the solemn reburial ceremony of members of such organizations.” [5] The official reburial by M. Laar’s government of one of the main figures of the 20 SS Division, Alfons Rebane, initiated a massive campaign for the rehabilitation of the so called “freedom fighers” (in terms of Estonian right nationalist historiography). A significant contribution to it was introduced by Fatherland leader Mart Laar himself, author of several books about events in 1944 such as Battle on the Heights and Sinimäe 1944 (in Estonian), as well as a photo album about the SS Legion (2008). The general concept of Laar’s Sinimäed 1944, like other publications with his ideological bent, was the glorification of former employees of Third Reich Wehrmact and 20 SS Division, which Laar and other right wing historians believe to be “defenders of European civilization”.

In July 2000, a Museum of the Estonian SS Legion was organized in Pärnu by a “non-Profit association” led by Leo Tammiksaar and his wife, Pille[6] This followed three-year history around the monument to the Waffen SS in Pärnu and Lihula (2002-2005).

Pärnu-Lihula monument to the SS soldiers and scandal around it, 2002-2005.

This story began in Pärnu, 2002, when on the initiative of the veterans of the 20th Estonian SS Division and “local activists“ in one of the city parks a monument appeared.The monument depicted a soldier in the garb of the Estonian SS Legion with a gun aimed at the East. On the bas relief was placed the inscription, “To all Estonian soldiers who died in the war of liberation for their country and a free Europe in the years 1941-1945.” Thus in 2002 began the almost three-year “Pärnu-Lihula” scandal.

Lihula Monument

Installation of the Nazi monument provoked the criticism of both the City government of Pärnu and the government of Estonia. “Perpetuating the memory of the dead,” said the the Estonian Culture Ministry letter In early 2003, “is necessary, but not in this way. The symbols and text on the monument are contrary to European values and may harm the reputation of Estonia“ [7]. Estonia’s Prime Minister Juhan Parts said that the „law did not prohibit the establish a monument to compatriots, but it must not advocate criminal ideology” [8]. At the request of city authorities and the Parts Government, the monument was dismantled in 2003 and shipped for storage in a closed area of Urban Hall. However soon after, the monument was erected in the village of Lihula, whose elders included national champion Tiit Madisson, organizer of the Estonian “Nationalist Union.” (“Rahvuslaste liit”). This caused a new scandal, with active controversy in the press after an “examination” of the monument by Tartu University specialists. Eventually in early September 2004 on the order of the Juhan Parts government the monument was withdrawn. The removal action was strongly criticized by right wing groups, in particular T. Madison’s “Nationalist Union.” Madisson made a statement about the “lackeys of politicians” who dismantled the monument for those who fought Bolshevik aggression “on the orders of Moscow or Washington Jewish Congress.” [9]

Not only the right marginal nationalists like Tiit Madisson, but official right-wing functionaries such as Eerik-Niyles Kross, tried to protect the Lihula monument and memorials for the 20 SS Division. According to Kross statement, Estonians in the Nazi Wehrmacht In 1944 fought “for independence of Estonia”, “for the restoration of the Republic of Estonia” . In Kross opinion, “The protection of Estonia in 1944” (achieved also by those in the SS uniform) is „one of the main issues of identification for the Estonian Republic”. So Wehrmacht and SS monuments must be “a symbol of Estonian independence,” [10] E.-N. Kross is the man, who, according to Estonian press, “shot at the photos of Edgar Savisaar, repaired his house on public money and brought to Estonia international swindler Antonio Angotti.” At the same time, Kross was a former coordinator of intelligence and helped Estonia enter NATO. In 2008, the president awarded Kross the Order of the White Star III class. [11] The thesis advocated by E.-N. Kross, that the actions of the 20th SS Division was “to protect the independence of Estonia” and was“one of the main issues of identification of the Estonian Republic” is to say the least, untrue. The Third Reich and its leaders never promised the independence of Estonia. To keep the power of Hitler’s Germany, Estonia could have only been a province of the Third Reich, not an independent state. It is important the view on the Lihula incident, expressed by U.S. Ambassador to Estonia Aldona Wos. In an interview to the Postimees paper at the end of January 2005, he stated that although the installation of the monument in Lihula is the business of Estonia and not the American government, such monument “was offensive to the international and Estonian community,” “In this,” he added, “Our view coincides with that of the Estonian government.”[12] However, other officials of Western governments have been more loyal to the pro-Nazi actions of the right-wing parties in Estonia.

