Evald Mikson ( is, Eðvald Hinriksson), ( – 27 December 1993) was a goalkeeper in the Estonian national football team, winning seven caps between 1934 and 1938. Mikson played a controversial role as a collaborator during his service in the police during the 1941–1944

Nazi German 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 ...

occupation of Estonia, and he has been accused of committing war crimes against

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

during

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 ...

Overview

In 2001, the

Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating anti-Semitism, tolerance educat ...

published allegations that Mikson committed war crimes against the local Jews during the German occupation of Estonia, when he was working as Deputy Head of Police 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 ' ...

Harjumaa Harju County ( et, Harju maakond or ''Harjumaa''), is one of the fifteen counties of Estonia. It is situated in Northern Estonia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, and borders Lääne-Viru County to the east, Järva County to the sout ...

. Mikson's descendants have reportedly claimed that he had been at least on one occasion imprisoned by the Germans for hiding details about witnesses from his superiors, howevever records obtained by the Simon Wiesenthal Center indicate that he was actually detained for possessing gold stolen from his Jewish victims. Mikson escaped from Estonia to Sweden in 1944. In 1946, he was transported to the Norwegian border, where a boat to Venezuela waited. However, the boat was stranded in Iceland, and he remained there until his death. Mikson himself claimed in 1992 that he was being called a Nazi collaborator and war criminal because of a "former colleague from the Estonian police force who is now a rich man living in Venezuela and who wanted revenge after I wrote an article about him and his crimes against Estonians in World War II". In 1999, the

Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity The Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity (; also known as the History Commission or Max Jakobson Commission) was the commission established by President of Estonia Lennart Meri in October 1998 to investiga ...

singled out Mikson, along with

Ain-Ervin Mere Ain Mere (from birth to Estification Ervin Martson; 22 February 1903 – 5 April 1969) was an Estonian military officer in World War II. During the German occupation of Estonia, he served in the German-controlled Estonian Security Police and SD. ...

, Julius Ennok and Ervin Viks, for having signed numerous death warrants when they were members of the Political Police (Department B IV), headed by Ennok.

Family

Mikson was the father of

Jóhannes Eðvaldsson Jóhannes Eðvaldsson (3 September 1950 – 24 January 2021) was an Icelandic international football player. He won the Scottish league championship twice with Celtic F.C. and the Scottish Cup once. Playing career Jóhannes started his career ...

, who played for

Celtic F.C. The Celtic Football Club, commonly known as Celtic (), is a Scottish professional football club based in Glasgow, which plays in the Scottish Premiership. The club was founded in 1887 with the purpose of alleviating poverty in the immigran ...

in the 1970s, and of Atli Eðvaldsson, s former player for

Borussia Dortmund Ballspielverein Borussia 09 e. V. Dortmund, commonly known as Borussia Dortmund (), BVB (), or simply Dortmund (), is a German professional sports club based in Dortmund, North Rhine-Westphalia. It is best known for its men's professional footb ...

, and player and coach for the Icelandic national football team.''Fortuna-Held Edvaldsson (†62) Als mir Atli Frikadellen mit Marmelade anbot''
express.de, 3 September 2019

References

External links

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Iceland, the Jews, and Anti-Semitism, 1625-2004
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mikson, Evald 1911 births 1993 deaths Sportspeople from Tartu People from the Governorate of Livonia Estonian footballers Estonia international footballers Estonian collaborators with Nazi Germany Estonian World War II refugees Association football goalkeepers Estonian expatriates in Iceland Estonian police officers