At the unveiling of the memorial plaque, Minister of Defence Laar said that the Tartu Uprising was like a beam of light between two totalitarian occupations. “In the summer of 1941, the battle in Tartu was fought solely for the freedom of Estonia. We pay our respects to everybody – partisans, fire fighters as well as schoolboys – who made the ultimate sacrifice – their lives – in this battle.”
The memorial plaque was dedicated by Lt. Col. Taavi Laanepere, Chief of Chaplains of the Estonian Defence Forces; in addition, former political prisoner and freedom fighter Enn Tarto gave a speech.
This summer marks 70 years from the Summer War of 1941, when members of the National Defence League and Forest Brothers brought down the Soviet occupation power and re-established the pre-war Estonian power just before the arrival of the advancing German forces. However, the Estonians’ hope of re-establishing their independent state was not fulfilled and by autumn, the Soviet occupation was replaced by a new occupation, the German one, all over Estonia.
Veiko Lukmann
Adviser to the Minister of Defence
