Editing History of Estonia (section)

==World War II (1939–1944)==
{{Main|Occupation of the Baltic states}}
Following the conclusion of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact and the [[Soviet invasion of Poland]], warships of the [[Red Navy]] appeared off Estonian ports on 24 September 1939, and Soviet bombers began a threatening patrol over [[Tallinn]] and the nearby countryside.<ref name="TM091939">{{Cite magazine|date=9 October 1939|title=RUSSIA: Moscow's Week|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,762664,00.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930153222/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,762664,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=30 September 2007|access-date=2009-09-20}}</ref> Moscow demanded Estonia assent to an agreement which allowed the USSR to establish military bases and station 25,000 troops on Estonian soil for the duration of the European war.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|Pabriks|Purs|Lane|2002|p=24}}</ref> The government of Estonia accepted the ultimatum, signing the corresponding agreement on 28 September 1939.

===Incorporation in the Soviet Union (1940)===
{{See also|Soviet deportations from Estonia|Occupation and annexation of the Baltic states by the Soviet Union (1940)}}

The Republic of Estonia was [[occupation of the Baltic states|occupied]] by the Soviet Union in June 1940.<ref>{{Cite book
| title = The World Book Encyclopedia
| year = 2003
| publisher = [[World Book]]
| location = Chicago, IL
| isbn = 0-7166-0103-6
}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book
| last = O'Connor
| first = Kevin J.
| title = The History of the Baltic States
| year = 2003
| publisher = [[Greenwood Press]]
| location = Westport, Conn.
| isbn = 0-313-32355-0
}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.vm.ee/est/kat_533/7728.html |title=Molotovi–Ribbentropi pakt ja selle tagajärjed |date=22 August 2006 |publisher=Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs |language=et |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070707164549/http://www.vm.ee/est/kat_533/7728.html |archive-date=7 July 2007 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

On 12 June 1940, the order for a total military [[blockade]] of Estonia by the Soviet [[Baltic Fleet]] was given.<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.mil.fi/laitokset/tiedotteet/1282.dsp| title=Kaleva-koneen tuhosta uutta tietoa| date=14 June 2005| work=www.mil.fi| publisher=Finnish Defence Forces| language=fi| access-date=2009-09-20| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090821221643/http://www.mil.fi/laitokset/tiedotteet/1282.dsp| archive-date=21 August 2009| url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.rusin.fi/publications/warinpetsamo/indexEN.html |title=documents published |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080205065414/http://www.rusin.fi/publications/warinpetsamo/indexEN.html |archive-date=5 February 2008|language=ru}} from the State Archive of the Russian Navy</ref>

On 14 June 1940, while the world's attention was focused on the fall of Paris to [[Nazi Germany]] a day earlier, the Soviet military blockade of Estonia went into effect, and two Soviet bombers downed Finnish passenger airplane [[Kaleva (airplane)|''Kaleva'']] flying from Tallinn to [[Helsinki]] carrying three diplomatic pouches from the U.S. legations in Tallinn, [[Riga]] and Helsinki. US Foreign Service employee [[Henry W. Antheil Jr.]] was killed in the crash.<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.afsa.org/fsj/may07/lastflight.pdf| first1=Eric A.| last1=Johnson| first2=Anna| last2=Hermann| title=The Last Flight from Tallinn| year=2007| publisher=American Foreign Service Association| access-date=2009-09-20| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090325013623/http://www.afsa.org/fsj/may07/lastflight.pdf| archive-date=25 March 2009| df=dmy-all}}</ref>

On 16 June 1940, the Soviet Union invaded Estonia.<ref name="TM006241940">{{Cite magazine| date=24 June 1940| title=Five Years of Dates| magazine=Time| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,764071-2,00.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930095701/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,764071-2,00.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=30 September 2007| access-date=2009-09-20}}</ref> [[Vyacheslav Molotov|Molotov]] accused the Baltic states of conspiracy against the Soviet Union and delivered an ultimatum to Estonia for the establishment of a government approved of by the Soviets.