Criticism of the pro Nazi actions of right-wing parties in Estonia by human rights organizations (2006-2009).

Manipulation of Estonian right-wing forces with figures of the Third Reich was criticized by the organizations investigating the Nazi crimes during the war. After 2000 year Wiesenthal Foundation in Jerusalem (head Efraim Zuroff) actively collected information about Nazi war criminals, in 2002 even assigning a monetary reward for information about them. Data about criminals began to come to fund phone answering.But in the summer of 2003, this data on Nazi war criminals in a strange and unaccountable way were erased from phone answering memory[13].

In 2005-2006 Wiesenthal Fund accused the authorities of Estonia in the unwillingness to enforce the law against Nazi criminals former Gestapo employees Mikhail Gorshkov and Harry Myannil. [14] In 2006, the Simon Wiesenthal Center published its annual report on the status of the exposure of Nazi war criminals in different countries, which covered the period from April 1, 2005 to March 31, 2006. The Center divided the countries into five categories, “A” to “F”, based on their willingness to investigate Nazi crimes. In the report, Estonia was classified under the “D” category; a country “with little desire for cooperation. But then, translated into the “F” category were states whose actions to capture Nazi war criminals failed completely. The authorities in these countries, according to the Center, agreed in principle to investigate and prosecute Nazi war criminals, but really did not do so, even though these people lived in these states.[15] Wiesenthal Foundation criticized the transfer by the Estonian authorities Bronze Soldier monument and game Erna, held in honor of the Nazi troops landing in Estonia in 1941. This criticism bolstered the nationalist-patriotic rhetoric of right wing officials. Heikki Suurkask,the editor of a second major Estonian newspaper, Eesti Päevaleht in September 2007 accused the Wiesenthal Foundation in the fight (“war”) against «Estonian сonstitutional State» and so-called «Estonian ideology.» [16] H.Suurkask in article “Zuroff’s War against Estonia“ threatened the fund, if this will continue to criticize the Nazi manifestations in Estonia, this may affect the «deterioration of relations Estonia to the Jews.» According to Suurkask Wiesenthal Foundation criticizing the Nazi glorification in Estonia and defending the Bronze Soldier, has given little attention to criticism of Stalinism. During the Nazi occupation, consider Suurkask, of Estonia in 1000 Jews were killed, while the Stalinist repression suffered 400 Jews. [17] In Suurkaask’s rhetorics right-nationalist politics and ideology are identified with “Estonia”, ‘Estonian ideology” and politics. Therefore, any criticism of right-national collaborators with Third Reich is seen as criticism of „Estonian constitutional state.”

Suurkaask reduces the number of victims of the Nazi occupation in Estonia. In the 1940‘s, right wing nationalists destroyed representatives of many European peoples including not 1000, but at least 10,000 and up to 20,000 Jews from Estonia and other countries in Eastern Europe. There were twenty death camps in Estonia, and how many prisoners they contained no one knows. However, according to Elhoen Saks, a member of the Estonian Jewish community, “German rail documents show that at least 20,000 Jews were brought into Estonia.”[18] They were destroyed not only by the German Nazis, but first and foremost by Estonian collaborators with the Third Reich, such as J. Uluots, H. Mae, Wehrmacht and SS employees — in fact, the ideological predecessors of Laar, Velliste et al. If the Soviet Army (supported, by the way, by the West and Anglo-American forces) had not put an end to the repressions of the Uluots regime, this repression would have continued and further increased the number of victims.

