Attempted coup on December 1, 1924
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The failed coup of December 1, 1924 represented an attempt by Estonian communists to overthrow the country's democratic government and establish Bolshevik rule in Estonia . The coup was planned and financed with the help of the Soviet government. The Estonian military violently put down the uprising after a few hours.
prehistory
At the end of February 1918, during the First World War , Soviet Russia lost control of the Baltic States , which had been part of the Russian Empire since the Peace of Nystad in 1721 . On February 24, 1918, Estonian politicians took advantage of the power vacuum. They declared Estonia to be independent as a sovereign republic.
A day later, Imperial German troops marched into Tallinn . Germany strictly rejected Estonian independence and an independent Estonian state. Only after the German defeat in World War could Estonian government also de facto government violence in the country to exercise. The Republic of Estonia became a democratic constitutional state with a western character.
The Bolshevik government in Russia did not recognize the state sovereignty of Estonia. On November 13, 1918, Soviet Russian forces began an offensive to recapture the Baltic States. In the following Estonian War of Freedom (1918–1920), however, Estonia was able to assert itself militarily against Soviet Russia. On February 2, 1920, the two governments concluded a peace treaty in Tartu . In it, under international law, Soviet Russia recognized the state independence of the Republic of Estonia “for all time”.
Relations between the two states remained tense and peace uncertain. In the spirit of the communist world revolution , western-oriented Estonia with its bourgeois democracy was a thorn in the side of the Bolsheviks. There were repeated incidents and provocations on the common border . In the border areas and along the railway lines in Estonia, even after the end of the war of freedom, the state of emergency that restricted numerous freedoms. It was in force until the 1930s.
The Soviet government unofficially supported the Estonian Communist Party (EKP), which was founded in November 1920 and had been a member of the Comintern since 1922 . The Comintern also financed much of the EKP's illegal party work.
The communists found support in the Estonian population, especially among the economic losers of the post-war years. In the parliamentary elections in 1920 , their front political organization, the 24,000-member " Central Council of Estonian Trade Unions " ( Eesti Ametiühisuste Kesknõukogu ) received 5.3% of the vote. In the parliamentary elections in 1923 it was 9.5%. The electorate of the communists came mainly from the poorer sections of the working class. In 1924 the banned EKP had around 2,000 members.
Communist functionaries in Estonia remained rigidly persecuted by the Estonian authorities. They could only work in secret. The agitation remained dangerous for them. On May 3, 1922, the Estonian police tracked down EKP chairman Viktor Kingissepp, who was living underground in Tallinn . He was sentenced to death in an accelerated trial and executed that same day . His body was thrown into the sea. In 1923 the leading communist Jaan Kreuks was shot dead by the police.
Overturning plans
According to Moscow's plans, the young and still weak Estonian democracy was to become one of the first countries outside the Soviet Union for the beginning Bolshevik world revolution . At the Comintern in Moscow , Soviet Russian politicians and Moscow-loyal military officers, together with Communist politicians who had emigrated from Estonia to Soviet Russia, planned an attempted coup.
The leadership of the EKP sent an official letter to the Communist Party of Russia (Bolsheviks) on August 21, 1924 , in which they confirmed their readiness to organize an uprising in Estonia at this point in time. The letter was discussed in the Politburo of the KPR (B) on August 21 and November 14, 1924.
To support the uprising, the Politburo set up a committee made up of Stalin , Trotsky and Frunze , among others . The Comintern made funds available for the preparatory underground work. Their goal was to mobilize several hundred Estonians , Latvians and Finns living in Russia to stand ready to support uprisings in their bourgeois-ruled countries.
The coup plans against the Republic of Estonia were mainly worked out by the exile Estonian military Harald Tummeltau (1899–1938). He recruited the Estonian communist Jaan Anvelt (1884-1937) as the main person responsible for the coup. Anvelt had already been "head of government" of the "Estonian workers' commune" ( Eesti Törahva Kommuun ) during the Estonian War of Freedom in the Estonian territories conquered by the Bolsheviks . He had made a name for himself as a skilled strategist who did not shrink from ruthless violence against political opponents. The exiles in the service of the Red Army , Karl Trakmann and Nikolai Riuhkrand-Ridolin, played a key role in the military planning of the putsch .
