Estonia denies plan to honour Nazi veterans

I am so happy to hear that Estonia is attempting to honor those who fought against communism and the Soviet Union. Russia continues to turn a blind eye to the fact that Stalin was every bit the murderer as Hitler. It is time to honor those Estonians who did not compromise with the Soviets, and who fought for the freedom of their nation during WWII.

These men who joined the Waffen SS in 1944 were conscripted by the Germans, and the Nuremburg trials explicitly exempted conscripts from their final judgement. These conscripts fought entirely on the territory of their homeland Estonia in defensive battles at a time when the Germans were clearly losing the war. Given collaborationism is defined as the act of cooperating traitorously with an enemy that is occupying one's country, to whom exactly were these soldiers being traitorous to when they tried to stop the Soviets from re-occupying Estonia?

I don't know what status is being revised here. Sixty years ago, just five years after the end of WW2, the Allied High Commission (which administered allied occupied Germany) composed of Britain, France and the United states determined that these Baltic Waffen SS Units were not to be seen as "volunteer" or "SS" as they had not been given the training, indoctrination, and induction normally given to regular Waffen SS members. The US Displaced Persons Commission subsequently declared in September 1950 that the Baltic Waffen SS Units are to be considered as separate and distinct in purpose, ideology, activities, and qualifications for membership from the German SS, and therefore the Commission held them not to be "a movement hostile to the Government of the United States". It seems to me that in 2012, over sixty years later, it is in fact the Russian foreign ministry is the one attempting to change the status of these conscripts.

To me this just once again confirms the historical pitfalls of being a small nation: the bigger fish are always out there to eat you up. While I can fathom Russian ignorance to actually believe Estonia "willingly" joined the USSR -- hence justifying it's subsequent incorporation and occupation -- what I cannot fathom is who in their right might would consider that ANY nation would submit to another nation or power without resistance -- let alone do so willingly? Increasingly I have begun to question the media outlets that continue to subscribe to this rubbish the Russian Foreign Ministry and others continue to peddle along with those who spread it...