Aleksander (Alexander) Laak (24 August 1907 – 6 September 1960) was a lieutenant and the commander of the Jägala concentration camp during the German occupation of Estonia. The estimates for the number of killed at Jägala concentration camp vary widely. The Soviet investigators reached the conclusion that 2,000–3,000 were killed in Jägala and Kalevi-Liiva taken together, but the number 5,000 (as determined by the

Extraordinary State Commission The Extraordinary State Commission for the Establishment and Investigation of the Atrocities of the German Fascist Invaders and Their Accomplices and the Damage They Caused to Citizens, Collective Farms, Public Organizations, State Enterprises and ...

in 1944) was written into the verdict. In modern sources, the number 10,000 occurs. Some commentators have also given figures ranging from 100,000 (

Michael Elkins Michael Elkins (22 January 1917, in New York, United States – 10 March 2001, in Jerusalem) was an American broadcaster and journalist who worked for the American network, CBS, for the magazine ''Newsweek'' and then for 17 years with the BBC ...

, Jonathan Freedland) to 125,000 to 300,000 (

Warren Kinsella Warren James Kinsella (born August 1960) is a Canadian lawyer, author, musician, political consultant, and commentator. Kinsella has written commentary in most of Canada's major newspapers and several magazines, including ''The Globe and Mail ...

), however, such figures contradict the findings of 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 ...

and also the estimates of scholars who place the number of total Jewish victims for the Estonia of 1941–1944 at 8,500. Aleksander Laak was also known to have arranged drunken orgies with female inmates, whom were forced to participate and then murdered afterwards. He emigrated to Canada after World War II, in 1948. In 1960, he was implicated in the

Holocaust trials in Soviet Estonia A number of war crimes trials were held during the Soviet occupation of Estonia (1944–1991). The best-known trial was brought in 1961, by the Soviet authorities against local collaborators who had participated in the Holocaust during the Germa ...

, and exposed as living as a naturalized Canadian citizen under the name of ''Alex Laak'' in suburban

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, Canada by the Soviet news agency

TASS The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...

and Canadian journalists. Thereafter, after reading of the arrests of

Jaan Viik A number of war crimes trials were held during the Soviet occupation of Estonia (1944–1991). The best-known trial was brought in 1961, by the Soviet authorities against local collaborators who had participated in the Holocaust during the Germa ...

and Ralf Gerrets (both of whom were later convicted of crimes against humanity, sentenced to death, and executed in 1961) for mass killings of mostly Jewish East Europeans while under Nazi occupation, and being himself identified as a mass murderer, he apparently committed suicide by hanging himself in the garage of his home at the age of 53, on 6 September 1960. Prior to his death, Laak admitted to being a collaborator, but said he had nothing to do with Jägala. It has been speculated that Laak was killed by vigilantes. Israeli journalist Michael Elkins claimed that Laak was in fact confronted one day after his wife had left their house to go to the movies, by a Jewish Avenger squad that clandestinely murdered Nazis. He was, according to Elkins, confronted with his crimes, and their intended punishment, and he accepted their offer of being allowed to commit suicide rather than be killed. An investigation of the death was reopened in 1991. Laak's friends said he killed himself to protect relatives in Canada and back in Estonia from potential reprisals.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laak, Aleksander 1907 births 1960 deaths People from Saaremaa Parish People from Kreis Ösel People from Winnipeg Holocaust perpetrators in Estonia Estonian anti-communists Estonian collaborators with Nazi Germany Estonian emigrants to Canada Soviet rapists Nazi concentration camp commandants Nazis who committed suicide Suicides by hanging in Canada Suicides in Manitoba

See also

References