The
Estonian prime minister said annual meetings of Waffen-SS
veterans in his country have nothing to do with Nazi ideology,
Estonia's Postimees daily reported on Friday.
Prime Minister Andrus Ansip, who is currently on an official visit to the United
States, said at a meeting with representatives of U.S. Jewish
organizations that the meetings of Nazi veterans are held
in remembrance of those killed in World War II.
The Estonian people, he said, suffered
greatly both from Communism and Nazism and the gatherings
of Waffen-SS veterans do not mean that Estonia reflects anti-Semitism
at the state level.
Ansip also said he is seriously concerned
that some countries are attempting to show Estonia as a country
that supports and promotes neo-Nazism.
Since 2005, Russia has regularly introduced
draft resolutions to the UN General Assembly condemning the
glorification of Nazism. Every year, the resolutions are
supported by an increasing number of countries.
Before entering the war in 1941, the
Soviet Union occupied the Baltic States, and many Estonians
saw siding with the Nazis as a way to regain the independence
the country enjoyed from 1920 and until 1940.
Parades in honor of Waffen-SS veterans,
involving veterans from the 20th Estonian SS Division and
their supporters, are held annually in Estonia. The next
one is scheduled for July 30. Russia has repeatedly criticized
the Baltic State for allowing these parades to take place.
In April 2007, a Soviet war memorial
was dismantled in the Estonian capital of Tallinn just before
the May 9 Victory Day celebrations in Russia. The move led
to street protests in which over 1,000 people were arrested
and one Russian national was killed.
en.rian.ru
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