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Fascism in Estonia has a history before and during World War II.
Pre-World War II
In the pre-World War II Estonia, the Estonian War of Independence Veterans' League (Eesti Vabadussõjalaste Liit; EVL; also known as Vapsid), an arguably fascist group, succeeded in legally obtaining the absolute majority vote of the people in Tallinn and Tartu city councils.
In a 1933 referendum, the league spearheaded replacement of the parliamentary system with a presidential form of government and laid the groundwork for an April 1934 presidential election, which it expected to win. However, the veterans were thwarted by a pre-emptive coup d'état on March 12, 1934, by Konstantin Päts, who then established his own authoritarian rule until new constitution came to force. The league was officially banned and finally disbanded in December 1935.
The short-lived EVL was not a classical fascist party. Most of its support came from the workers who previously voted either for socialist or communist parties. The league rejected racial ideology and openly criticized the Nazi persecution of Jews. It also lacked the willingness to use violence, and the goal of territorial expansion.
Holocaust
In Lithuania in particular, and Latvia and Estonia to some extent, there was also an already existing foundation of anti-Semitism . The Germans 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 .
Estonian auxiliary police participated in the extermination of the Jews in Estonia and Pskov region of Russia and provided guards for concentration camps for Jews and Soviet POWs (Jägala, Vaivara, Klooga, Lagedi), in all of which prisoners were killed. The 36th Estonian Police Battalion took part in mass shooting of Jews in a Byelorussian town of Novogrudki on 7 August, 1942. The 37th, 38th, 40th, 286th, 288th Estonian battalions operated against the partisans in the Pskov, Luga, Gdov regions of Russia and Belarus. The 658th battalion participated in punitive operations against civilians near the town of Kingisepp and the village of Kerstovo (the Leningrad region) and burnt down the villages Babino, Habalovo and Cigirinka .
Estonian Waffen-SS
The Estonian Legion SS was formed on the order of Adolf Hitler in 1942 and since January 1944 is more known as the 20-th Division SS.
Controversies today
In 2002, the Estonian government forced the removal of a monument to the division erected near the Estonian city of Pärnu. The inscription To Estonian men who fought in 1940-1945 against Bolshevism and for the restoration of Estonian independence. was the cause of the controversy, as it allegedly promoted anti-Semitism.
In 2004 the monument was reopened in Lihula, but shortly removed again by the Estonian government. In 15th of October 2005 the monument was finally opened in grounds of private museum located in Lagedi near Estonian capital Tallinn. See Monument of Lihula.
The Simon Wiesenthal Center had provided the Estonian government with information on alleged Estonian war criminals, all former members of the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) . After investigation, the Estonian government concluded that the claims were baseless and rejected the center's demands to try the veterans.
On May 22, 2004, the Jerusalem Post ran a story about the plans of some Estonian individuals to build a monument to the 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) . International outrage followed, due to the criminal status of the non-conscript Waffen-SS, after the Nuremberg Trials . Russia's chief Rabbi, Berl Lazar condemned the action, stating it would breed anti-Semitism .
References
See also
- 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian)
- Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany
- Neo-Nazism in Estonia
Further reading
- Andres Kasekamp. 2000. The Radical Right in Interwar Estonia. London: Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0-312-22598-9