Et forlag i Estland har trykket opp en kalender for 2009 med vervingsplakater til estiske SS-enheter. Den russiske minoriteten og Russland reagerer svært negativt.

Første opplag ble revet vekk på tre dager og nå trykkes nye.

På plakaten er SS-runen erstattet av E for Estland.

Nikolai Pechatnov, a Russian historian living in Tallinn, said they were a revolting reminder of the wartime service in the SS of tens of thousands of Estonians.

«If the calendar stated that this was propaganda for the SS and detailed historical facts that would be acceptable. But when you look closely at this calendar you will not find any of the well-known SS symbols, they have been replaced with Estonian division signs.

«In fact, the Estonian SS did wear uniforms with Nazi SS symbols on them. Young people who see these calendars today could be forgiven for thinking Estonians had nothing to do with the SS.»

Estiske SS-enheter ble ikke dannet før i 1944, og skal ikke ha deltatt i grusomheter. De ble dessuten tvangsrekruttert. Men tidligere i krigen var det frivillige og politienheter som deltok i jødemassakrer. Gjenopptrykking av SS-plakater uten forklarende tekst vil nødvendigvis vekke motvilje.

Estere forsvarerer seg med at esterne forsvarte landet og kjempet for uavhengighet, men pakten med SS er for mye å svelge, også i ettertid.

A British authority on the SS, the filmmaker Andrew Mollo, said that Estonia had already been occupied in 1940 by the Red Army before the Nazis invaded and that those who joined the SS were regarded as anti-Bolsheviks fighting for their homeland.

«Of course, it did not do them any favours that in fighting Bolshevism these Estonians allied themselves with Hitler,» he said.

«The Estonian SS were very different from SS units in other Baltic countries; they fought for the independence of their country and suffered immensely. The fact that they were brought under the SS umbrella was not their fault.»

Russians protest at Estonia SS calendar