War of Independence Fallen Remembered Today
A minute of silence today at 10:30 marked the anniversary of the armistice in the War of Independence and honored those who fought for Estonia’s freedom between 1918 and 1920.
A ceremony at the Cross of Liberty monument in Tallinn is being held to mark the armistice reached between Estonia and Soviet Russia that took effect on this date in 1920 and signified Estonia’s emergence as the victor in the conflict.
“I call on everyone to stop what they are doing at that moment and remember our forebears who fought in the War of Independence, endured tribulations and risked their lives, some making the ultimate sacrifice,” Minister of Defense Urmas Reinsalu said prior to the day.
At the ceremony, Reinsalu and Tallinn Secondary Science School student Karl Erik Lillo are set to speak, with a benediction delivered by Andres Põder, archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church.
The anniversary was also commemorated with the ringing of church bells countrywide, a minute of silence on radio programming and the sounding of ship horns in ports. Defense Forces units and Defense League members will lay wreaths at War of Independence monuments all over the country.
On December 31, 1919, talks between the Republic of Estonia and Soviet Russia culminated in the signing of an armistice according to which hostilities between the countries would end on January 3 at 10:30. The armistice was followed a month later with the signing of the Tartu Peace Treaty, which sealed Estonia’s victory in the War of Independence.
Approximately 6,000 Estonians were killed and 14,000 injured in the war.