Ralph lived with his mother, Ida, and his brother Karl in Rahumäe, a suburb of Tallinn. The Soviets had made it illegal for citizens to own radios and listen to foreign broadcasts, but Ralph and Karl, like many Estonians, secretly kept a radio so they could hear news from outside the country. The newspapers could no longer be trusted. They carried what the Communist authorities wanted people to read.
At first, the Soviet presence was mostly visible through military bases and soldiers. Before long, arrests and disappearances became part of daily life. As a policeman, Karl sometimes witnessed them firsthand.
One day he was riding his horse along a narrow street in Tallinn when he noticed a man, woman and young boy walking along the sidewalk. A large black car followed slowly behind them. A window was open, and someone inside was calling to the man. The family kept walking.
Darkness at noon,
The car pulled ahead and stopped at the curb. Two men got out. One carried a pistol.
Karl urged his horse toward them, but by the time he arrived, the woman had been struck with the butt of the pistol and knocked to the ground. The man was forced into the car at gunpoint and driven away. The men were secret police.
Incidents like this were taking place throughout Estonia.
Ralph and Mutti were best friends, but they were also rivals for Eitzi. Both were in love with her. That spring, Mutti and Eitzi announced that they were getting married. Ralph was happy for them, although he wondered whether he would ever find someone like Eitzi. The wedding was planned for the end of June.
Then came June 14
After the Soviet occupation and annexation of Estonia in 1940, the NKVD prepared lists of so-called “anti-Soviet,” “socially dangerous,” and “kulak” elements and their families—politicians, officers, civil servants, farmers, intellectuals, and others.In the night and early hours of 13–14 June 1941, squads woke people, read a decree, gave them little time to pack (often an hour or less), confiscated property, and trucked them to rail stations. Tens of thousands were loaded into freight/cattle cars. Men were often separated from women and children. The operation ran across the country at once. (See "Sea of Tears" Memorial.)
Ralph said that during the night, the NKVD went from house to house throughout Estonia, arresting and deporting thousands of people. By morning, families across Tallinn were discovering that husbands, fathers, wives, mothers and children had been taken away. The streets were filled with wailing for lost loved ones. Mutti was among them. There would be no wedding.
Eitzi's family had relatives in Sweden and arranged for her to leave Estonia. Within a short time she was gone as well. Ralph had lost his two closest friends. He never saw either of them again.
As Soviet control tightened, Ralph heard more stories about people being taken away by the NKVD. His mother worried about both of her sons. Karl tried to reassure her that Ralph was probably safe because of his damaged leg.
Karl knew that his own position was different. As a policeman, he believed he might eventually be arrested. He began sleeping in different places rather than returning home every night.
Ralph made an important distinction when he told me about this period. He did not remember ordinary Russian soldiers as the people Estonians feared most. Soldiers could be seen at stores, parks and dance halls. It was the NKVD they feared. The secret police were the ones who came looking for people.
Eventually they began arresting Estonian police officers. The first arrests took place at police barracks and headquarters in Tallinn. Karl was not there when the arrests began.
When he learned what was happening, he went into hiding. He did not tell Ralph or his mother where he was.
Ralph never knew exactly why the police were being arrested. He assumed one reason was that they were armed and therefore represented a possible source of resistance.
A few days later, shortly after supper, Ralph and Ida were sitting at the table talking about Karl when two vehicles stopped outside their house. There was a knock at the door.
Before anyone could answer, about half a dozen NKVD men in civilian clothes and greatcoats entered the house with pistols drawn. Ralph and his mother were forced against the wall. Ralph felt the barrel of a pistol pressed into his ribs. From his mother's expression, he could tell that a gun was being held against her as well.
Then Ralph heard something else. The radio was playing upstairs. He knew they could be arrested if the NKVD discovered it. The men searched the house. Two went outside with flashlights while others searched the rooms. Two remained with Ralph and Ida.
Their leader questioned Ralph about Karl.
“You know where he is, don't you?”
“No, I don't know,” Ralph said. “And I don't want to know.”
“I don't believe you.”
The questioning continued, but eventually the officer ordered his men to leave.
Before going, he turned to Ida.
“When you hear from your son, tell him his country, Mother Russia, needs him. If he turns himself in, everything will be fine.” Then he added, “Otherwise, when we find him, he'll be shot like the rest.”
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