The Estonian government decided, given the overwhelming Soviet force both on the borders and inside the country, not to resist, to avoid bloodshed and open war.<ref>{{harvnb|Smith|Pabriks|Purs|Lane|2002|p=19}}</ref> Estonia accepted the ultimatum, and the statehood of Estonia de facto ceased to exist as the Red Army exited from their military bases in Estonia on 17 June. The following day, some 90,000 additional troops entered the country. The [[military occupation]] of the Republic of Estonia was rendered official by a communist coup d'état supported by the Soviet troops,<ref>{{harvnb|Subrenat|2004|p=}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref> followed by parliamentary elections where all but pro-Communist candidates were outlawed. The newly elected parliament proclaimed Estonia a Socialist Republic on 21 July 1940 and unanimously requested Estonia to be accepted into the [[Soviet Union]]. Those who had fallen short of the "political duty" of voting Estonia into the USSR, who had failed to have their passports stamped for so voting, were allowed to be shot in the back of the head by Soviet tribunals.<ref name="TM191940">{{Cite magazine| date=19 August 1940| title=Russia: Justice in the Baltic| magazine=Time| url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,764407,00.html| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070930031407/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,764407,00.html| url-status=dead| archive-date=30 September 2007| access-date=2009-09-20}}</ref> Estonia was formally annexed into the Soviet Union on 6 August and renamed the [[Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic]].<ref>{{Cite book
| last = Ilmjärv
| first = Magnus
| title = Hääletu alistumine: Eesti, Läti ja Leedu välispoliitilise orientatsiooni kujunemine ja iseseisvuse kaotus. 1920. aastate keskpaigast anneksioonini
| year = 2004
| publisher = Argo
| location = Tallinn
| isbn = 9949-415-04-7
| language = et
}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref> In 1979, the [[European Parliament]] would condemn "the fact that the occupation of these formerly independent and neutral States by the Soviet Union occurred in 1940 following the Molotov/Ribbentrop pact, and continues," and sought to help restore Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian independence through political means.<ref>{{Cite journal| publisher=European Parliament | title=Resolution on the situation in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania | journal=Official Journal of the European Communities | volume=42/78| series=C | date=13 January 1983 | url=http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/80/Europarliament13011983.jpg }}</ref>

The Soviet authorities, having gained control over Estonia, immediately imposed a regime of terror. During the first year of Soviet occupation (1940–1941) over 8,000 people, including most of the country's leading politicians and military officers, were arrested. About 2,200 of the arrested were executed in Estonia, while most of the others were moved to [[Gulag]] prison camps in Russia, from where very few were later able to return alive. On 14 June 1941, when mass [[deportation]]s took place simultaneously in all three Baltic countries, about 10,000 Estonian civilians were deported to [[Siberia]] and other remote areas of the Soviet Union, where nearly half of them later perished. Of the 32,100 Estonian men who were forcibly relocated to Russia under the pretext of mobilisation into the Soviet army after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941, nearly 40 percent died within the next year in the so-called "[[labour battalion]]s" of hunger, cold and overworking. During the first Soviet occupation of 1940–41 about 500 Jews were deported to [[Siberia]].

Estonian graveyards and monuments were destroyed. Among others, the [[Tallinn Military Cemetery]] had the majority of gravestones from 1918 to 1944 destroyed by the Soviet authorities, and this graveyard became reused by the [[Red Army]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket/Xcelerate/ShowPage&c=Page&cid=1046181016323&a=KArticle&aid=1119525615664 |title=Linda Soomre Memorial Plaque |date=30 May 2005 |publisher=British Embassy in Tallinn |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080118063339/http://www.britishembassy.gov.uk/servlet/Front?pagename=OpenMarket%2FXcelerate%2FShowPage&c=Page&cid=1046181016323&a=KArticle&aid=1119525615664 |archive-date=18 January 2008 |url-status=dead |df=dmy-all }}</ref> Other cemeteries destroyed by the authorities during the Soviet era in Estonia include [[Baltic German]] cemeteries established in 1774 ([[Kopli cemetery]], [[Mõigu cemetery]]) and the oldest cemetery in Tallinn, from the 16th century, [[Kalamaja cemetery]].

Many countries including the United States did not recognize the seizure of Estonia by the USSR. Such countries recognized Estonian diplomats and consuls who still functioned in many countries in the name of their former governments. These aging diplomats persisted in this anomalous situation until the ultimate restoration of Baltic independence.