The Battle at Sinimäe as “the second war of liberation”

After installation of the Lihula monument, right-national forces erected monuments to SS members in other parts of Estonia. One of the most famous became the monument on the heights of Sinimäe (Blue Hills), where in 1944 there was heavy fighting between a 20 SS Division and the Red Army. Establishment of this was preceded by an ideological campaign. After 2002, well known representatives of the Fatherland Party, Trivimi Velliste and Mart Laar, proposed the concept of the 20 SS divisions battles, including the Battle of Sinimäe, as a “second war of liberation.” In 2004 in celebrations 60 th anniversary of Sinimäe battle the Waffen SS fight against the Red Army was equated by Velliste to the Liberation war of 1918. [19] Analogically in M.Laar`s book Sinimäed the actions of 20 SS division against Red Army in 1944 was the struggle “for freedom.” And “for the Estonian state”.[20]

These considerations have become part of the official ideology.In January 2004, Estonian Defense Minister Margus Hanson, a member of the Estonian Riigikogu [parliament] from Reform Party, said that the budget of his department had provided funds for commemorative events in Sinimäe. The Wehrmacht and SS Division battles in Sinimäe, and other regions of Estonia, said Hanson, “has given present generation the opportunity to enter the free world ”.[21]

Question, however, whether joining the free world was not possible without the Waffen SS? Or these organization are the ‘flesh of the free world,” as suggested by Hanson, Laar and Velliste?

On July 16, 2005 a gathering of Estonian and other veterans of the German Wehrmacht was held in Tartu. The gathering drew fifteen hundred participants from all over the world including the Baltic countries, Finland, Sweden and Canada. According to press reports, the Estonian “freedom fighters” numbered 2700 people. Attending the event as speakers were Defense Minister Jaak Jyerüüt and Minister of Justice Rein Lang. On July 30, 2005 Sinimäe was host to a gathering of veterans from the 20th Estonian SS Division.

The right national concept of the fighting in Sinimäe has been criticized by some Estonian historians. Tallinn University professor Rein Ruutsoo asserts the Sinimäe battle was not a “small war of liberation” but “a political adventure.” In summer 1943, writes Ruutsoo, for German General Staff it was clear that the war was lost. The German army to achieve his departure, needed to cover the battalion and to keep open waste shipping routes through the Estonian ports. As with the military and political point of view of the mobilization of Estonians for that purpose in 1944 was a cynical gamble. No argument can justify such large losses…Against us was not only Stalin’s Russia, but the Western allies… Our land was turned into a good springboard war, and the price that were destroyed Narva, Tallinn and other cities. From Finland’s assistance was no longer there. While Estonia has turned from an ally of Germany in its military laborer.[22] M. Laar’s idea that Estonian fighters were seeking the “protection of the Estonian independence” clearly failed. The Estonians in Wermacht in 1944 supported of a regime which never recognized Estonian statehood. If independence fighters in the uniform of Hitler’s army had won, Estonia would not have remained an independent country, but the Eastern territory of the Third Reich. However, right wing propaganda and symbolic action in support of “freedom fighters” has actively continued until recently with the active support of Fatherland Party, incomig in the Estonian government after the 2007 elections.

“The Estonian interpretations of the Second War were a shock to “old Europe.” European Criticism of the Estonian right-wing apology of nazi participants

The monuments to the Estonian SS Legion drew sharp criticism from several EU countries and organizations. On July 29, 2006, in Sinimäe opened two new monuments — to the Dutch and the Walloons veterans of the 20th SS Division, who fought in this areas in 1944 .Only Estonian political party represented was the Fatherland Union Party. Belgian and French organizations refused to participate in opening ceremony. Belgium anti-Nazis were sent letters that expressed “condemnation of the Flemish SS in Estonia.” The chairman of the Action Committee of Belgian forces in Great Britain, Robert Tabary, stated that “such a demonstration, even if it occurs far from our borders, has a deplorable effect on everyone in our organization, which is fighting for the preservation of freedom and the memory of the Second World War.” [23] Michael Vanderborgt, General Secretary of the Council of Active Resistance and head of the Independence Front, Belgian Guerilla Army, President of the International Federation of Members of the Resistance Movement (FIR), called the un veiling of a monument of Belgian soldiers of the Waffen SS “a shameful act” and an outrageous affront to those who fought against the fascist forces of Nazi Germany and its collaborators in the occupied territories during the Second World War.” [24] The Belgian ambassador in Estonia, Pierre Dubuisson, said that in his country, “the Belgians who fought in the 20 SS Division are considered traitors and Nazi collaborators.” He condemned the attempt of right-wing nationalists to use Belgian SS Legionnaires and the Netherlands flag at the opening of the monument. On the eve of the opening in July, 2006 of two new sites for the Dutch and Walloons who fought in the Nazi troops, he said that in his country, Waffen SS veterans are treated like criminals who must be punished.[25] At the same time, the monument remained covered with the state flag of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. „The Estonian (means right-conservative) interpretations of WWII were a shock to Europe”, – said the French historian and translator Jean-Pierre Minaudier in his speech at the Conference of History and Memory, held in Tallinn in oktober 2005. “For the French, stated Minaudier, those who fought on the side of Hitler, are Nazis.In Estonia they are heroes”.He drew attention to the role of left parties in the fight against Nazism in France. [26]

