The Lihula Monument is the colloquial name of a monument commemorating the Estonians who fought for Estonia against the Soviet Union in World War II, which is today located in a privately owned museum in Lagedi. The monument has been controversial due to, in part, its dedication to those who served in the German Wehrmacht and particularly in the Waffen-SS.

The monument was originally unveiled in Pärnu in 2002 only to be taken down just nine days later, having been condemned by then-Prime Minister Siim Kallas. Next, the statue was relocated to Lihula in Western Estonia in 2004. Following another removal and scandal, it was finally put on display in Lagedi in October of 2005.

The original monument depicts a soldier holding a gun in a military uniform, with a German helmet, Estonian flag on the wrist and the "hand with a sword" symbol from the Cross of Liberty on the collar. There are no purely national-socialist symbols on the monument. It consists of a bronze bas-relief and a dedication tablet mounted on a vertical granite slab. The tablet reads: "To Estonian men who fought in 1940-1945 against Bolshevism and for the restoration of Estonian independence".

Moving the monument

Shortly after it was set up in Lihula, the Estonian government announced it opposed the monument's unveiling and ordered it to be removed.

Under cover of darkness, a crane arrived to remove the monument from the cemetery where it was set up but could not enter because its path was blocked by a group of protesters. The people gathered started throwing stones at the riot police and the driver of the crane, and a fight broke out. The protesters were driven back using tear gas, and some police officers had to be treated for minor injuries.

After the removal of the monument, it was subsequently taken on October 15, 2005 to the grounds of the privately owned Museum of the Struggle for Freedom (Eesti Vabadusvõitluse Muuseum) in Lagedi near Tallinn. The monument has not been moved again.

Controversy

The monument has been regarded as controversial, including by former Prime Minister Juhan Parts, who labeled the Lihula Monument a "provocation." A number of rumors were circulated about the soldier depicted on the monument wearing Nazi symbolism, and thus constituting an attempt to glorify Nazism. As no such symbolism is on the bas-relief, sometimes the rumors have taken the form that these symbols were removed between the first and current installation.

As the dedication included those who served in the Finnish Infantry Regiment 200, the Wehrmacht and particularly the Waffen SS, a number of organizations condemned it. The Simon Wiesenthal Center issued an official protest stating that the monument glorifies "those who were willing to sacrifice their lives to help achieve the victory of Nazi Germany."

But Ilmar Haaviste, head of the Association of Estonian Veterans, who fought on the German side, says he does not regret taking the German uniform, because there was a "naive" hope that somehow an independent Estonia could be salvaged. He thinks wearing a German uniform does not make you a fascist and that both regimes, Nazi and Soviet, were equally evil.

A semiotic analysis by Professor Peeter Torop of the University of Tartu, ordered by the Lihula police department to analyze the installation, concluded that no Nazi or SS symbols whatsoever appear in the bas-relief. He pointed out the monument's composition was "unduly militaristic," concluding that the monument could be said to be "rude or controversial" given its resemblance to wartime mobilization posters. He found no basis for the hypothesis that the installation of the monument would constitute an "incitement of social hatred."

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