At the end of August, the Police and Border Guard Board (PPA) confiscated a copy of the Lihula monument from a van transporting it from Tallinn to Lihula. The monument had been planned to be taken to the celebration of the 20th anniversary of the dismantling of the former memorial, according to the PPA. According to the explanation given by the police, the symbols on the statue could be associated with the Nazi German army.
Delfi writes:
“According to Interior Minister Lauri Läänemets (SDE), memorials with symbols of the occupying power always provoke reactions and conflicts between social groups.
“We know that in today’s situation, Russia would certainly like to amplify as much as possible that life in Estonia would not be so stable. It is the job of the police to prevent such situations,” Läänemets explained the reasons behind the confiscation of the copy of the monument.
Läänemets could not comment on how the information about the monument reached the PPA.
Läänemets said he was aware that some people felt the situation was unfair. “If it had been a monument with not a man in German military uniform, but a man in Russian military uniform, how would they have behaved?” he said. I would say that I do not want to see any bust of a Russian man in uniform in Estonia, nor do I want to see any bust of any other occupying power,” he said.
In his opinion, those who fought and fell in Estonia should be commemorated with symbols that are characteristic of Estonia, symbols of Estonian statehood, freedom and people.
Läänemets added that the local council has also taken the position that they do not want such a monument. “We remember the events of that time – how the foreign press and foreign countries reacted to it. We’ve been through it all. In all likelihood, nothing has changed to date,” he said.
“This was also known to the people who wanted to put up the monument. In a way, I believe in their sincere will, but there is always another side, and they have been able to take this into account over the years, this information was nothing new,” said Läänemets.
Läänemets could not say what would happen to the monument.””
The article chronologically outlines all the information on the Lihula monument: https://www.delfi.ee/artikkel/120318962/video-siseminister-lihula-monumendi-koopiast-mina-ei-taha-naha-eestis-uhegi-okupatsioonivoimu-busti
Photo by Varro Vooglaid / Facebook.