Harald Nugiseks
| Harald Nugiseks | |
|---|---|
 Harald Nugiseks in 1944 | |
| Birth date | 22 October 1921 |
| Place of birth | Karjaküla, Särevere Parish, Järva County, Estonia |
| Death date | 2 January 2014 (aged 92) |
| Place of death | Parnu, Estonia |
| Allegiance | |
| Service/branch |  Estonian Army  Waffen-SS
|
| Years of service | 1941–1945 |
| Rank | SS-Oberscharführer (Sergeant) Honorary Captain (1992; Estonian Defense League) |
| Unit | 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) |
| Battles/wars | |
| Awards | Iron Cross 2nd & 1st class Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross |
Harald Nugiseks (22 October 1921 – 2 January 2014) was an Estonian NCO, who served voluntarily in 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian) of the Waffen SS. SS-Oberscharführer (Waffen-Oberscharführer der SS) Nugiseks was also one of the four Estonian soldiers who received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross.
Contents
Life
Nugiseks was born on Vanaõu farmstead, Karjaküla village, Järva County, Särevere Province, Estonia. His parents were peasant farmers, and Harald attended the basic school at Laupa.
WWII
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The Russian occupation was so bad, that in June 1941, everyone welcomed German troops as liberators. Nugiseks, who was able to avoid mobilization in the Red Army, joined the Estonian Security battalion from the Commercial Institute at Pairu on 2 October 1941. In 1993, he stated:
- I must state that they behaved impressively, the first act they did after clearing the Soviets out was hand out food and reopen our Churches. They won the admiration of the people very quickly, and of myself. I was recruited to serve in a sort of home army, to guard against the Soviets who were hiding out. The Germans quickly moved on and we were tasked with hunting down bandits. What brought me to the SS? I liked what Germany was doing for Europe, and how they freed us, and allowed us to remain free; everything was for Estonia, and Europe. It was hard; I cannot down play that, we had Estonian and German instructors who drilled us at all hours of the day and night, we would march and turn in at 9pm, then they would run in banging pots and mess kits at 1am for more. We trained on German weapons mostly, but sometimes had to use captured ones as well. We drilled often, and became very proficient on all weapons. I will say they treated us as their equals however, in the SS training was learning, not being broken and humiliated. We learned to be self-reliant, as well as trust in our comrades. I want to dispel a myth some claim, we never were forced to be slaves to the Germans or Hitler. We had our own officers and leaders, and everything we were doing was for Estonia. At the end of our training, we met RFSS Himmler, he came to see our final parade, and inspect us. He spoke to us, and lamented we are on a holy crusade against eastern bolshevism which will enslave all peoples of the earth if we do not prevail. He had us ready to get at them; a great cheer went up for our cause. [...] My first actions were with the home guard, we were tasked with catching soviet soldiers, and anyone who aided them. This whole situation started with the German attack, many fled with the soviets, but some could not make it all the way. They hid in the forests and survived by stealing from farmers. They united with soviet soldiers who refused to surrender, and they roved in small bands, cutting lines, and burning bridges as they became bolder. My first action was when a band was trapped close to the border, a youngster who was sent by her parents to tell us their village was taken over tipped us off and said they killed the mayor. We surrounded it and immediately came under fire, our repeated calls for a safe surrender and assurance of POW camps were met with machine guns. We suffered our first loses. When it was all over they were all dead, they also shot down a few civilians who tried to escape when the shooting started. Most of my time in the guard was quiet even though now we roamed away from our borders, but after the German loss at Stalingrad, many wanted to do more to help. Many had already went to Germany for work, or volunteered to serve in the Estonian SS legion in 1942. Early in 43 I believe was when we were given the option to serve in a new Estonian SS regiment, I was eager to go, as were my comrades, following in the footstep of other Estonian men. It did not take long for us to meet the Soviets in battle. We were trained well, and eager for revenge against the hoards who caused our people such misery. [...] The Russian people were good, our fight was never with them, in fact, we maintained very good relations anywhere we went on the east front. The average soldier was forced to fight, and his will was broken very easily, because they were forced to the front, they lacked disciple, and were prone to committing crimes out of frustration. They easily turned on their own people, who they viewed as traitors; many times, we came upon villages where most all inhabitants were killed for cooperating with us especially in the Ukraine. Later they claimed we did these crimes. The partisans, whom many were Jews, were particularly evil, that is why most of the time, when we caught them they had to be executed. They would kill soldier, civilian, even children to get at anyone working against them. I never will forget towards the end, they captured a town, and a few of the youngsters had joined the local version of the Hitler Youth, they hung every child, seven, eight, nine year olds, they hung them, and shot the parents.
