The Holocaust in Estonia

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Corpses found by the Soviet authorities at the Klooga concentration camp after the Nazi German forces' departure (late 1944)

The Holocaust in Estonia refers to

occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany
.

By the end of 1941 virtually all of the 950 to 1,000 Estonian Jews were killed by German units such as

Einsatzgruppe A and/or local collaborators. The Romani people in Estonia were also killed or enslaved by Nazi occupiers and their collaborators.[1]

The occupation authorities also killed around 6,000 ethnic Estonians and 1,000 ethnic Russians in Estonia, often claiming that they were communists or communist sympathizers, a categorization that also encompassed relatives of alleged communists. In addition around 15,000

Soviet prisoners-of-war and Jews from other parts of Europe were killed in Estonia during the German occupation.[2]

Before the Holocaust

Main article: History of the Jews in Estonia

Prior to World War II, Jewish life flourished in Estonia with the more cultural autonomy than any other Jewish community in all of Europe.[citation needed] The local Jewish population had full control of education and other aspects of cultural life.[3] In 1936, the British-based Jewish newspaper The Jewish Chronicle reported that "Estonia is the only country in Eastern Europe where ... Jews are left in peace and are allowed to lead a free and unmolested life and fashion it in accord with their national and cultural principles."[4]

Murders of Jews

Round-ups and killings of the remaining Jews began immediately; the first stage of

Sicherheitspolizei (Security Police) was established for internal security under Ain-Ervin Mere in 1942. Estonia was declared Judenfrei quite early by the German occupation regime, at the Wannsee Conference.[6]
The Jews who remained in Estonia (929 according to the most recent calculation[7][unreliable source?]) were murdered.[8] Fewer than a dozen Estonian Jews are known to have survived the war in Estonia.[7]

Einsatzgruppe A" from Stahlecker's report. Marked "Secret Reich Matter," the map shows the number of Jews shot in Ostland, and reads at the bottom: "the estimated number of Jews still on hand is 128,000". Estonia is marked as judenfrei
.

German policy toward the Jews in Estonia

The Estonian state archives contain death certificates and lists of Jews executed dated July, August, and early September 1941. For example, the official death certificate of Rubin Teitelbaum, born in Tapa on January 17, 1907, states laconically in a form with item 7 already printed with only the date left blank: "7. By a decision of the Sicherheitspolizei on September 4, 1941, condemned to death, with the decision being carried out the same day in Tallinn." Teitelbaum's crime was "being a Jew" and thus constituting a "threat to the public order".

On September 11, 1941 an article entitled "Juuditäht seljal" – "A

Jewish Star on the Back" appeared in the Estonian mass-circulation newspaper Postimees. It stated that Otto-Heinrich Drechsler, the High Commissioner of Ostland, had issued ordinances requiring all Jewish residents of Ostland from that day on to wear a visible yellow six-pointed Star of David
at least 10 cm (4 in). in diameter on the left side of their chest and back.

On the same day regulations

confiscated
. The regulations emphasized that work to this end was to begin as soon as possible, and that police were to compiley lists of Jews, their addresses, and their property by September 20, 1941.

The regulations also provided for the establishment of a

concentration camp near the south-eastern Estonian city of Tartu. A later decision provided for the construction of a Jewish ghetto near the town of Harku, but this was never built. A small concentration camp was built there instead. The national archives contain material pertinent to the cases of about 450 Estonian Jews. They were typically arrested at home or in the street, taken to the local police station, and charged with the 'crime' of being Jews. They were either shot outright or sent to concentration camp and shot later. An Estonian woman, described the arrest of her Jewish husband:[10]

Holocaust in Reichskommissariat Ostland (which included Estonia): a map

... There were two men in our apartment from the Selbstschutz who said they were taking my husband to the police station. I ran after them and went to the chief officer and asked for permission to see my husband....On September 15 I went to the German Sicherheitspolizei on Tõnismägi in an attempt to get information about my husband. I was told he had been shot. I asked why, since he had not been a communist but a businessman, The answer was: Aber er war doch ein Jude. ["But he was a Jew."].

Foreign Jews

The Nazis intended mass genocide after the German invasion of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. Jews from countries outside the Baltics were deported there to be killed.

concentration camps in occupied Estonian territory for foreign Jews, where they were slave labor. The largest, Vaivara concentration camp, served as a transit camp and processed 20,000 Jews from Latvia and the Lithuanian ghettos.[citation needed] Usually able-bodied men were selected to work in the oil shale
mines in northeastern Estonia. Women, children, and old people were killed on arrival.