[[Ernst Jaakson]], the longest-serving foreign diplomatic representative to the United States, served as vice-consul from 1934, and as [[consul general]] in charge of the Estonian legation in the United States from 1965 until reestablishment of Estonia's independence. On 25 November 1991, he presented credentials as Estonian ambassador to the United States.<ref>{{Cite book
| last1 = McHugh
| first1 = James Frank
| last2 = Pacy
| first2 = James S.
| title = Diplomats without a country: Baltic diplomacy, international law, and the Cold War
| year = 2001
| publisher = Greenwood Press
| location = Westport, Connecticut
| isbn = 0-313-31878-6
| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=wRbdAwtxVIAC&pg=PA
}}{{Page needed|date=September 2010}}</ref>

===Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany (1941–1944)===
{{Main|Occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany}}
[[File:Lentrée de larmée allemande en Estonie en 1941 (7622403826).jpg|thumb|Tallinn, 28 August 1941]]
[[File:Jüri Uluots.jpg|thumb|150px|[[Jüri Uluots]]]]
After [[Nazi Germany]] invaded the [[Soviet Union]] on 22 June 1941, and the [[Wehrmacht]] reached Estonia in July 1941, most Estonians greeted the Germans with relatively open arms and hoped to restore independence. But it soon{{When|date=February 2020}} became clear that sovereignty was out of the question. Estonia became a part of the German-occupied "[[Reichskommissariat Ostland|Ostland]]". A ''[[Sicherheitspolizei]]'' was established for internal security under the leadership of [[Ain-Ervin Mere]]. The initial enthusiasm that accompanied the liberation from Soviet occupation quickly waned as a result, and the Germans had limited success in recruiting volunteers. The [[conscription|draft]] was introduced in 1942, resulting in some 3,400 men fleeing to Finland to fight in the [[Finnish Army]] rather than join the Germans. [[Finnish Infantry Regiment 200]] (Estonian: ''soomepoisid'') was formed out of Estonian volunteers in Finland. With the Allied victory over Germany becoming certain in 1944, the only option to save Estonia's independence was to stave off a new Soviet invasion of Estonia until Germany's capitulation.

By January 1944, the front was pushed back by the Soviet Army almost all the way to the former Estonian border. [[Narva]] was evacuated. [[Jüri Uluots]], the last legitimate prime minister of the Republic of Estonia (according to the Constitution of the Republic of Estonia) prior to its fall to the Soviet Union in 1940, delivered a radio address that implored all able-bodied men born from 1904 through 1923 to report for military service. (Before this, Uluots had opposed Estonian mobilization.) The call drew support from all across the country: 38,000 volunteers jammed registration centers.<ref>{{Cite book
| last1 = Lande
| first1 = David A.
| title = Resistance! Occupied Europe and Its Defiance of Hitler
| year = 2000
| publisher = MBI
| location = Osceola, WI
| isbn = 0-7603-0745-8
| page = [https://archive.org/details/resistanceoccupi00land/page/200 200]
| url = https://archive.org/details/resistanceoccupi00land/page/200
}}</ref> Several thousand Estonians who had joined the Finnish army came back across the [[Gulf of Finland]] to join the newly formed Territorial Defense Force, assigned to defend Estonia against the Soviet advance. It was hoped that by engaging in such a war Estonia would be able to attract Western support for the cause of Estonia's independence from the USSR and thus ultimately succeed in achieving independence.<ref>{{Cite book
| last1 = Smith
| first1 = Graham
| title = The Baltic States: The national self-determination of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania
| year = 1996
| publisher = [[St. Martin's Press]]
| location = New York
| isbn = 0-312-16192-1
| page = 91
}}</ref>

The initial formation of the volunteer SS Estonian [[wikt:Legion|legion]] created in 1942 was eventually expanded to become a full-sized conscript division of the [[Waffen-SS]] in 1944, the [[20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian)|20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS]]. The Estonian units saw action defending the [[Battle of Narva (1944)|Narva line]] throughout 1944.

As the Germans started to retreat on 18 September 1944, [[Jüri Uluots]], the last Prime Minister of the Estonian Republic prior to Soviet occupation, assumed the responsibilities of president (as dictated in the Constitution) and appointed a new government while seeking recognition from the [[Allies of World War II|Allies]]. On 22 September 1944, as the last German units pulled out of Tallinn, the city was re-occupied by the Soviet Red Army. The new Estonian government fled to [[Stockholm]], [[Sweden]], and [[Estonian government-in-exile|operated in exile]] from 1944 until 1992, when [[Heinrich Mark]], the prime minister of the Estonian government in exile acting as president, presented his credentials to incoming president [[Lennart Meri]].

