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An '''Estonian war crimes trial''' was held in '''1961''' in the [[Estonian SSR]] for Estonians who had collaborated in the execution of the [[Holocaust]] in [[Estonia]]. The accused were charged with murdering up to 5000 German Jews near the [[Kalevi-Liiva]] concentration camp in 1942. The public trial by the [[Supreme Court of the Estonian SSR]] was held in the [[Estonia Theatre]] and attended by a mass audience. All three defendants were convicted and sentenced to death, two of them were executed shortly after. |
An '''Estonian war crimes trial''' was held in '''1961''' by [[Soviet]] authorities in the [[Estonian SSR|Soviet-occupied Estonia]] for Estonians who had collaborated in the execution of the [[Holocaust]] in [[Estonia]]. The accused were charged with murdering up to 5000 German Jews near the [[Kalevi-Liiva]] concentration camp in 1942. The public show trial by the [[Supreme Court of the Estonian SSR]] was held in the [[Estonia Theatre]] and attended by a mass audience. All three defendants were convicted and sentenced to death, two of them were executed shortly after. |
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== The accused == |
== The accused == |
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Revision as of 09:50, 10 June 2007
An Estonian war crimes trial was held in 1961 by Soviet authorities in the Soviet-occupied Estonia for Estonians who had collaborated in the execution of the Holocaust in Estonia. The accused were charged with murdering up to 5000 German Jews near the Kalevi-Liiva concentration camp in 1942. The public show trial by the Supreme Court of the Estonian SSR was held in the Estonia Theatre and attended by a mass audience. All three defendants were convicted and sentenced to death, two of them were executed shortly after.
The accused
- Ain-Ervin Mere, commander of the Nazi occupation era Estonian Security Police (Sicherheitspolizei), was tried in absentia. Before the trial he was an active member of the Estonian community in England, contributing to Estonian language publications.[1] At the time of the trial he was however held in captivity, accused of murder. He was never deported and died a free man in England in 1969.
- Ralf Gerrets, the deputy commandant at the Jagala/Kalevi-Liiva camp
- Jaan Viik, (Jan Wijk) was singled out for prosecution out of the hundreds of Estonian police for his particular brutality. He was testified as throwing small children into the air and shooting them. He did not deny the charge.
- A fourth accused, camp commandant, Alexander Laak was discovered in Canada but committed suicide in his garage.
The executions
The Jews from Theresienstadt and Berlin arrived at the railway station at Raasiku after a five day trip. According to testimony by one of the accussed, Gerretts, eight busloads of Estonian auxiliary police had arrived from Tallinn. A selection process was supervised by Ain Mere, chief of Estonian police; able bodied men were sent to work on the oil shale mines at Kalevi-Liiva. Women, children, and old people were sent by bus to an execution site near the camp. Later the police would execute the Jews by machine gun fire. On the first day a total of 900 people were murdered in this way. Gerrets told that he had fired a pistol at a victim who was still making noises in the pile of bodies. [2]
The whole operation was carried out by Estonians. The only German present was Obersturmführer H. Bergmann.
References
- De dödsdömda vittnar Template:Sv icon
- Estonian policemen stand trial for war crimes - Video footage at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- Extermination of the Gypsies in Estonia during World War II: Popular Images and Official Policies
- Jägala laager ja juutide hukkamine Kalevi-Liival - Eesti Päevaleht March 30, 2006 Template:Et icon
- Omakaitse omakohus - JERUUSALEMMA SÕNUMID Template:Et icon
- Kalevi-Liiva on German Wikipedia - English translation
- ^ List of documents presented as evidence - Originally at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
- ^ In a report of the trials the New York Times belittled the confession and the Estonian role in the Holocaust: ”Estonian admits Death Camp Role”. “Tells Soviet Court He Shot “Once” During Murder of 125 000 by Nazis” - New York Times 7.3.1961