While the Russian government today complains about the removal of the bronze soldier and the fact that 13 dead soviet soldiers are being moved to a military cemetery for a proper burial; they should first apologise for destroying one of the largest cemeteries in Tallinn in 1945-50.
Here is a forgotten story about the Soviet destruction of one of the
largest cemeteries in Tallinn in 1945-50.
In the Kopli area of Tallinn there used to be a very large Baltic German cemetery. This cemetery was created in the late 18th century when Catherine the Great of Russia decreed (for health reasons such as outbreaks of the plague) that people could no longer be buried in churches. The cemetery was called Ziegelskoppel and the first burials started around 1780 and the cemetery stood in Kopli until 1945. After the 2nd Russian occupation between 1945-1950 the Russian army declared the suburb of Kopli a military zone. Although there were no German soldiers buried there but only German families that had lived in Estonia for hundreds of years the Russian army destroyed the ENTIRE cemetery which at that point contained more than 10,000 graves and tombstones.
The gravestones were all taken away used to build wall and roads in Tallinn. Many coffins were opened and jewellery was removed from the dead bodies (some which had been dead for over a hundred years). No bodies were transferred to another location, no graves were set up elsewhere. The entire area was converted to a public park with no mention of the destroyed cemetery.
Please publish this story as everyone in Estonia and in the Baltics has forgotten
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