The Soviet Occupation of Estonia 1944-1991

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Alex Yeliseenko
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The Soviet Occupation of Estonia 1944-1991

#1

Post by Alex Yeliseenko » 24 Apr 2007, 11:22

[This new thread was split from the thread on the Nazi occupation of Estonia at http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=119519 and recaptioned by the moderator -- DT]

Russian historian Alexander Djukov has written the book about "occupation" of Estonia. It used archives NKVD. On its data, the Estonian data are overestimated. I try to make translation.

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#2

Post by Harrier » 24 Apr 2007, 11:38

Mr. Djukov versus The European Court of Human Rights - I'm laughing!
The highest court in Europe:
The Court notes, first, that Estonia lost its independence as a result of the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (also known as “Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact”), concluded on 23 August 1939, and the secret additional protocols to it. Following an ultimatum to set up Soviet military bases in Estonia in 1939, a large-scale entry of the Soviet army into Estonia took place in June 1940. The lawful government of the country was overthrown and Soviet rule was imposed by force. The totalitarian communist regime of the Soviet Union conducted large-scale and systematic actions against the Estonian population, including, for example, the deportation of about 10,000 persons on 14 June 1941 and of more than 20,000 on 25 March 1949. After the Second World War, tens of thousands of persons went into hiding in the forests to avoid repression by the Soviet authorities; part of those in hiding actively resisted the occupation regime. According to the data of the security organs, about 1,500 persons were killed and almost 10,000 arrested in the course of the resistance movement of 1944-1953.1

Interrupted by the German occupation in 1941-1944, Estonia remained occupied by the Soviet Union until its restoration of independence in 1991. Accordingly, Estonia as a state was temporarily prevented from fulfilling its international commitments. It acceded to the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity only on 21 October 1991; pertinent amendments to the Criminal Code, including Article 61-1, entered into force on 9 December 1994.

The Court notes that murder of the civilian population was expressly recognised as a crime against humanity in the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal of 1945 (Article 6 (c)). Although the Nuremberg Tribunal was established for trying the major war criminals of the European Axis countries for the offences they had committed before or during the Second World War, the Court notes that the universal validity of the principles concerning crimes against humanity was subsequently confirmed by, inter alia, Resolution No. 95 of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organisation (11 December 1946) and later by the International Law Commission. Accordingly, responsibility for crimes against humanity cannot be limited only to the nationals of certain countries and solely to acts committed within the specific time frame of the Second World War. In this context the Court would emphasise that it is expressly stated in Article I (b) of the Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity that no statutory limitations shall apply to crimes against humanity, irrespective of the date of their commission and whether committed in time of war or in time of peace. After accession to the above convention, the Republic of Estonia became bound to implement the said principles.

The Court reiterates that Article 7 § 2 of the Convention expressly provides that that Article shall not prejudice the trial and punishment of a person for any act or omission which, at the time it was committed, was criminal according to the general principles of law recognised by civilised nations. This is true of crimes against humanity, in respect of which the rule that they cannot be time-barred was laid down by the Charter of the Nuremberg International Tribunal (see Papon v. France (no. 2) (dec.), no. 54210/00, ECHR 2001-XII and Touvier v. France, no. 29420/95, Commission decision of 13 January 1997, Decisions and Reports 88-B, p. 161).


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#3

Post by Art » 24 Apr 2007, 16:55

Carnaro wrote: I transcribe part of the introduction of final Report of Estonian International Commission for the Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity, set up by President of Estonia
That is a conclusion of report in English:
http://www.historycommission.ee/temp/pd ... ons_en.pdf
From the same site the list of persons sentenced to executions by the military tribunals in Estonia during 1940-41.
http://www.historycommission.ee/temp/pd ... 32-360.pdf
The white book of Estonian commission on examinations of the policies of repressions:
http://www.just.ee/orb.aw/class=file/ac ... teBook.pdf
I need to say that the professional level of the authors of the last document raises some doubts. For example they seriously believe that KGB existed in USSR in 1945, or state that destroyer battalions "received the right to carry out punitive operations, including looting and killing, based on the tactics of burnt land proclaimed by Stalin." - apparantly they have only a very approximate idea about the purposes of destroyer battalions.
4) The Military Council of the Baltic Navl Fleet and military commissars of the Red Army deployed in Estonia who issued orders for the conscription of citizens and residents of the Republic of Estonia into the Red Army and their consequent deportation from Estonia.
A rather wierd accusition. You need to be an ultra-pacifist to treat mobilization to military service as a crime against humanity. I can understan the validity of other items, but this one IMO is a very strange one.
Last edited by Art on 27 Apr 2007, 16:46, edited 1 time in total.

