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| Nazi Wehrmacht and Waffen SS officer Alfons Rebane, another WWII criminal has been honored in Estonia. |
Another Nazi criminal, a Wehrmacht and Waffen SS officer during World War II, has been honored in Estonia.
This time, according to the estonian news portal err.ee, a regional war memorial society unveiled a memorial plague dedicated to Nazi officer Alfons Rebane.
According to the report Rebane is "a decorated Estonian army officer who fought in the ranks of both the Wehrmacht and Waffen SS during World War II", and the plague was placed on the external wall of a house in the southern Estonian town of Mustla last Friday.
Rebane was an instructor in the Estonian Defence League (Kaitseliit) in the late 1930s, in Mustla, and the plaque is to be affixed to the wall of the last of several residences he lived in in that town, according to Jaanika Kressa, from the Estonian Warriors' Sakala Society.
The plaque, carved by local stone carver Kalev Pehme, depicts Rebane in a SS uniform with the Estonian coat of arms on the sleeve.
"From the location on the wall, Rebane will be 'looking' across the road towards the memorial to the fallen of the 1918-1920 War of Independence in Jaani Park, which was first installed with his help, and later reinstalled after the restoration of Estonian independence," Kressa said.
Alfons Rebane held the German Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves, something bestowed on a total of two non-Germans: in addition to Rebane, Belgian Leon Degrelle was also so decorated.
The son of a railway official born in 1908, this Sunday, 24 June, would have been his 110th birthday; Rebane started his military career in the 1920s and was commissioned as an officer in 1929.
According to the report, in May 1941 the Nazi officer went underground to fight against the Soviets in Viru County while, after the operation Barbarossa, Rebane became a leader of the pro-Nazi Forest Brothers at the Kavastu camp.
He later joined the German armed forces and attracted attention as the commander of the 658th Estonian Battalion. During the war, he managed to break out of no less than 13 encirclements, It is reported.
With the ending of World War II, the Nazi criminal left Estonia for the UK where he started working with the UK intelligence services. In 1961, Rebane retired from the British intelligence services and moved to Germany, where he remained until his death in 1976.
In a shameful statement, the director of Viljandi Museum said that "Rebane definitely deserves to be remembered as a soldier".
The case of Rebane is one of the numerous cases of Nazi criminals, members of the SS who fought against the Soviet Army, who are being honored in Estonia and the Baltic countries. The effort to historically rehabilitate and vindicate the fascists continues...
