''We Lived for Estonia'' We Lived for Estonia Festival Cinéma Nordique ( et, Elasime Eestile) is a documentary film about the Forest brothers 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 ...
.
Plot
During June 1941, Nazi forces occupied Estonia. By 1944, when the Soviet-Nazi frontline was drawing towards the Estonian border from the East, Alfred Käärmann was conscripted into the German military. By September 1944 the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, after ...
had again occupied Estonia. Alfred was forced to make a decision: whether to stay in Estonia or retreat with the Germans. He chose the former, However he risked arrest and deportation by the Soviets. In order to survive, he, like many other Estonian men, took refuge in the forests. They were known as the Forest brothers. Alfred Käärmann discusses his experience with the Forest brothers.