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#4

Post by Art » 24 Apr 2007, 16:59

Harrier, what about Rome statute? Could it be applied to the crimes committed before the statute was signed?

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Alex Yeliseenko
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#5

Post by Alex Yeliseenko » 24 Apr 2007, 18:05

Some statistics about “forest brothers” activities

Oct. 1944-Jan.1947

During that period they killed:

MVD and MGB staff (Rem. MVD-NKVD, MGB=NKVD+NKGB united after the war for a short period) – 15 men
Policemen – 2 men
MVD officers – 7 men
Sergeants and privates MVD troops – 29 men
Officers of the Soviet Army – 2 men
Sergeants and privates of the Soviet Army – 3 men
Fighter battalions staff (i.e. local anti-partisan battalions) – 30 men
Soviet and communist party activists – 126 men
Others – 330 men

All fights for “freedom” cost 88 Soviet military men vis. 456 civilians

NKVD statistics for the year 1946

A bit earlier I cited data from GARF archive (State archive of RF) about actions of Estonian “forest brothers”
Now giving you detailed data about those, who fought with them – NKVD of Estonian Soviet Socialistic Republic

Results of operations of NKVD in Estonia for the year 1946

Item

Killed/ Arrested/ Legalized/ Transferred in other organizations/ Total

Members of anti-Soviet organizations and groups

176/ 296 / 136 / -/ 608
Members of bands connected with anti-soviet underground

35/ 133/ 52/ 4/ 224

German protégé and accomplices

11/ 30/ 993/ 16/ 1050
Accomplices and concealers of anti-Soviets and bandits

7/ 114/ 81/ 1/ 203
Members of gangster-robber groups

9/ 143/ -/ 68/ 220
Individual bandits and other criminals

5/ 92/ 66/ -/ 163
Deserters from the soviet Army

1/ 39/ 601/ 89/ 730
Evading from serving in the Soviet Army

- /24 /893/ 1/ 918
Criminal protégé and accomplices and

-/ 16/ 3 /96 /115


Total

244(KILLED)/ 887/ 2825/ 275/ 4231

Some comments. This table shows evidence of lie in numerous “fairy-tales” about repressive operations of “Soviet occupants”. It’s clearly seen that besides arrests legalization of hiding people played important role in activity of NKVD services. At the same time German protégé were just not arrested, but they were legalized. We can see overall ratio between legalized and arrested people – 71% (and for German protégé – 95%) vs. 22%

We can see arrests performed by Estonian NKVD in 1946 were not massive.
(At the same time Estonian NKGB arrested 690 persons only in 1946)
So, one can’t speak about massive and unjustified repressions.


Source: http://a-dyukov.livejournal.com/76425.html


Regards.

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#6

Post by Art » 24 Apr 2007, 18:32

Alex Yeliseenko wrote: (At the same time Estonian NKGB arrested 690 persons only in 1946)
However, a year before HKGB arrested 10 times more - some 6,5 thousands. It's true that there was some lull in repressive activity in Estonia in 1946-47 but then the scale of repressions rose again. The statistics of arrests made by NKGB-MGB of Estonia by year:
1945 - 6569
1946 - 690
1947 - 587 (incl. 60 for non-political crimes)
1948 - 1531 (53 for non-political)
1949 - 1490 (43 for non-political)
1950 - 2229 (16)
1951 - 1779 (13)
1952 - 466 (4)
1953 - 380 (-)
Taken from data sheets collected by O.Mozohin.

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#7

Post by Juha Tompuri » 24 Apr 2007, 18:47

Art wrote:
4) The Military Council of the Baltic Navl Fleet and military commissars of the Red Army deployed in Estonia who issued orders for the conscription of citizens and residents of the Republic of Estonia into the Red Army and their consequent deportation from Estonia.
A rather wierd accusition. You need to be an ultra-pacifist to treat mobilization to military service as a crime against humanity. I can understan the validity of other items, but this one IMO is a very strange one.
I think that means the forced recruit of the Estonians to the Red Army.

