Gallery: Ceremony commemorates start of 1944 defensive battles in Estonia
The commemoration of the start of a series of defensive battles during the closing stages of World War Two took place in Pärnu County on Monday, ETV news show 'Aktuaalne kaamera' (AK) reported.
Heiki Magnus, the chief organizer of the events, told AK that: "This event marked the beginning of the defense of Estonia and was, in essence, the Second War of Independence. It preserved a very large number of people who were able to escape to the free world and continue their Estonian-ness in that already free world."
On February 7, 1944, then-prime ministerJüri Uluots broadcast a radio appeal where urging Estonia's manhood to defend their homeland,
Uluots is buried in Kirbla, Pärnu County, were the events were commemorated yesterday, as they had been in 2021, the first time commemorations of that kind had taken place.
Similar ceremonies are set to take place through the course of the year, including in July in Sinimäe, Ida-Viru County, and in September where the mass evacuation of civilians by sea to Sweden will be commemorated in Puise, Lääne County.
--
Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!
Editor: Andrew Whyte