In the planned coup, the most important strategic goals in Estonia were to be occupied by force in a lightning strike and a communist puppet government brought into being. In the event of a successful takeover of power, Soviet troops should invade Estonia and disarm the Estonian armed forces . Ships of the Soviet Navy , which were cruising in the Baltic Sea , should come to the aid of the victorious insurgents. A few days before the uprising, the army command announced maneuvers by the Red Army near Pskov near the Estonian-Russian border.
The plans were based on the premise that workers and soldiers in Estonia would spontaneously join the uprising. Only in this way could the numerically weak putschists help the coup to succeed. Then they wanted to proclaim the "Estonian Socialist Council Republic" ( Eesti Nõukogude Sotsialistlik Vabariik ) and form a "government of the working people". She should officially call the Soviet armed forces into the country. A connection between Estonia and the Soviet Union, following the example of the Caucasian regions, was then conceivable .
Preparations
Jaan Anvelt and his confidante Karl Rimm (1891–1938) made the preparations on site in a conspiratorial apartment on the outskirts of Tallinn. Chekist Valter Klein (1892-1925), who was supposed to be chairman of the revolutionary committee in a successful coup , also took on a leading role . The young communist functionaries Arnold Sommerling (1898–1924), Georg Kreuks (1896–1924) and Voldemar Hammer (1894–1982) belonged to the other management ranks . The military leadership of the putschists was formed by the military trained August Lillakas (1894–1924) and his adjutant Richard Käär .
In addition to the main venue Tallinn, important state institutions and transport hubs in the Estonian cities of Tartu , Narva , Pärnu , Viljandi , Rakvere , Kunda and Kohila were to be occupied.
The Estonian security forces knew relatively early on about possible Soviet plans for a communist uprising in Estonia. However, the timing and details were unknown to them. The Estonian government did not take increased security measures to protect important objects for reasons that are still unclear. On January 21, 1924, the police blew up several communist circles and arrested around 300 people.
From November 10 to 27, 1924, the so-called Trial of the 149 took place, during which alleged communist conspirators were tried for high treason and espionage for the Soviet Union. The Communist MPs Jaan Tomp was born on 14 November 1924 sentenced to death and the same evening executed . Over thirty communists were sentenced to life in forced labor. The actual preparations for the coup attempt, which was to take place a few days later, remained undiscovered.
coup attempt
The attempted coup began on the morning of December 1, 1924 at 5.15 a.m. About 300 armed insurgents took part. The operative headquarters of the putschists was housed in an office of the oil and paint factory "Extraktor" in the Tallinn district of Pelgulinn .
The insurgents in Tallinn were divided into three "battalions" with different strategic goals:
- 1st battalion under the leadership of Aleksei Heints (1899–1971): Military school in the Tondi district and the Tallinn-Väike narrow-gauge station ( Reval-Kleinbahnhof ) in Kitseküla
- 2nd battalion under the leadership of Voldemar Puss (1886–1932): Mounted police reserve, armored car division, reporting battalion, 2nd police station, Ülemiste station , 10th infantry regiment and headquarters of the reporting battalion
- 3rd battalion under the leadership of Eduard Teiter (1886–1937): Ministry of War, domestic secret service ( Kaitsepolitsei ), remand prison, 5th and 6th police station, Baltic train station , parliament and government building on Toompea , main post office, naval staff, armored division staff, electricity - and gas works as well as central prison
Tondi Military School
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The first attacks in the early morning of December 1st were directed against the training facilities of the Estonian army in the Tallinn district of Tondi . Some of the 56 attackers were disguised in Estonian military uniforms. They managed to break into the barracks where the cadets slept. The four cadets Aleksander Tomberg, August Udras, Arnold Allebras and Aleksander Teder as well as several attackers were killed in the exchange of fire and by hand grenades. The attack collapsed in a violent exchange of fire.
10th Infantry Regiment
At the same time, 27 attackers attacked the barracks of the 10th Infantry Regiment in the Juhkentali district . They killed sub-lieutenants Harald Busch, Helmut Viiburg and Oskar-Martin Punnisson in the officers' mess. Due to the strong resistance, the attackers fled.
Reporting battalion
15 putschists attacked the barracks of the reporting battalion, which was in the same place. They shot the officer on watch, but he was still able to set off the alarm . Two attackers were killed in the subsequent exchange of fire.
War Department
At 5:25 a.m., a group of 23 putschists attacked the War Ministry. They too wore Estonian military uniforms for camouflage. Despite armed resistance from the guard, they entered the building through the main entrance. They occupied two floors and set off several bombs. In the following exchange of fire with the guards on duty, the attackers fled.
