Jägala concentration camp was a

labour camp A labor camp (or labour camp, see British and American spelling differences, spelling differences) or work camp is a detention facility where inmates are unfree labour, forced to engage in penal labor as a form of punishment. Labor camps have ...

of the Estonian Security Police and SD during the

German occupation of Estonia during World War II In the course of Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany invaded Estonia in July–December 1941, and occupied the country until 1944. Estonia had gained Estonian War of Independence, independence in 1918 from the then-warring German Empire, German ...

. The camp was established in August 1942 on a former artillery range of the

Estonian Army The Estonian Land Forces (), unofficially referred to as the Estonian Army, is the name of the unified ground forces among the Estonian Defense Forces where it has an offensive military formation role. The Estonian Land Forces is currently the ...

near the village of

Jägala, Estonia Jägala () is a village in Jõelähtme Parish, Harju County, in northern Estonia. (retrieved 27 July 2021) It lies on the Jägala river, south of the Tallinn–Narva road ( T1, part of E20), about east of Tallinn. The Jägala–Käravete roa ...

. It existed from August 1942 to August 1943.

Aleksander Laak 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 cam ...

, an

Estonian Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia, a country in the Baltic region in northern Europe * Estonians, people from Estonia, or of Estonian descent * Estonian language * Estonian cuisine * Estonian culture See also

...

, was appointed by ''SS-Sturmbannführer'' Ain-Ervin Mere of Group B of the Estonian Security Police to command the camp with Ralf Gerrets as assistant. Officially Jägala was a "labour education camp" or "Arbeitserziehungslager" for forced forestry and field workers.Weiss-Wendt, p237 The camp housed

Jews Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

deported to Estonia from other countries, including

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

, Germany and

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

. About 3,000 Jews who were not selected for work at their arrival at

Raasiku Raasiku () is a borough () in Raasiku Parish, Harju County, Estonia, with a population of 1,372 (2020). Although situated in a parish with the same name, Raasiku is not the official administrative centre of the municipality (which is Aruküla, l ...

railway station were taken directly from the station and shot at the nearby Kalevi-Liiva extermination site. The camp never held more than 200 prisoners and had a short life span of several months. In November 1942 it was reported that the camp held 53 men and 150 women. Most of the prisoners were eventually transferred to starting with about half of the prisoners moved in December 1942 and the rest in June and July. By August 1943 the camp was closed and most of the remaining inmates were shot. Several sick prisoners were shot at the Jägala camp while about 15 hospitalised prisoners were sent to Kalevi-Liiva to be executed, Laak also killed three women, one of them his sex slave; the camp was then dismantled by September 1943. The estimates for the number of killed at Jägala concentration camp vary. Soviet investigators concluded 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 of 10,000 people killed at the Jägala occurs. However,

Estonian International Commission for Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity Estonian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic S ...

and estimates of scholars place the number of total Jewish victims in Estonia during 1941-1944 around 8,500.e.g.

Wolfgang Benz Wolfgang Benz (born 9 June 1941) is a German historian and Antisemitism, anti-semitism researcher from Ellwangen (Jagst), Ellwangen. He was the director of the Berlin Research Centre on Anti-Semitism, Center for Research on Antisemitism of the Te ...

Handbuch des Antisemitismus: Judenfeindschaft in Geschichte und Gegenwart, Volume 1. 2008. S 111.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jagala Concentration Camp Nazi concentration camps in Estonia Jõelähtme Parish Generalbezirk Estland 1942 in Estonia 1943 in Estonia