Military Sabotage Game Erna

It is now seventeen years since Estonia first held (in 1993) the “military sabotage” war game Erna. The name and conception of the game is based on the route of the Abwehr detachment in the rear of the Red Army in the Gulf of Kolga during the summer of 1941. 14 years, until 2007 the Estonian official media stressed that the game is held in honor of the Abwehr operations in 1941. Only after 2007 they have been more careful to speak of «Estonian intelligence group» whose involved soldiers of Finland’s Winter War.[27] In 2010, the game Erna August 7-9, attended by 27 teams, including 9 foreign — from Sweden, Finland, Germany, Denmark, Lithuania, etc. [28] Earlier also participated the teams from China. Thus, the official game, recreated the Nazi operation in 1941, involved not only NATO countries, but even teams from „communist” China. The general concept of the game had no impact on Estonia entering the EU and NATO.

The Erna game conception was strongly criticized by the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, engaged in finding Nazi war criminals. “After sharing in such games, asserted the Center’s head, Efraim Zuroff, the European partners must turn away from Estonia; and not only because Estonians are proud to remember their shameful past. The Estonian Department of Defense allocates money to the Erna game!”[29] Official right-national functionaries rejected Zuroff’s criticism. T. Velliste accused the Center of supporting “Putin’s propaganda“ and being ignorant of the history of the Baltic states. Zuroff, he maintains, “accuses the Estonians in the war with the Reds.” The task of the Erna soldiers, who came from Finland and not from Germany, “ claims Velliste, “was not intelligence actions in favor of the Third Reich, “but to resist the destruction of battalions and to protect the local population.”He adds that the campaign against Erna “can be regarded as “military actions” against Estonia which cause concern not only in Estonia but in our allies.”[30] Does this mean that our “allies” do not worry about manifestations of Nazism in Estonia but only about criticism of these manifestations? Meanwhile, rising against the official concept of Erna are various Estonian historians, in particular, forementioned, political science professor Rein Ruutsoo. In his article “Erna — Politics and Propaganda,’ Ruutsoo criticized “the new patriotic mythology.” The Minister of Defense, he adds, stresses that the men of the Erna detachment wore Finnish uniforms, but he does not reject that in December 1941, Finland became an ally of Nazi Germany and declared war on both the USSR and its Western allies. So their Finnish appearance does not save the Estonian soldiers from involvement in Nazi Germany’s military operation. The Erna task, notes Ruutsoo , was not to defend villagers from “destruction battalions” as Velliste and others assert, but to support the advancement of German troops to Leningrad with intelligence and sabotage. “Erna information,” Ruutsoo stresses, was important enough that it was regularly radioed to Finland and Erna commanders, including the head of the Abwehr, Admiral Canaris, were provided personal receptions in Berlin. “I’m not jealous of our Minister of Defense if his speeches about Finnish uniforms will cause the creationof a file of Erna reports to the Abwehr and photos of Erna leaders with Admiral Canaris and so on,” writes Ruutsoo.[31] Ruutsoo’s point of view prompted a criticism from the official spokesman of the Estonian-right national policies. Mart Laar called Ruutsoo’s position “a new crusade against Erna” and “Russian propaganda.” Laar is once more trying to prove that the main task of Erna was not to support the Third Reich, but the “protection of the peasants from the “destruction battalions.”[32] Laar’s position was supported not only by prominent Fatherland ideologists Trivimi Velliste and Tynis Lukas, but also by the Reform party premier A. Ansip. [33] A year after this controversy, Rein Ruutsoo wrote a new article, “Whose Interests are Served by Erna?” In it, he accused the government of provoking the attacks by Moscow concerning Estonia’s accusations of fascist sentiments, and of “rewriting history.”As Ruutsoo also pointed out, in the stories on the Erna website funded by the Ministry of Defense, Erna was disappointed that “the whole operation was funded by the German Abwehr.” The main task of Erna was to supply information on the movement of Soviet troops. The information was needed by “Nord’ military groups seeking to seize and raze Leningrad. The raze failed, but the blockade cost the lives of hundreds of thousands of women and children. The role of Erna men in this regardis undeniable. Erna Team leader, Abwehr employee Henn-Ants Kurg was awarded the Iron Cross 2nd degree. Kurg continued service in the same Abwehr from 1941-43, then served in the Waffen-SS on the Eastern front along with many other Erna participants. All these facts, comments Ruutsoo, were established and supported by President Lennart Meri in Estonia’s English language review of the history of the 1940-45 period. These data completely absent on the Erna site of Estonian Defence Ministry. ‘Why do we have two histories?’ asks Ruutsoo. [34] However, this critics have never stopped right-nationalist propaganda, nor the game itself. Game Erna held also in 2010.