Regards, Juha

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#8

Post by Alex Yeliseenko » 24 Apr 2007, 18:49

Art wrote:
Alex Yeliseenko wrote: (At the same time Estonian NKGB arrested 690 persons only in 1946)
However, a year before HKGB arrested 10 times more - some 6,5 thousands. It's true that there was some lull in repressive activity in Estonia in 1946-47 but then the scale of repressions rose again. The statistics of arrests made by NKGB-MGB of Estonia by year:
1945 - 6569
1946 - 690
1947 - 587 (incl. 60 for non-political crimes)
1948 - 1531 (53 for non-political)
1949 - 1490 (43 for non-political)
1950 - 2229 (16)
1951 - 1779 (13)
1952 - 466 (4)
1953 - 380 (-)
Taken from data sheets collected by O.Mozohin.
1945 cannot be an example. This wartime.

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#9

Post by Art » 24 Apr 2007, 19:00

Juha Tompuri wrote:I think that means the forced recruit of the Estonians to the Red Army.
I understand, but one can say that mobilization of all men in Soviet Armed Forces was forcible, since they were not volunteers but had to serve in Army according to the Law on military service and those who tried to deviate from service were punished. I see no difference in this respect between people of Estonia and other Soviet citizens.

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#10

Post by Peeter » 24 Apr 2007, 19:21

Art wrote:
Juha Tompuri wrote:I think that means the forced recruit of the Estonians to the Red Army.
I understand, but one can say that mobilization of all men in Soviet Armed Forces was forcible, since they were not volunteers but had to serve in Army according to the Law on military service and those who tried to deviate from service were punished. I see no difference in this respect between people of Estonia and other Soviet citizens.
Estonians were NOT citizens of SU, but citizens of Estonian Republic, occupied by Soviet Union. And this makes forced mobilization illegal.

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#11

Post by Juha Tompuri » 24 Apr 2007, 19:50

Art wrote:
Juha Tompuri wrote:I think that means the forced recruit of the Estonians to the Red Army.
I understand, but one can say that mobilization of all men in Soviet Armed Forces was forcible, since they were not volunteers but had to serve in Army according to the Law on military service and those who tried to deviate from service were punished. I see no difference in this respect between people of Estonia and other Soviet citizens.
I think that the statement:
4) The Military Council of the Baltic Navl Fleet and military commissars of the Red Army deployed in Estonia who issued orders for the conscription of citizens and residents of the Republic of Estonia into the Red Army and their consequent deportation from Estonia.
...does not recognize the legality of the Soviet recruit over the Estonians as Estonia being occupied.

Regards, Juha

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#12

Post by Yuri » 27 Apr 2007, 02:23

Peeter wrote:
Art wrote:
Juha Tompuri wrote:I think that means the forced recruit of the Estonians to the Red Army.
I understand, but one can say that mobilization of all men in Soviet Armed Forces was forcible, since they were not volunteers but had to serve in Army according to the Law on military service and those who tried to deviate from service were punished. I see no difference in this respect between people of Estonia and other Soviet citizens.
Estonians were NOT citizens of SU, but citizens of Estonian Republic, occupied by Soviet Union. And this makes forced mobilization illegal.
Under the Constitution of the USSR of 1936 the citizens of all union republics simultaneously were citizens of the USSR. Hence, citizens of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic were citizens of Soviet Union and were subject to an appeal on military service.

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#13

Post by Watson » 27 Apr 2007, 04:55

but citizens of Estonian Republic, occupied by Soviet Union.
That is a matter of opinion. Estonia was one of fifteen Soviet Socialist Republics within the USSR.

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#14

Post by Peeter » 27 Apr 2007, 06:14

Dont start again, it is absolutely clear that Estonia was occupied by SU, it does not matter if they called it ESSR or something else, one of fifteen soviet republics or not, the fact remains the same.

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#15

Post by Alex Yeliseenko » 27 Apr 2007, 08:04

Estonians very quickly became the Soviet citizens. Resistance in Estonia was the weakest among the countries of Baltic. Much more poorly than in Lithuania, Latvia and in the West of Ukraine.

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