Silent Objectors, Forest Brothers Remembered
Resistance Day was marked in Tallinn on September 22 with a candlelight ceremony organized by university fraternities and sororities.
The day marks an attempt to restore the Estonian government after the retreat of Nazi forces from Tallinn and before Soviets recaptured the city in 1944. The national tricolor fluttered briefly from the Pikk Hermann tower in the Old Town on that day.
In remarks, former dissident Enn Tarto also stressed the role of people who did not necessarily pick up arms in defending the nation.
"Everyone who celebrated Christmas, who brought the blue black and white flag into Estonia on Independence Day - this is their day, too. We should celebrate this day much more generally, as many people still do not know what day it was," said Tarto.
Defense Minister Urmas Reinsalu said: "Resistance Day expresses the will of the Estonian people both during the Soviet and Nazi occupation, to restore their freedom and restore the basis of continuity of national independence."