{"id":1294,"date":"2011-09-01T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2011-09-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/staging.jbh.is\/?p=1294"},"modified":"2020-09-22T12:35:45","modified_gmt":"2020-09-22T12:35:45","slug":"ohrodri-um-eista-svarad","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jbh.is\/?p=1294","title":{"rendered":"\u00d3HR\u00d3\u00d0RI UM EISTA SVARA\u00d0"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00deetta kalla\u00f0i \u00e1 h\u00f6r\u00f0 vi\u00f0br\u00f6g\u00f0 fr\u00e1 Vilhj\u00e1lmi Erni Vilhj\u00e1lmssyni (http:\/\/postdoc.blog.is\/blog\/postdoc\/entry\/1186112<\/a>). Vilhj\u00e1lmur \u00feessi br\u00e1st vi\u00f0 me\u00f0 \u00fev\u00ed a\u00f0 segja mig hafa, \u00ed utanr\u00edkisr\u00e1\u00f0herrat\u00ed\u00f0 minni, haldi\u00f0 hl\u00edfiskildi yfir str\u00ed\u00f0sgl\u00e6pamanni (Evald Mikson), en sj\u00e1lfur hef\u00f0i \u00e9g haft dularfull tengsl vi\u00f0 KGB \u00e1 s\u00ednum t\u00edma. Loks f\u00f3r hann hinum verstu or\u00f0um um eistnesku \u00fej\u00f3\u00f0ina fyrir meintar gy\u00f0ingaofs\u00f3knir.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Askur Alas heitir eistneskur bla\u00f0ama\u00f0ur vi\u00f0 Eesti Ekspress, eitt virtasta bla\u00f0 Eista. Hann er \u00edslenskuma\u00f0ur g\u00f3\u00f0ur. Hann haf\u00f0i skrifa\u00f0 \u201csvipmynd\u201d af m\u00e9r \u00ed bla\u00f0 sitt \u00ed tilefni af 20 \u00e1ra afm\u00e6li hins endurreista sj\u00e1lfst\u00e6\u00f0is Eista, \u00fear sem hann rifjar upp \u00fdmsar a\u00f0ger\u00f0ir m\u00ednar \u00feeim til stu\u00f0nings \u00e1 \u00feeim t\u00edma. Vilhj\u00e1lmur \u00d6rn v\u00e9k a\u00f0 \u00feessari grein og taldi me\u00f0 \u00f6llu \u00e1st\u00e6\u00f0ulaust a\u00f0 bera lof \u00e1 JBH, sem hef\u00f0i haldi\u00f0 verndarhendi yfir Evald Mikson, auk \u00feess sem hann hrakyrti eistnesku \u00fej\u00f3\u00f0ina fyrir gy\u00f0ingaofs\u00f3knir, sem fyrr sag\u00f0i.
\nAskur Alas las \u00feennan \u00f3hr\u00f3\u00f0ur Vilhj\u00e1lms um eistnesku \u00fej\u00f3\u00f0ina og hrekur \u00fe\u00e6r \u00e1vir\u00f0ingar, sem hann ber \u00e1 Eista, li\u00f0 fyrir li\u00f0, \u00ed h\u00f3fstilltri en vel r\u00f6kstuddri \u00e1drepu, sem h\u00e9r fer \u00e1 eftir \u00e1 ensku.<\/p>\n

How an innocent story can turn out ugly<\/h2>\n

Askur Alas, journalist at Eesti Ekspress<\/p>\n

A story I wrote in Estonian weekly newspaper Eesti Ekspress (called \u201cA Man Who Dared\u201d) about J\u00f3n Baldvin Hannibalsson<\/b> seems to have caused quite a stir in Iceland, only because I mentioned war criminal Evald Mikson<\/b> there. I was shocked when I read a text by Icelandic archeologist Vilhj\u00e1lmur \u00d6rn Vilhj\u00e1lmsson<\/b>, whom the Danes (as he lives in Denmark) even call a historian, as he writes himself. Mr Vilhj\u00e1lmsson seems to gravely misinterpret my point about Jon Baldvin Hannibalsson, Estonian attitude towards Jewish people and war criminals, and most importantly, Estonian history.<\/p>\n

