Historiographic Aspects of the NKVD (MVD) of the USSR Fight against the Nationalist Underground in the Estonian SSR (1940-1953)

Abstract

The topic under study has an actual historical and political orientation. It is necessary to shed light on the events that took place during the Second World War, in the pre-war and post-war periods of the Estonian SSR. The activities of Estonian nationalists aimed at fighting the Soviet regime began to gain momentum after the Baltic States had joined the USSR and its peak was the June 1941 deportation. It was during this period that the nationalist underground system of Estonia, later called the “Forest Brothers”, began to form. It was aimed at undermining the authority of the Soviet governing bodies and the fight against the Soviet regime. The first open clashes began in the post-war period of 19441947, after the influence of the German propaganda apparatus on the minds of the population. It was then that the activities of the Soviet NKVD became a significant component in the fight against the nationalist movement in the Baltic States. In 1947, the activities of the Soviet NKVD organs and troops made it possible to discover and destroy the officer school that trained the Estonian partisans. This scientific work proves that the service of the Soviet security forces against the nationalist movement in Estonia in the period 1940-1953 was an important element that affected in their activities for the stabilization of the social and political situation in Estonia during the period under study.