Ants Kaljurand (20 October 1917 – 13 March 1951)
– Metsavennad.esm.ee (in Estonian) popularly known as ''Terrifying Ants'', ( et, Hirmus Ants), was an Estonian Nazi collaborator,

anti-communist Anti-communism is Political movement, political and Ideology, ideological opposition to communism. Organized anti-communism developed after the 1917 October Revolution in the Russian Empire, and it reached global dimensions during the Cold War, w ...

, and

forest brother The Guerrilla war in the Baltic states was an armed struggle which was waged by the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian partisans, called the Forest Brothers (also: the "Brothers of the Wood" and the "Forest Friars"; et, metsavennad, lv, me� ...

during and after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

Early life

Ants Kaljurand was born on 20 October 1917 in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

. His mother Juula was born in 1887. There is no information about his father. Kaljurand grew up in the village of Teesu near Pidula Bay on the island of

Saaremaa Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring . The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the island i ...

. He graduated from Pidula Primary School. In 1935, he went to Koonga Parish (now

Lääneranna Parish Lääneranna Parish ( et, Lääneranna vald) is a rural municipality (Estonia), rural municipality in Pärnu County. It includes the town of Lihula.https://www.laanerannavald.ee/ (accessed 7 March 2020) Settlements ;Town Lihula ;Boroughs Virtsu ...

) in

Pärnu County Pärnu County ( et, Pärnu maakond or ''Pärnumaa''; german: Kreis Pernau) is one of 15 counties of Estonia. It is situated in the south-western part of the country, on the coast of Gulf of Riga, and borders Lääne and Rapla counties to the nor ...

to work as a

farm laborer A farmworker, farmhand or agricultural worker is someone employed for labor in agriculture. In labor law, the term "farmworker" is sometimes used more narrowly, applying only to a hired worker involved in agricultural production, including harv ...

on Sepa Farm. In 1938, he served in the

Estonian Defense Forces The Estonian Defence Forces ( et, Eesti Kaitsevägi) are the unified military forces of the Republic of Estonia. The Estonian Defence Forces consist of the Estonian Land Forces, the Estonian Navy, the Estonian Air Force, and the paramilitary Es ...

and then continued on as a laborer on Sepa Farm.

Partisan life

Kaljurand joined the

Forest Brothers The Guerrilla war in the Baltic states was an armed struggle which was waged by the Latvian, Lithuanian, and Estonian partisans, called the Forest Brothers (also: the "Brothers of the Wood" and the "Forest Friars"; et, metsavennad, lv, mež ...

and in the summer of 1941, attacked

Soviet forces The Soviet Armed Forces, the Armed Forces of the Soviet Union and as the Red Army (, Вооружённые Силы Советского Союза), were the armed forces of the Russian SFSR (1917–1922), the Soviet Union (1922–1991), and th ...

in Lääne and Pärnu Counties. Between 1942 and 1944, during the occupation of Estonia by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

, he served in the

collaborationist Wartime collaboration is cooperation with the enemy against one's country of citizenship in wartime, and in the words of historian Gerhard Hirschfeld, "is as old as war and the occupation of foreign territory". The term ''collaborator'' dates to t ...

paramilitary ''

Omakaitse The Omakaitse ('home guard') was a militia organisation in Estonia. It was founded in 1917 following the Russian Revolution. On the eve of the Occupation of Estonia by the German Empire the Omakaitse units took over major towns in the country a ...

'' and later on the front as part of the

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

.Mandel, p. 215 (in Estonian) 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. During Estonia's Soviet era, Kaljurand served as the local leader of the Armed Combat Union (''Relvastatud Võitluse Liit''), founded under the leadership of Endel Redlich, in

Soontaga Soontaga is a village in Tõrva Parish, Valga County in Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to t ...

Capture and execution

It was not until

midsummer Midsummer is a celebration of the season of summer usually held at a date around the summer solstice. It has pagan pre-Christian roots in Europe. The undivided Christian Church designated June 24 as the feast day of the early Christian mart ...

1949 that the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union. ...

arrested him. 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. 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.

Memorial

On 10 July 2011 a memorial stone of Ants Kaljurand was unveiled at the Mihkli Church in Koonga Parish,

, on the initiative of the Estonian Defense League.

References

External links

Varsti tulevad Truman ja Hirmus Ants!
–

Maaleht http://ekspress.delfi.ee/news/paevauudised/ekspress-on-eesti-suurim-nadalaleht?id=69205373 ''Maaleht'' is the biggest weekly newspaper published in Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Nort ...

(in Estonian) * Raivo Raudkivi
Lapsepõlve lood: öine külaline ehk Hirmsa Antsuga söögilauas
(in Estonian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Kaljurand, Ants 1917 births 1951 deaths Estonian anti-communists Estonian independence activists Estonian Waffen-SS personnel Estonian people executed by the Soviet Union Executed Estonian collaborators with Nazi Germany Nazis executed by the Soviet Union by firearm People from Saaremaa Parish