At least two trainloads of Central European Jews were deported to Estonia and were killed on arrival at the Kalevi-Liiva site near Jägala concentration camp.[6]

Murder of foreign Jews at Kalevi-Liiva

According to testimony of the survivors, at least two transports with about 2,100–2,150 Central European Jews,

German citizens. Around 1,700–1,750 people were immediately taken to an execution site at the Kalevi-Liiva sand dunes and shot.[12] About 450 people were selected for work at the Jägala concentration camp.[12][13]

Transport Be 1.9.1942 from Theresienstadt arrived at the Raasiku station on September 5, 1942, after a five-day trip.

SS commanders Heinrich Bergmann and Julius Geese.[12][15] Few witnesses pointed out Heinrich Bergmann as the key figure behind the extermination of Estonian gypsies. In the case of Be 1.9.1942, the only ones chosen for labor and to survive the war were a small group of young women who were taken through a series of concentration camps in Estonia, Poland and Germany to Bergen-Belsen, where they were liberated.[17] Camp commandant Laak used the women as sex slaves, killing many after they had outlived their usefulness.[13][18]

A number of foreign witnesses were heard at the post-war trials in Soviet-occupied Estonia, including five women who had been transported on Be 1.9.1942 from Theresienstadt.[15]

According to witness testimony, the accused Mere, Gerrets and Viik actively participated in mass killings and other crimes that were perpetrated by the Nazi invaders in Estonia. In accordance with the Nazi

racial theory, the Sicherheitspolizei and Sicherheitsdienst were instructed to exterminate the Jews and Gypsies. To that end, during August and September of 1941, Mere and his collaborators set up a death camp at Jägala, 30 km (19 mi) from Tallinn. Mere put Aleksander Laak in charge of the camp; Ralf Gerrets was appointed his deputy. On 5 September 1942, a train with approximately 1,500 Czechoslovak citizens arrived at the Raasiku
railway station. Mere, Laak and Gerrets personally selected who of them should be executed and who should be moved to the Jägala death camp. More than 1,000 people, mostly children, the old, and the infirm, were transported to a wasteland at Kalevi-Liiva, where they were executed in a special pit. In mid-September, the second troop train with 1,500 prisoners arrived at the railway station from Germany. Mere, Laak, and Gerrets selected another thousand victims, who were then condemned by them to extermination. This group of prisoners, which included nursing women and their newborn babies, were transported to Kalevi-Liiva where they were killed.
In March 1943, the personnel of the Kalevi-Liiva camp executed about fifty Romani people, half of whom were under 5 years of age. Also were executed 60 Roma children of school age...[19]

Romani people

A few witnesses pointed out Heinrich Bergmann as the key figure behind the extermination of Estonian Roma people.[17]

Estonian collaboration

Units of the Eesti Omakaitse (Estonian Home Guard; approximately 1000 to 1200 men) were directly involved in criminal acts, taking part in the round-up of 200 Roma people and 950 Jews.[2]

The final acts of liquidating the camps, such as Klooga, which involved the mass-shooting of roughly 2,000 prisoners, was facilitated by members of the 287th Police Battalion.[2] Survivors report that, during these last days before liberation, when Jewish slave labourers were visible, the Estonian population in part attempted to help the Jews by providing food and other types of assistance.[2][20]

War crimes trials

Four Estonians deemed most responsible for the murders at Kalevi-Liiva were accused at the

Jaan Viik, (Jan Wijk, Ian Viik), a guard at the Jägala labor camp, out of the hundreds of Estonian camp guards and police, was singled out for prosecution due to his particular brutality.[19] Witnesses testified that he would throw small children into the air and shoot them. He did not deny the charge.[16] A fourth accused, camp commandant Aleksander Laak
(Alexander Laak), was discovered living in Canada, but committed suicide before he could be brought to trial.

In January 1962, another trial was held in Tartu. Juhan Jüriste, Karl Linnas and Ervin Viks were accused of murdering 12,000 civilians in the Tartu concentration camp.

Number of victims

Soviet-Estonian era sources estimate the total number of Soviet citizens and foreigners to be murdered in Nazi-occupied Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic to be 125,000.[24][25][26][27][28] The bulk of this number consists Jews from Central and Western Europe and Soviet prisoners-of-war killed or starved to death in prisoner-of-war camps on Estonian territory.[27][28] The Estonian History Commission estimates the total number of victims to be roughly 35,000, consisting of the following groups:[2]

  • 1000
    Estonian Jews
    ,
  • about 10,000 foreign Jews,
  • 1000 Estonian Roma,
  • 7000 ethnic Estonians,
  • 15,000 Soviet POWs.