Military airfield
13 insurgents led by the shoemaker Kristjan Grünbach first attacked the 2nd police station and then the Tallinn-Lasnamäe military airfield . They managed to break into the barracks of the air force division without losses . Some soldiers from the barracks were the only Estonian soldiers to join the insurgents during the coup. The others were disarmed and captured by the putschists. A short time later the barracks were recaptured by the Estonian army. One insurgent was killed.
Armored Car Division
30 insurgents attacked the Panzer Division in the Juhkentali district . The attack failed due to the resistance of the soldiers on watch.
Narrow-gauge station
Five putschists managed to take the unguarded narrow-gauge station Tallinn-Väike ( Reval-Kleinbahnhof ) in Kitseküla without resistance. The insurgents shot a police officer and the deputy head of the station. All arriving passengers were held hostage in a waiting room. With the arrival of Estonian army units, the rebels fled.
Main post office
Twelve insurgents occupied the Tallinn main post office, which was also unguarded. There they cut all phone lines in the city for about 45 minutes. Then the main post office was recaptured by the Estonian military.
Mounted police reserve
37 insurgents attacked the barracks of the mounted police reserve in the Keldrimäe district . The attack in three groups failed. The policemen were able to throw the grenades thrown through the windows back onto the street. There they exploded without causing any damage. Two insurgents died in the firefight. Numerous attackers were arrested.
Remand prison
Twelve insurgents attacked the detention center. With the action they wanted to free the communist prisoners of the 149 trial . The attackers abandoned their plan after learning of the failure of the rest of the uprisings.
Karlsbund's living quarters
Three insurgents were trying in the private quarters of the hated by the Communists former Interior Minister Charles Einbund penetrate to assassinate him. The putschists, however, did not succeed in penetrating into the house of Eindund. The attack failed. The attackers fled.
Toompea
A group of 17 attacked the castle on Toompea, which housed the parliament ( Riigikogu ) and government offices.
Part of the group concentrated on the opposite residence of the state elder (head of government) Friedrich Karl Akel . The putschists killed the soldier on watch, Jaan Bergson, and the cleaning woman Marta Grünberg, but could not penetrate any further into the building. The head of government escaped to the rear of the building. The plan to murder Akel failed. The attackers killed two passers-by who happened to pass by before fleeing from the approaching Estonian military.
Here are a few lines from the daily newspapers of December 2, 1924:
“Around quarter past six / in the morning / a person in a sergeant's uniform knocked on the door of the state elder's house on Toompea. Without suspecting any harm, the porter let the soldier go in, but on the latter's sign, three other people entered. They asked for the state elder and immediately started a search of the rooms. The adjutant of the state elder Lieutenant Schöneberg [sic], who lives in the house of the state elder, had stuck his head out to the door of his room in response to the great noise ... Lieutenant Schöneberg [sic] finally managed to jump barefoot out of the window with great care three communists standing guard outside noticed him and opened fire. As if by a miracle he reached the army staff unharmed and reported the case to the armored car unit. Immediately they were ready for action and drove to Toompea. At the sight of the cars approaching the house of the state elder, the communists fled the house. "" A gang broke in there, the state elder fled to another room and locked the door. They smashed the door, but the state elder was able to retire to another room, and that lasted until the military came. "
Baltic train station
16 attackers led by Jaan Anvelt attacked the 5th police station and the Baltic train station . Anvelt killed the constable Mihkel Nutt. Another policeman also took our lives.
In the early morning, the Estonian Transport Minister Karl Kark drove past the station on an inspection trip. The communists killed him immediately. They shot four railway employees in the Baltic train station. At around 8.15 a.m., the Estonian army, led by Lieutenant Colonel Hermann Rossländer, launched the counterattack. Rossländer was fatally hit. The putschists fled. Four could be captured. Anvelt also managed to escape; he shot the captain-major Karl Stern.
collapse
Five hours after it began, the attempted communist overthrow collapsed around 10 a.m. The military and police were loyal to the Estonian government and the constitution . The workers did not join the insurgents. There were no incidents anywhere else in Estonia. The communists there waited passively for news from the capital. The Soviet army did not intervene and remained in its positions across the border.
In the attempted coup on December 1, 1924, 20 insurgents were killed, three later died of their injuries in hospital. The putschists killed twenty people and another was fatally wounded.
Backlash
The Estonian government immediately declared a state of emergency across the country on December 1st . General Johan Laidoner , who distinguished himself in the War of Independence against Soviet Russia, was appointed Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces.