In my story, I was talking about the role Hannibalsson played as the foreign minister of Iceland in the process at the end of which the Baltic countries got its independence back. Hannibalsson stood up and talked for us in NATO and elsewhere at times when others did not and we ourselves could not make our voice be heard \u2013 for example, Lennart Meri was thrown out of Copenhagen human rights conference because Gorbachov threatened to leave. Hannibalsson was the one who came to the Baltics personally at turbulent times when Soviet special forces attacked unarmed people at Vilnius TV tower and tanks were on the streets. Perhaps the presence of a minister of a NATO state could, after all, make some change. When we proclaimed independence, Iceland was the first country to recognize it, for which we are thankful for ever. On 20th of August we celebrated the 20th anniversary of re-establishment of Estonian state and it was devoted to Iceland. That\u00b4s why I wrote an article about Hannibalsson.<\/p>\n

Mr Vilhj\u00e1lmsson, on the other hand, is interested only in the small passage mentioning probable war criminal, Icelandic citizen Evald Mikson, and showing Hannibalsson, Hans H. Luik (the owner of Eesti Ekspress) and even Estonia as shielders of war criminals. By distorting facts \u2013 or being simply not aware of them and misinterpreting – Mr Vilhj\u00e1lmsson creates an image of Estonia as a small evil pro-nazi, Jew-hating state. He thinks that the article was written by Hans H. Luik (even though both in paper and internet version stands my name). Luik seems to be a bad person in his eyes especially because he visited Mikson\u00b4s sons. I can assure that it is my article, not Hans H. Luik\u00b4s, it was my idea to write about Hannibalsson, whom I happen to know, and that in Estonia, owners do not interfer in journalistic process.<\/p>\n

I mentioned Mikson only to point out that Hannibalsson demonstrated having backbone later on, too. Based on Eesti Ekspress Year Book 1993 I wrote that Hannibalsson canceled a visit to Isreal, because notorious nazi-hunter Efraim Zuroff had insulted Icelandic state (with outrageous claims connected to Mikson). What I was trying to say was: no one can tell Iceland what to do. But as a good friend of Zuroff, Mr Vilhj\u00e1lmsson seems to be biased to interpret this little passage as kind of attack. It\u00b4s not.<\/p>\n

In a county which respects the law, you can not and you may not make a criminal out of someone who has not been convicted by court of law. Zuroff demanded that Iceland should immediately prosecute Mikson based on evidence from KGB. How can one demand from a souvereign state that it should prosecute its citizen, if there is no evidence? No one even vaguely familiar with Soviet times could consider KGB files as trusted evidence, since fabrication of documents and forced-out testimonies was KGB\u00b4s everyday reality. What has happened to the principle that no one is guilty before convicted?<\/p>\n

Only in 2001 (not in 1998, as Mr Vilhj\u00e1lmsson writes), Mikson is considered war criminal by international commission (no Estonian citizens there) headed by Max Jakobsen studying crimes in Estonia during the Second World War. But in 1992 there was no legal base to consider Mikson as war criminal and no ground to start investigation in Iceland based only on KGB documents, and Hannibalsson was not shielding anyone. Using unreliable KGB documents as a basis for arrest and prosecution makes one no better than a murderous KGB agent. And by the way, there has been no court, since Mikson passed away long ago.<\/p>\n

Strange: Mr Vilhj\u00e1lmsson writes that \u201cthe whole world knows that Mikson\u00b4s case was impeded by men like Mart Laar, Dav\u00ed\u00f0 Oddsson and Lennart Meri\u201d. Estonian Prime Minister Mart Laar welcomed Zuroff and even handed over the KGB files. And it was Lennart Meri who initiated Max Jakobsen commission that put Mikson on par with war criminals. One has to accept that thorough research done by historians and conclusions drawn by the commission is a procedure that takes its time.<\/p>\n

I do not intend to say that I disregard work done by Efraim Zuroff. I think he is doing important job bringing war criminals to justice. People who were war criminals should be brought to court, whatever their nationality. But I do not endorse Zuroff\u00b4s methods when they disregard the rights of the accused and due process.<\/p>\n

