MONUMENT TO ESTONIANS WHO FOUGHT WITH NAZIS TO BE UNVEILED IN TALLINN

TALLINN, February 3 (RIA Novosti's Nikolai Adashkevich) - A monument to Estonians who fought with Nazis against the Soviet Union Army in 1944 is expected to be unveiled in Tallinn on May 8, 2005 on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the victory over Nazism. The project is financed by various foreign organizations of WWII veterans and Tallinn's City Hall. The monument costs $75,000.

The memorial will consist of flagstaffs, crosses, plates with the names of the Estonians who fought against the Soviet Army in 1944 and the cast-iron map of Estonia with the sites and dates of battles, chairman of the Tallinn society of freedom-fighters Kuno Raude told RIA Novosti. The monument will be unveiled not far from the memorial to Soviet soldiers on the Maarjamagi Hill.

According to Mr. Raude he asked the Estonian Prime Minister if the government would participate in the opening ceremony of the memorial. Prime Minister Parts promised to contact the leaders of the Estonian union of freedom-fighters on February 11 and to discuss the issue with them.

Representatives of veteran organizations from Germany, Denmark, Norway and Belgium are to attend the opening ceremony.

The bloodiest battles in Estonia's history were fought in July-August 1944 in Narva's outskirts. The Estonian and German troops together with Danish, Norwegian, Walloon and Flemish units fought against the Soviet Army.