Stand courts sentenced 155 insurgents who could be caught to death . 97 death sentences were on or shortly after December 1 enforced . Two Estonian officers who were accused of being passive in suppressing the uprising were also sentenced to death. Estonian courts later sentenced around 500 people to prison terms for participating in or supporting the attempted coup.
On the morning of December 1, 1924, the Estonian authorities also arrested the first secretary of the Russian legation in Tallinn, Isaac Sokolowits. According to the Estonian police, he was carrying a list with whom he should pay what amount for participating in the coup. The funds are said to have been made available by the Comintern. The Estonian authorities released Sokolowits on January 3, 1925 due to his diplomatic immunity , after the Soviet Union threatened to break off diplomatic relations.
On December 5, the Estonian police tracked down the three insurgents Arnold Sommerling, Eduard Ambos and Osvald Piir in Iru near Tallinn. They were killed in the subsequent firefight. On December 7th, the police found putschists Georg Kreuks, Vladimir Bogdanov and Rudolf Pälson in hiding in Tallinn. They too died from police bullets.
The main organizers of the coup, Jaan Anvelt , Karl Rimm and Rudolf Vakmann , managed to escape to the Soviet Union. They later fell victim to the Stalinist purges .
On December 16, 1924, Jüri Jaakson of the Estonian People's Party ( Eesti Rahvaerakond ) formed an all-party government to which all democratic groups in Estonia belonged. The previous minority government of State Elder Friedrich Karl Akel resigned on December 2, 1924, to make way for a non-partisan cabinet. As a result of the coup attempt, the Estonian communists lost a large part of their supporters, which rejected a violent overthrow.
Commemoration
On December 5, 1924, the funeral service for 21 Estonians who died in the attempted coup took place in Tallinn's Karlskirche . It was chaired jointly by the Evangelical Lutheran Bishop Jakob Kukk and the Metropolitan of the Orthodox Church , Aleksander. Finance Minister Otto Strandman spoke for the government and his President Jaan Tõnisson for parliament . Interior Minister Theodor Rõuk read the obituaries .
Then the funeral procession with the coffins led through the city to the civil and military cemeteries where the dead were buried, with great sympathy from the population. The diplomatic corps and Estonian institutions laid wreaths in an official ceremony at the Kaarli cemetery.
The Estonian government awarded ten Estonians the Cross of Freedom for their military services in the suppression of the uprising: Johan Laidoner , Johan Unt, Hermann Rossländer (posthumously), Rudolf Aaman, Richard Brücker, Rudolf Kaptein, August Keng, Alfred Klemmer, Albert Pesur and August Schaurup. The Freedom Cross is only awarded in the event of war for special achievements in defense of Estonian freedom.
In 1928, the Estonian sculptor Amandus Adamson created a memorial for the four fallen cadets in the Tondi Military School . It was inaugurated on September 16, 1928 by Prime Minister Jaan Tõnisson . The monument was destroyed in 1941 after the Soviet occupation of Estonia. In 2009 the monument in Tondi was recreated by the sculptor Jaak Soans .
Soviet commemoration
During the existence of the Estonian SSR , the Soviet-Estonian authorities erected a memorial at the Baltic Railway Station on December 1, 1974. It was dedicated to the communist insurgents. The monument was the work of sculptor Matti Varik and architect Allan Murdmaa .
The monument was moved to the Estonian History Museum at Maarjamäe Castle after Estonian independence was regained in the early 1990s .
Movie
The events on December 1, 1924 are taken up in free form in the feature film Detsembrikuumus (in German "December fever "). The world premiere took place on October 16, 2008 in Tallinn. The director of the love and action film is the Estonian Asko Kase .
literature
- J. Saar [d. i. Aleksander Palli]: Enamlaste riigipöörde katse Tallinnas 1. detsembril 1924. Osawõtjate tunnistuste ja uurimise andmete järel. Tallinn 1925
- Sulev Vahtre (Ed.): Eesti Ajalugu VI. Tartu 2005, pp. 73-76
Web links
- Fact Sheet (PDF; 13 kB) of the Estonian Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Individual evidence
- ^ Mati Laur et al .: History of Estonia. Tallinn 2002, ISBN 9985-2-0606-1 , pp. 231f.
- ↑ Juhan Maiste , Urmas Oolup : A house on Toompea . The residence of the German Ambassador in Estonia. oO [Tallinn] 1995, p. 42f.
- ^ Vaba Maa , September 18, 1928, p. 1