====The Holocaust in Estonia====
{{Main|The Holocaust in Estonia|History of the Jews in Estonia}}
The process of Jewish settlement in Estonia began in the 19th century, when in 1865 Russian Tsar [[Alexander II of Russia|Alexander II]] granted them the right to enter the region. The creation of the Republic of Estonia in 1918 marked the beginning of a new era for the Jews. Approximately 200 Jews fought in combat for the creation of the Republic of Estonia, and 70 of these men were volunteers. From the very first days of its existence as a state, Estonia showed tolerance towards all the peoples inhabiting its territories.{{citation needed|date=April 2019}} On 12 February 1925, the Estonian government passed a law pertaining to the cultural autonomy of minority peoples. The Jewish community quickly prepared its application for cultural autonomy. Statistics on Jewish citizens were compiled. They totaled 3,045, fulfilling the minimum requirement of 3,000. In June 1926 the Jewish Cultural Council was elected and Jewish cultural autonomy was declared. Jewish cultural autonomy was of great interest to the global Jewish community. The Jewish National Endowment presented the [[Government of the Republic of Estonia]] with a certificate of gratitude for this achievement.<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary">{{Cite web| url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Estonia.html?title=Jews_in_Estonia| title=The Virtual Jewish History Tour: Estonia| work=[[Jewish Virtual Library]]| access-date=2009-09-20}}</ref>

There were, at the time of Soviet occupation in 1940, approximately 2,000 Estonian Jews. Many Jewish people were deported to Siberia along with other Estonians by the Soviets. It is estimated that 500 Jews suffered this fate. With the invasion of the Baltics, it was the intention of the Nazi government to use the Baltic countries as their main area of mass [[genocide]]. Consequently, Jews from countries outside the Baltics were shipped there to be exterminated. Out of the approximately 4,300 Jews in Estonia prior to the war, between 1,500 and 2,000 were entrapped by the Nazis,<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://depts.washington.edu/baltic/papers/holocaust.html| title=The Holocaust in the Baltics| last=Miller-Korpi| first=Katy| date=May 1998| publisher=[[University of Washington]]| access-date=2009-09-20| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080307033256/http://depts.washington.edu/baltic/papers/holocaust.html| archive-date=7 March 2008| df=dmy-all}}</ref> and an estimated 10,000 Jews were killed in Estonia after having been deported to camps there from Eastern Europe.<ref name="jewishvirtuallibrary"/>

There have been [[Holocaust trials in Soviet Estonia|seven ethnic Estonians]] – Ralf Gerrets, [[Ain-Ervin Mere]], Jaan Viik, Juhan Jüriste, [[Karl Linnas]], Aleksander Laak and Ervin Viks – who have faced trials for [[crimes against humanity]] since the reestablishment of Estonian independence and the formation of the [[Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity]].<ref>{{Cite web| url=http://www.historycommission.ee/| title=Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity| access-date=2009-09-20| archive-date=1 March 2013| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130301072406/http://www.historycommission.ee/| url-status=dead}}</ref> Markers were put in place for the 60th anniversary of the mass executions that were carried out at the Lagedi, [[Vaivara concentration camp|Vaivara]]<ref>{{Cite web| url=https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/Vaivara.html| title=Vaivara| work=[[Jewish Virtual Library]]| access-date=2009-09-20}}</ref> and [[Klooga concentration camp|Klooga (Kalevi-Liiva)]] camps in September 1944.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.heritageabroad.gov/projects/estonia1.html |title=Holocaust Markers, Estonia |date=19 February 2009 |publisher=United States Commission for the Preservation of America's Heritage Abroad |access-date=2009-09-20 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090823093224/http://www.heritageabroad.gov/projects/estonia1.html |archive-date=23 August 2009 |df=dmy-all }}</ref>

===Fate of other minorities during and after World War II===
The [[Baltic Germans]] had voluntarily evacuated to Germany (in accordance with Hitler's order) following the [[Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact]] of August 1939.

Almost all the remaining [[Estonian Swedes]] fled [[Aiboland]] in August 1944, often in their small boats to the Swedish island of [[Gotland]].

The Russian minority grew significantly in numbers during the postwar era.