TAIMAR PETERKOP ⟩ Let us raise our blue, black and white flags on this anniversary!

The Tall Hermann tower. Photo: Mihkel Maripuu

• The starting point of Estonia's resistance is the beginning of World War II.
• The war refugees who had left Estonia gave visibility and also strength to the political messages.
• All households, associations and societies are very welcome to fly the Estonian flag!

At its off-site sitting in Põgari on Thursday, September 19, the government declared September 22 an extraordinary flag day. With this, we are paying tribute to Otto Tief and all other resistance fighters. Estonia never surrendered, State Secretary Taimar Peterkop writes.

Otto Tief and the resistance: 80 years

The starting point of Estonia's resistance is the beginning of World War II: first, the Soviet Union forced the so-called bases treaty upon Estonia, which was followed by the removal of the constitutional government and occupation of the country from June 17, 1940. Our state structures, such as the Riigikogu, the defense forces, and civil society, were neutralized. Did this happen without resistance? No, it did not! Acts of resistance include the firefight between members of the Signal Battalion and representatives of the Soviet regime on Raua Street, our diplomats' refusal to return to the occupied homeland, and our political elite's attempts to disrupt the sham parliamentary elections dictated by the occupying power.

However, the red occupying power was replaced by the brown Nazi occupation in 1941, and the bloody front of World War II swept across Estonia. The regime was different, but repressions continued. In this situation, the only solution was to restore Estonia's statehood based on the Atlantic Charter and relying on the democratic West. It was in the early spring of 1944 that real steps could be taken. The National Committee, formed of representatives of Estonia's political parties, began to prepare for the formation of a constitutional government and the defense of Estonia.

On September 22, 1944, Red Army units occupied Tallinn, the blue, black and white flag of Estonia was lowered from the Tall Hermann tower by machine gun fire and replaced by the red flag of occupation.

In September 1944, a brief window of opportunity for the restoration of Estonia's constitutional order arrived. On September 18, 1944, the day after German troops had begun to withdraw, Jüri Uluots, the prime minister and acting president, appointed a new government led by Otto Tief. The government, meeting in the premises of Eesti Pank, adopted a declaration announcing the restoration of Estonia's national independence and the formation of a government, declaring Estonia neutral in the ongoing war and protesting against the invasion of the Red Army.

On September 22, 1944, Red Army units occupied Tallinn, the blue, black and white flag of Estonia was lowered from the Tall Hermann tower by machine gun fire and replaced by the red flag of occupation. Forty-seven years of resistance began.

The resistance struggle of two generations, both at home and abroad

In the spring of 1945, Forest Brothers' units across Estonia took up armed action against the Soviet regime. The March 1949 deportation, however, proved fatal for the Forest Brothers movement, and by 1953, the Soviet regime had managed to suppress active armed resistance. Approximately 2,000 Forest Brothers perished in this unequal but heroic fight. August Sabbe, known as the last Forest Brother of Estonia, fell during a capture attempt in Võru County in 1978!

Simultaneously with the Forest Brothers, the underground resistance of school students gained momentum. Young people distributed leaflets, tore down or otherwise damaged red flags and other occupation symbols, hoisted banned Estonian national flags in public places, collected and distributed banned literature, and assisted the Forest Brothers. Perhaps the most valiant moment in the resistance of school students occurred on May 8, 1946, when 16-year-old Ageeda Paavel and 15-year-old Aili Jürgenson blew up a Soviet soldier's memorial at Tõnismäe in Tallinn. With harsh repressive measures, the Soviet regime ended the resistance of school students by the 1960s.

However, it was replaced almost immediately by various democratic movements and dissident activity. The funhouse mirror image of the Soviet way of life was exposed to the public. Dissidents openly demanded from the authorities the observance and execution of both national and international agreements, sent appeals to the West, disseminated underground literature, organized rallies and demonstrations. Estonia's most famous dissidents are Jüri Kukk, Enn Tarto, Mart Niklus and Lagle Parek. Thank you very much to them.

By the autumn of 1944, the political leadership of Estonia had either been destroyed or forced to leave their homeland. Once they had reached the free world, together with our diplomats, they began demanding that the occupation of Estonia not be recognized by democratic Western countries. Open letters, protests and appeals by politicians kept the situation in Estonia, and indeed in all the territories occupied by the Soviet Union, topical. In 1953, the first Estonian government-in-exile was established, which allowed Heinrich Mark to hand over Estonia's constitutional and consistently existing state power to the newly elected VII Riigikogu on October 7, 1992.

The war refugees who had left Estonia during World War II gave visibility and also strength to these political demands and messages. More than 80,000 refugees were scattered all over the world. In order to unite them, the Estonian World Council was established, along with the Estonian National Fund to finance joint foreign policy actions. The Estonian diaspora worked with Latvian, Lithuanian, but also Ukrainian, Belarusian, Polish, Czech, and Hungarian refugees to achieve their goals.

Extraordinary flag day

On September 19, 2024, the Government of the Republic gathered at the Põgari-Sassi prayer house to commemorate the restoration of Estonia's constitutional government in September 1944 and to emphasize the continuity of the Republic of Estonia. The government's off-site sittings in Põgari have become an important tradition. In addition to the sitting, a government press conference was held.

The Government of the Republic was approached by the Estonian World Council last year to declare a one-off flag day in 2024 to remember those who had to flee the Soviet terror in 1944.

Since the establishment of Estonia's statehood, the Estonian people have wanted to organize their lives on their own land by themselves. We want to be free and are ready to show this to the world.

Resisting the regime occupying Estonia was an act of heroism, because without it, the nature of the occupation would have remained unclear: did society's previous agreement to maintain statehood still hold, or had a new form and content of organizing society's life been achieved? The actions of the Otto Tief government, tens of thousands of Forest Brothers and their supporters, school students, dissidents, the government-in-exile, and diplomats provide a definitive answer. Since the establishment of Estonia's statehood, the Estonian people have wanted to organize their lives on their own land by themselves. We want to be free and are ready to show this to the world.

In order to commemorate this event important for the Estonian state and the people, the government established an obligation for all state, city and municipality authorities and legal persons in public law to raise the Estonian flag on September 22, 2024. All households, associations and societies are also very welcome to fly the Estonian flag!