Second Book of Max Jakobson Commission’s Review to be Unveiled and State Decoration to be Presented to Sofi Oksanen at Finnish National Archives
14.06.2010
14 June, at 15.00 the Estonian Embassy in Helsinki will present the second book of the Estonian International Commission for Investigating Crimes Against Humanity, “Estonia Since 1944”, in the Finnish National Archives. The book gives an overview of oppressive activities carried out by the Soviet Union in occupied Estonia between 1944 and 1991.
The presentation will be opened by Estonian Ambassador to Finland Merle Pajula, director of the Finnish National Archives Jussi Nuorteva, and chairman of the investigative commission Minister Max Jakobson. A greeting has been sent to the presentation by Finnish President Tarja Halonen. The presentation of the book takes place in cooperation with the Finnish National Archives.
A presentation on the activities and the results of the investigation carried out by the commission led by Minister Jakobson will be given by the leader of the commission’s investigative committee Toomas Hiio. Members of the investigative committee Meelis Saueauk and Indrek Paavle will talk about the arrests and deportations carried out in Estonia by Soviet security establishments in the 1940s and 50s and the actions of the German security establishments in accordance with their occupation regime from 1941-44.
The review “Estonia Since 1944” is the result of ten years of work by the investigative commission summoned together by President Lennart Meri. The book comprises five parts. In the first part an overview is given of the historical situation, in the second the oppressive organs of the Soviet regime are described, and in the third and longest part of the book the crimes against humanity committed in Estonia during the Soviet occupation are described. The fourth part of the book contains descriptions of the prisons and prison camps in occupied Estonia and the fifth part contains biographies, a bibliography and appendices.
The commission, which worked from 1998 to 2009, included in addition to Minister Max Jakobson also former Danish Foreign Minister Uffe Ellemann-Jensen, security analyst Dr. Paul Goble, member of the board of the American Jewish Committee Nicholas Lane, George Washington University professor Peter Reddaway, chairman of the scientific council of the Russian organisation “Memorial” Arseni Roginsky, and former Bundestag member Professor Baron Wolfgand von Stetten. The first book of the International Commission for Investigating Crimes Against Humanity, which addressed the years 1940-1944, was published in 2006.
Before the presentation, Ambassador Merle Pajula will present Finnish author Sofi Oksanen with the Order of the Cross of Terra Mariana IV Class, which the President of the Republic bestowed on Oksanen in recognition of her work introducing Estonian history. Her novel “Purge” and her article compilation compiled together with Imbi Paju “Fear Behind Us All” address the consequences of the Soviet and German occupations in Estonia from many different points of view.