The number of Estonian Jews killed is less than 1,000; the German

Walter Stahlecker cite the numbers 921 and 963 respectively. In 1994 Evgenia Goorin-Loov calculated the exact number to be 929.[7]

Modern memorials

Holocaust memorial at the site of the former Klooga concentration camp, opened on July 24, 2005
Kiviõli Concentration Camp Holocaust Memorial, northeastern Estonia.

Since the reestablishment of the Estonian independence, markers were put in place for the 60th anniversary of the mass executions that were carried out at the Lagedi, Vaivara and Klooga (Kalevi-Liiva) camps in September 1944.

Holocaust. In the same year, the Simon Wiesenthal Center had provided the Estonian government with information on alleged Estonian war criminals, all former members of the 36th Estonian Police Battalion
. In August 2018 it was reported that the memorial at Kalevi-Liiva was defaced.[31]

Concentration camps

KZ-Stammlager

KZ-Außenlager

  • KZ Aseri
  • KZ Auvere
  • KZ Erides
  • KZ Goldfields (Kohtla)
  • KZ Ilinurme
  • KZ Jewe
  • KZ Kerestowo (Karstala in Viru Ingria, now in Gatchinsky District)
  • KZ Kiviöli
  • KZ Kukruse
  • KZ Kunda
  • KZ Kuremaa
  • KZ Lagedi
  • KZ Klooga, Lodensee. Commandant SS-
    SS
    -men shot the 2 500 prisoners on September 19, 1944 and burned most of the bodies. The fewer than 100 prisoners succeeded in surviving by hiding. There is a monument on the location of the concentration camp.
  • KZ Narva
  • KZ Pankjavitsa, Pankjewitza. It was situated app. 15 km south of the village of Pankjavitsa near the hamlet of Roodva in the former Estonian province of Petserimaa. Since 1945 Russia occupies a large part of this province including Roodva/Rootova. The camp was established in November 1943. On 11 November that year 250 prisoners from Klooga arrived. Their accommodations were barracks. Already in January 1944 the camp was shut down and the inmates were relocated to Kūdupe (in Latvia near the Estonian border), Petseri and Ülenurme. Likely the camp was closed after some kind of work was finished. It was affiliated to the Vaivara camp.[33]
  • KZ Narwa-Hungerburg
  • KZ Putki (in Piiri Parish, near Slantsy)
  • KZ Reval (Ülemiste?)
  • KZ Saka
  • KZ Sonda
  • KZ Soski (in Vasknarva Parish)
  • KZ Wiwikond
  • KZ Ülenurme

[34]

