In greetings sent to the 21st reunion of the Estonian Freedom Fighter Union, Minister of Defence Urmas Reinsalu recognized the people who were involved in the resistance movement against totalitarian regimes that occupied Estonia, and those who kept alive the ideal of Estonian liberty.
Reinsalu said in his message that all peoples living in Estonia sustained terrible losses due to the communist Soviet and Nazi German regimes that occupied Estonia in World War II.
“As a consequence of the war and the occupation, Estonia lost nearly one-fourth of its pre-war population, among the heaviest toll suffered by any European country in World War II. That is why re-independent Estonia has repeatedly and unequivocally condemned the repressive policies of the Soviet Union and National Socialist Germany as well as the actions of people who committed crimes against humanity,” Reinsalu’s message reads.
Under international law, Reinsalu stressed, Estonia’s de jure continuity was never interrupted. “Tens of thousands of Estonian men and women kept the ideals of liberty alive during the difficult occupation years, expressing, in words and deeds, their resistance to the occupation regimes. In the absence of other opportunities, many had to do so wearing a foreign uniform.”
“Based on the two abovementioned principles – the preservation of the legal continuity of the Republic of Estonia and condemnation of the crimes against humanity perpetrated by the regimes that occupies Estonia – the Parliament of Estonia on 14 February 2012 recognized all Estonian citizens who during the years of Soviet and German occupations worked toward the de facto restoration of the Republic of Estonia,” wrote Reinsalu.