But most disappointing about Mr Vilhj\u00e1lmssons story are his false claims about Estonia. He writes that Estonians killed most of Jewish people already before German occupation in 1941. This is not true. Based on data provided by Jewish community in Estonian, there were around 4500 Jewish people in Estonia before the war. Before Germans, in 1940-1941 2500 Jews (56%) fled to Soviet Union, 12% were mobilized into Red Army, 10% Jews were deported by communists to Siberia by NKVD (predecessor of KGB, that commited a lot of atrocities in those years. Coincidentally two of the most notorious chiefs, Hans Grabbe<\/b> and Mihhail Pasternak<\/b>, happen to be Jewish. Pasternak, for example, personally lead NKVD squad that burned tens of peaceful families inside their country homes to death; all in all about 120 Jews were working for NKVD; 30 000 Estonian people were forcefully deported, tens of thousands killed. But if we calculate percentage of population, then NKVD terrorized Jewish people even more than Estonians. Historian Jaak Valge<\/b> writes that by his sources, about 500 Jews were deported to Siberia and about 200 shot by NKVD. Under German occupations, about 900 Jews were executed. Valge concludes: \u201cThe number of Jewish people who suffered by Germans and Soviet repressions is nearly the same.\u201d But strangly, Zuroff and Wiesenthal Organisation is not interested in Soviet executioners \u2013 none of them have been sought for or brought to justice (86 000 Nazi war criminals have been convicted).<\/p>\n

22% of Jewish people living in Estonia or ca 929 were executed under Nazi regime (over 35 000 in Latvia, 136 000 in Lithuania). But the truth is, as Vilhj\u00e1lmsson writes, that most of those who stayed, were killed. Those who stayed were afraid to flee to the Soviet Union \u2013 they feared repressions they had witnessed. Estonian Jewish writer Eugenia Gurin-Loov<\/b> has written that Soviet occupation disrupted all peaceful and active life of the small Jewish community. \u201cCultural autonomy with all its institutions was abolished in July 1940. In August all organisations, societies, unions and corporations were closed. Many Jewish people were repressed (by Soviet NKVD \u2013 A.A.) on July 14 1941. After German army occupied Estonia in 1941, all Jews who did not flee to Soviet Union, were murdered. After the war, Jewish cultural life was not reborn,\u201d writes Gurin-Loov. But let me stress it again: under Soviet occupation 1940-41, at least 450 Jews were sent to Siberia to die by communists, among them Jews themselves, under German occupation, ca 929 Jews were killed.<\/p>\n

Mr Vilhj\u00e1lmsson writes that this summer some Estonians celebrated in Viljandi the German occupation of the country in 1940. First, Germans came in 1941. Second, to understand what happened in Viljandi you must know more about Estonian history. To simplify: no one celebrated German occupation, it would be like worshiping 700 years of under German slavedom that preceeded. Those few veterans were commemorating the driving out of Soviet occupants, who had already commited here in one year more crimes against humanity than anyone thinks possible. They deported to Siberia 450 Jews and tens of thousand Estonians. They separated children from mothers, fathers from wifes and sent them in animal wagons to die. In Viljandi, they also commemorated those who were killed in the war fighting on German side. People were mobilized on both sides during the war, since we were twice occupied by Soviet Union and once by Germany, and many of them did not have a choice, and many hoped to drive out the evil that seemed greater with the help of another evil. What Estonians wanted most was to regain its independence, not to support fashism. Of course, we know that under Hitler\u00b4s regime Estonia would have been completely destroyed, all people deported and we could not have celebrated 20th anniversary of freedom now. But in the most tragic course of events, a brother was forced to fight against brother. People died on both sides and the fact that the dead are commemorated, does not mean anyone is praising fashism. This has nothing to do with that whatsoever. But it is hard to understand.<\/p>\n

Mr Vilhj\u00e1lmsson also claims that \u201canti-semitism and praising of fashism is still acceptable in Estonia\u201d. This is simply not true, far from it. Maybe he should come to Estonia before making such claims and see for himself. Let me remind:<\/p>\n