Since 2004, Estonia has actively implemented a new concept of victory in WWII — not the “Soviet” concept of victory in May 1945, but an concept of victory in September 1945. Paradoxes of this new concept can be seen in a victory celebration on September 2, 2007, on the Maarjamägi hill in Tallinn. According to press reports this new celebration included members of parliament and representatives of municipal authorities as well as veterans of the 20th Estonian SS Division and patriotic youth.” [35] So according to the right-national concept of the end of WWII, among the celebrants of the new “Victory Day” on September 2, were veterans … of the 20 SS Division as well as ‘patriotic youth” apparently quite sympathetic to these veterans! A new victory celebration together with “freedom fighters” in the uniforms of the 20th SS Division is an example of the right-national absurdity.

Pro Nazi incidents, 2007-2009

Active manipulation of the ideology and symbolsof the Third Reich in Estonia continued from 2007-2008. Early in the summer of 2007 two “brown”scandals were withheld by the Minister of Justice, Reform Party member Rein Lang, and Risto Teinonen, native of Finland and a protégé of the Fatherland Union. In July 2007, Teinonen organized the demonstration in Tartu in conjunction with the 65th anniversary of the Wannsee Conference in 1942, where the Nazi leadership implemented the final plan for the extermination of Jews. During the event, Teinonen, wearing a swastika armband and the Estonian Order of the Terra Mariana Cross Class V on his chest, posed for the camera cutting a cake decorated with a swastika.

Risto Teinonen, July 27, 2007 in Tartu

Organized such event Risto Teinonen is a cavalier of the important Estonian award Cross of the Terra Mariana and holds honorary Estonian citizenship by recommendation of the Fatherland Union (Toivo Jurgenson) for his role in development contemporary scout movement in Estonia. The office of President Ilves said they are examining the issue of deprivation awards by Tienonen. “. [36] But this deprivation did not happen until now. Another Nazi episode in July 2007 was associated with the birthday of Rein Lang, the Estonian Justice Minister from the Reform Party. His birthday, he celebrated in a Nazi-style, with the use of Nazi symbols, included decorated show about the last days of Hitler. . This action, like other pro-Nazi incidents, has been criticized in Estonia and in Europe. The Estonian People’s Union Party proposed to Lang that he immediately and voluntarily leave his post as Minister of Justice. [37] So far, however, Lang is still in his ministry office. As reported by the RBC Daily, German Social Democrat Klaus Hench, former chairman of the European Parliament, said that “the Minister of Justice Rein Lang could not remain a minister in most countries — EU members.” The open use of Nazi symbols has been prohibited in the EU since April 2007. Hench believed the matter should not be left without attention. “EU sanctions will be applied, which can lead even to expulsion from the European Union.” [38] In 2008, the new contribution to the Third Reich nostalgia added the chairman of the Fatherland Union Mart Laar, In June, 2008 he published a new book on the Estonian Waffen SS — the album Estonian Legion in Words and Pictures [39], prepared by Grenader publishers. A presentatin of the book was held on June 12, 2008, in Tallinn’s largest shopping center, Viru. [40]

