But this is not a new anniversary; for more than 60 years, it was the Day of Tallinn's Liberation from Nazi Occupation, but last March Estonian President Toomas Henrik Ilves signed amendments to the Law on Holidays and Memorable Dates.
In order to leave no doubt as to their reasons for the rechristening, the authors of the draft explained in a note that on September 22, 1944, Estonia was re-occupied by the Soviet Union rather than liberated. They wrote: "After the withdrawal of German units as a result of the Soviet onslaught, the national blue-black-white tricolor flew over the Long Hermann Tower in the Estonian capital. But on that very day, the Red Army seized Tallinn and replaced it with the red flag of the occupiers."
Estonian policymakers debated the need to rename the holiday at great length. Numerous variations on the theme of "restoring terminological and historical justice," were offered, such as "The Day of Mourning" and "The Day of the Victims of Occupation." Eventually, the authorities chose the current version, which seemed to them a compromise. We should thank them for that, and also for declining the proposal of some over-zealous MPs to ban all commemorative events on the day in question "incompatible with respect for the memory of the resistance fighters."
The latter celebrated their holidays earlier this year at the Maarjamagi memorial, together with MPs and city authorities, marking 62 years since the end of World War II and 13 years since the final withdrawal of Russian troops (the last Russian soldiers left Estonia in late August of 1994).
They did not come simply to lay wreaths at plaques bearing the names of those who fought on Germany's side; they were also keen to clarify their relationship with their Eastern neighbor.
Former Foreign Minister Trivimi Velliste put it bluntly: "During the war, the Estonians had no other choice than to take weapons from enemy number two in order to fight enemy number one, because they did not expect any mercy from the latter."
The current Foreign Minister Urmas Paet preferred not to attend the event and tried to stave off the potential reaction from Moscow: "I hope the Russian side will not interpret this rally as another attempt to rewrite history."
But the Russian Foreign Ministry did not react this time. That is not surprising, considering that its previous notes of protest to Tallinn, against the desecration of memorials to Soviet soldiers, meetings of SS legionnaires and trials of Russian war veterans, have failed to produce any effect.
In August, Estonia staged a government-approved military game in memory of the Erna group, a subversive organization that operated behind Red Army lines on the Abwehr's orders and was destroyed in August 1941. The Russian Foreign Ministry issued an appropriate note of protest, but there was no response. Moreover, the German Ministry of Defense suddenly intervened on Tallinn's side, sending troops to Estonia in order to "consolidate international cooperation."
On the eve of the Day of Tallinn's Liberation (let's not be too politically correct), the Estonian president was quite explicit. Speaking at the inauguration of a memorial to the Otto Tief government (which in the view of the current Estonian authorities was illegally deposed by the Red Army on September 22, 1944), he put an equation mark between the Communists and the Nazis: "There is no difference between the Nazis and the Communists. Both fought fiercely and repressed Estonians. The truth is that the Red Army and the NKVD 'liberated' Estonia in the same way as the Wehrmacht and Gestapo before them."
Judging by these statements of President Ilves (who also called Soviet troops a "gang of bandits" and the Soviet period in Estonia "the era of apartheid" and suggested expelling Russia from the G8), reconciliation between the two countries still lies in the distant future.
In the meantime, however, others have taken their own steps towards national and domestic reconciliation. On September 21, the authorities of Vistla, in southeast Estonia, will inaugurate a memorial to soldiers from both sides of the conflict. They want to bury the recently discovered remains of five soldiers from the 20th SS division alongside warriors of the Estonian rifle corps who fought on the Soviet side because they all died in one and the same battle. The authorities received permission for re-burial from the relatives in advance.
But such events are the exception rather than the rule. On September 22, half of the country will celebrate the Day of Liberation from Nazism and the other half, the undeclared Day of Mourning.
By way of a postscript, it may be worth considering this anecdote. While justifiably accusing the Estonian authorities of desecrating monuments and abusing the memory of the dead, Russia has itself stopped funding the Union of Associations of Russian citizens in Estonia, which, among other things, takes care of Soviet war graves. Our embassy explained that this is usually the responsibility of the state where the graves are located, and to settle this issue it is necessary to sign a bilateral agreement.
Are Russian diplomats so naive as to hope that a government who considers Soviet soldiers occupiers will sign such a document? If not, wouldn't it be easier to find the money for the purpose and show respect to the memory of the dead?
The opinions expressed in this article are the author's and do not necessarily represent those of RIA Novosti.
