 | This article includes a list ofgeneral references, butit lacks sufficient correspondinginline citations. Please help toimprove this article byintroducing more precise citations.(February 2021) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
 | You can helpexpand this article with text translated fromthe corresponding article in Estonian. (June 2022)Click [show] for important translation instructions.
|
Ants Kaljurand | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Mugshot of Kaljurand in mid-1900s | |
| Nickname(s) | Terrifying Ants[1] |
| Born | (1917-10-20)20 October 1917 Tallinn,Autonomous Governorate of Estonia,Russian Republic |
| Died | 13 March 1951(1951-03-13) (aged 33) Tallinn,Estonia |
| Allegiance |  Estonia (1938-1940) Nazi Germany (1942-1944)RVL (1945-1949) |
| Service | Estonian Defense Forces Estonian Defense League Omakaitse Waffen-SS Armed Combat Union |
| Known for | Being a Forest Brother |
| Battles / wars | Summer War World War II Guerrilla war in the Baltic states |
Ants Kaljurand (20 October 1917 – 13 March 1951)[2] popularly known asTerrifying Ants, (Estonian:Hirmus Ants), was an EstonianNazi collaborator,anti-communist, andforest brother during and afterWorld War II.
Ants Kaljurand was born on 20 October 1917 inTallinn.[2] His mother Juula was born in 1887. There is no information about his father.[2] Kaljurand grew up in the village of Teesu nearPidula Bay on the island ofSaaremaa. He graduated from Pidula Primary School.
In 1935, he went to Koonga Parish (nowLääneranna Parish) inPärnu County to work as afarm laborer on Sepa Farm. In 1938, he served in theEstonian Defense Forces and then continued on as a laborer on Sepa Farm.[3]
Kaljurand joined theForest Brothers and in the summer of 1941, attackedSoviet forces inLääne and Pärnu Counties.[2] Between 1942 and 1944, during theoccupation of Estonia byNazi Germany, he served in thecollaborationist paramilitaryOmakaitse and later on the front as part of theWaffen-SS.[4] After the retreat of the Germans in 1944, he remained a prisoner of war on Saaremaa, but escaped from the prison camp in December of the same year and continued his activities in the Forest Brothers.[2]
DuringEstonia's Soviet era, Kaljurand served as the local leader of theArmed Combat Union (Relvastatud Võitluse Liit), founded under the leadership of Endel Redlich, inSoontaga.
It was not untilmidsummer 1949 that theNKVD arrested him.[2][5]
On 24 June 1949 Ants Kaljurand and two members of his squad were discovered sleeping in the woods near the village of Võitra. Forest Brother Aleksander Valter and Arved Pill were seriously wounded in an exchange of fire. Ants tried to escape, but was wounded with a bayonet and captured.[6]
Kaljurand, Pill and Juhan Metsaäär were sentenced to death, others to from ten to twenty-five years in a prison camp. They were executed on 13 March 1951.[2][7]
On 10 July 2011 a memorial stone commemorating Ants Kaljurand was unveiled at theMihkli Church inKoonga Parish,Pärnu County, at the initiative of theEstonian Defense League.[8]
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