SS Album by Mart Laar, 2008

Such action of M. Laar did not prevent him from becoming until now (2010) the leader of the second Estonian Party of the right-wing government coalition led by the Reformist Party, even pretending to be the main substitute for Prime Minister Ansip. Meanwhile, in July 2008, Laar’s album caused a scandal on the German border. The album, full of Nazi symbols, was confiscated at the German-Polish border by German customs, with two Estonian citizens, one of whom was “honorary Estonian citizen” and neo-Nazi Risto Teinonen.[41] In November 2008 the case of Laar’s album and Tienonen’s arrest were considered by a Dresden court. [42] Laar’s party also distinguished itself in the national-patriotic field in January 2009. The Fatherland, Eesti Eest [For Estonia] newspaper published a cartoon of the artist Agora (Gori) with the caption, “Stalin decided to take over Estonia, but the Estonian people did not agree with the desire of Jews to take over the world.”[43] The publication, which triggered sharp criticism fromthe Jewish community, once again emphasized the apparent similarity between the ideology of the Estonian right national political establishment favorite, Fatherland, with National Socialist ideology.

Summarize what has been said. We note with regret that the post-Soviet history of Estonia from 1991 to 2010 was full of “pro-Nazi” episodes, including the establishment of monuments to the Third Reich, the SS Division employees, the reburial of them, organizing gatherings of Waffen SS veterans, as well as the direct glorification of these veterans as “freedom fighters.” There were constant attempts to put pressure on critics of the Nazi manifestations in Estonia.One must acknowledge a direct link between these pro-Nazi episodes and right-wing parties in Estonia, especially the conservative Fatherland Party, the favorite of the right-wing political machine and right establishment. These episodes demonstrate the contradictions of the right establishment, which projects itself as a champion of liberal democracy, but actually supports and cultivates in Estonia distinct elements of Nazi ideology.

[1] * Postimees, 11.06.08, http://rus.postimeees.ee/150608 glavnaja/kultura/35842.php,http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/20th_Waffen_Grenadier_Division_of_the_SS_(1st_Estonian)

[2] * Delfi, 17.06.05, http://rus.delfi.ee/daily/estonia/article.php?id=10779405

[3] * http://bronze-soldier.com/index.php?option+comcontent&task=view&Iid=21&Itemid=32

[4] * Torshina L. “No to Fascism,” Russian Telegraph. 06/26/1999). Statement by the Jewish Community. Est., 06/30/1999.

[5] * Postimees, 31.08.99.

[6] * Postimees, 2 06 04, http://www.postimees.ee/020604/esileht/siseuudised/135938.php

[7] Delfi, 29.03.2003, http://rus.delfi.ee/daily/estonia/ministerstvo-kultury-ne-odobrilo-monument-voevavshim-v-ryadah-nacistov-estoncam.d?id=5440724

[8] * Delfi 29.03.2003, op cit, Delfi, 30.07.03, http://rus.delfi.ee/daily/estonia/premer-protiv-pamyatnika-esesovcam-v-pyarnu.d?id=6071940

[9] Delfi, 4.09.05, http://www.delfi.ee/news/paevauudised/eesti/lihula-samba-korvaldamise-aastapaev.d?id=11121198

[10] * Eesti Päevaleht. 16.02.05, http://www.epl.ee/artikkel/285301.

[11] * Õhtuleht, 7.02.08, http://www.ohtuleht.ee/index.aspx?id=265619

[12] * Delfi, 15.01.05, http://www.delfi.ee/news/paevauudised/eesti/usa-suursaadik-lihula-sammas-oli-solvav.d?id=9548318