Arbeits- und Erziehungslager

Prisons

Other concentration camps

See also

References

  1. ^ https://klooga.nazismvictims.ee/en/materjalid/holokaust-eestis/
  2. ^ a b c d e "Report Phase II: The German Occupation of Estonia 1941–1944" (PDF). Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity. 1998. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 20, 2011. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  3. ISBN 978-0-8147-9356-5
    .
  4. ^ "Estonia, an oasis of tolerance". The Jewish Chronicle. September 25, 1936. pp. 22–3.
  5. ISBN 9781780961637
    .
  6. ^ a b Museum of Tolerance Multimedia Learning Center Archived September 28, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ a b c Hietanen, Leena (April 19, 1998). "Juutalaisten kohtalo". Turun Sanomat (in Finnish). Archived from the original on July 8, 2011.
  8. ^ "Küng, Andres, Communism and Crimes against Humanity in the Baltic states, A Report to the Jarl Hjalmarson Foundation seminar on April 13, 1999". rel.ee. Archived from the original on March 1, 2001. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  9. ^ ERA.F.R-89.N.1.S.1.L.2
  10. ^ Quoted in Eugenia Gurin-Loov, Holocaust of Estonian Jews 1941, Eesti Juudi Kogukond, Tallinn 1994: pg. 224
  11. ^ The Holocaust in the Baltics Archived March 7, 2008, at the Wayback Machine at University of Washington
  12. ^ a b c d e f g Jägala laager ja juutide hukkamine Kalevi-Liival Archived September 26, 2007, at the Wayback Machine – Eesti Päevaleht March 30, 2006 (in Estonian)
  13. ^
    The Ottawa Citizen
    . Ottawa. March 8, 1961. p. 7. Retrieved August 17, 2010.
  14. ^ "THE GENOCIDE OF THE CZECH JEWS". old.hrad.cz. Archived from the original on May 26, 2011. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g De dödsdömda vittnar Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine (Transport Be 1.9.1942 Archived September 27, 2007, at the Wayback Machine) (in Swedish)
  16. ^ a b "Estonian policemen stand trial for war crimes". ushmm.org. Video footage at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Archived from the original on June 22, 2007. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  17. ^ a b "From Ghetto Terezin to Lithuania and Estonia". bterezin.org.il. Archived from the original on September 27, 2007. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  18. ^ Omakaitse omakohus Archived June 7, 2007, at the Wayback Machine – JERUUSALEMMA SÕNUMID (in Estonian)
  19. ^
    Holocaust and Genocide Studies
    17.1, 31–61.
  20. ^ Birn, Ruth Bettina (2001), Collaboration with Nazi Germany in Eastern Europe: the Case of the Estonian Security Police Archived June 16, 2007, at the Wayback Machine. Contemporary European History10.2, 181–198. P. 190–191.
  21. ^ Estonia at Archived November 7, 2016, at the Wayback Machine Jewish Virtual Library
  22. ^ Estonian State Archives of the Former Estonian KGB (State Security Committee) records relating to war crime investigations and trials in Estonia, 1940–1987 (manuscript RG-06.026) – United States Holocaust Memorial Museum – document available on-line through this query page Archived June 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine using document id RG-06.026 – Also available at Axis History Forum Archived December 5, 2007, at the Wayback Machine – This list includes the evidence presented at the trial. It list as evidence several articles by Mere in Estonian-language newspapers published in London
  23. ^ "Mainstream". Masses & Mainstream. May 7, 1961. Retrieved May 7, 2018 – via Google Books.
  24. ISBN 978-0-89089-243-5. Archived
    from the original on May 7, 2018.
  25. ISBN 978-0-313-29275-0. Archived
    from the original on May 7, 2018.
  26. ^ "ESTONIANS GIVEN DEATH Russians Convict Them Of Aiding Nazi Exterminations". The Sun. Baltimore. March 12, 1961. Archived from the original on November 3, 2012.
  27. ^
    ISBN 9789985206065
    .
  28. ^
    ISBN 1-57607-800-0. Archived
    from the original on May 7, 2018.
  29. ^ "Holocaust Markers, Estonia". heritageabroad.gov. Archived from the original on August 23, 2009. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  30. ^ Veebruari sündmused Archived March 19, 2008, at the Wayback Machine (in Estonian)
  31. ^ "Holocaust victim memorials vandalised at Kalevi-Liiva". August 22, 2018.
  32. ^ "Wilhelm Werle". Axis History Forum. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved June 15, 2016.
  33. ^ Pankjewitza (Pankjavitsa) by Ruth Bettina Birn, in: Der Ort des Terrors. Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager Band. 8: Riga-Kaiserwald, Warschau, Vaivara, Kauen (Kaunas), Plaszów, Kulmhof/Chelmno, Belzéc, Sobibór, Treblinka. Gebundene Ausgabe – 24. Oktober 2008 von Wolfgang Benz (Herausgeber), Barbara Distel (Herausgeber), Angelika Königseder (Bearbeitung). P. 173.
  34. ^ "Quelle und weiterführende Hinweise". keom.de. Retrieved May 7, 2018.[permanent dead link]
  35. ^ "Kultuur ja Elu - kultuuriajakiri". kultuur.elu.ee. Archived from the original on March 3, 2016. Retrieved May 7, 2018.
  36. ^ Haakristi haardes.Tallinn 1979, lk 84
  37. ^ Haakristi haardes.Tallinn 1979, lk 68
  38. ^ Haakristi haardes.Tallinn 1979, lk 66
  39. ^ Haakristi haardes.Tallinn 1979, lk 64
  40. ^ Haakristi haardes.Tallinn 1979, lk 69

Bibliography

  • 12000: Tartus 16.-20.jaanuaril 1962 massimõrvarite Juhan Jüriste, Karl Linnase ja Ervin Viksi üle peetud kohtuprotsessi materjale. Karl Lemmik and Ervin Martinson. Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus. 1962
  • Ants Saar, Vaikne suvi vaikses linnas. Eesti Raamat. 1971
  • "Eesti vaimuhaigete saatus Saksa okupatsiooni aastail (1941–1944)", Eesti Arst, nr. March 3, 2007
  • Ervin Martinson. Elukutse – reetmine. Eesti Raamat. 1970
  • Ervin Martinson. Haakristi teenrid. Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus. 1962
  • Inimesed olge valvsad. Vladimir Raudsepp. Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus. 1961
  • Pruun katk: Dokumentide kogumik fašistide kuritegude kohta okupeeritud Eesti NSV territooriumil. Ervin Martinson and A. Matsulevitš. Eesti Raamat. 1969
  • SS tegutseb: Dokumentide kogumik SS-kuritegude kohta. Eesti Riiklik Kirjastus. 1963

Further reading

External links
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