In 1943, he voluntarily joined the Estonian Legion under Franz Xaver Josef Maria Augsberger, therefore he voluntarily joined the Waffen-SS. Nugiseks was wounded in late 1943 but returned to combat in February 1944 near Pskov. He received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross for leading the capture of the Vaasa-Siivertsi-Vepsküla bridgehead. As the I Battalion, Waffen-Grenadier Regiment der SS 46 lost almost all of its officers, Nugiseks stepped in as the leader of the attack. He immediately changed tactics, loading the supply of hand grenade onto sledges so the attackers would not have to crawl back for the supplies over the mine field. With the hand grenades being passed on along the trenches, the bridgehead was squeezed in from the north by the "rolling" tactics. He was wounded once more.
Nugiseks was mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht and in the magazine Signal following his Knight's Cross award, which was personally given to him on 9 April 1944 by SA-Obergruppenführer Karl-Siegmund Litzmann (1893–1945), the German General Commissioner for Generalbezirk Estland (Estonia) in the Reichskommissariat Ostland during the German occupation, while Nugiseks was in hospital not able to stand.
- Harald Nugiseks was a junior officer in the 20th SS (Estonian) Grenadier division during the fighting at Narwa in early 1944. On February 29th of that year the Germans made their move to crush the Soviet Vaasa-Vepskula-Siiverts bridgehead over the Narwa river, and the next day Nugiseks’ unit went into the attack. A few hundred meters short of Soviet lines they came under heavy small-arms and artillery fire, and suffered heavy losses as they inched closer to the Soviet trenches. They were able to get to about 50 meters away, but by then the officers had become casualties and the attack was in danger of stalling. At this point Nugiseks took over a group of about twenty men and they finally broke into the Soviet trenches, taking them over in close combat. They were then able to beat off Soviet counterattacks that lasted the next several days. Nugiseks, whose actions were able to bring the battle to a victorious conclusion when the outcome seemed certain, was awarded the Knight’s Cross as the first Estonian soldier of the Waffen-SS to be so decorated.[1]
The award ceremony (Ritterkreuzverleihungszeremonie) was filmed. In the action the divisional commander, SS-Standartenfuhrer Franz Augsberger, was wounded and also received the Knights Cross. SS-Unterscharfuhrer Nugiseks was only 22 years old leading a Zug (platoon) of Estonians defending the homeland against the invasion of the Red Army. During the Soviet assault on Estonia in September 1944, Nugiseks's home was destroyed.
Post-war
Nugiseks was captured by Czech partisans in May 1945 and put in a POW camp. He was released in November 1946, after which he was arrested again in February 1947 and sentenced to ten years in the Gulag and 5 years deportation in Siberia. After three unsuccessful escape attempts, he was finally amnestied in 1953 but was only freed 1958. Still, he himself and his family members faced repressions under the Soviet regime.
- By May ‘45 it was all over, Germany was laid waste and exhausted her strength, we knew what lay in store for us with the soviets so our leader suggested we move west and surrender to the allies. We did not make it; partisans surprised us and took us prisoner. They were younger, perhaps recently deciding to turn and had not tasted hate or battle. They did put weapons in our faces and threaten us, but it could have been worse, as I learned of all the murders Czechs committed later. They sent us to a POW camp for a while then turned us over to the soviets who put us on trial and sent us to the gulags of Siberia. We were angry, but more terrified at was coming. The soviets were pretty hard on us, we were with tens of thousands of others, all who fought the soviets. The Gulags held anyone from old, young, woman, or pregnant. They brought us in, cut our hair, made us take a shower, deloused us, and beat anyone who was not fast enough for their liking. The personnel at these camps were those unfit for military duty, or combat, so they had a grudge against us soldiers. The higher your rank, the worse they were. Countless people died in these camps, the hygiene was bad, no medical care unless it was a contagious disease, no mail, and no religious services. Our unit’s clergy had it bad; their faith was tested in the extreme. Anyone who professed a deep faith in Hitler or Europe’s fight was removed and never seen again. I managed to survive since I was so young and the SS kept us fit and healthy. When asked why I fought, I just said I had to. They took it as being forced, but I kept my oath and my honor, and I knew why I fought.[2]
Nugiseks managed to return to Estonia in 1958, where he worked until retirement. In the 1970s, Nugiseks built a house for his family with his own hands. As a result of his service to his country, in 1992 Nugiseks was made a honorary captain of the Estonian Defence League (Pärnu County district), which was included in the Defence Forces as a national defence organisation on 28 April 1992. He was also a honorary captain of the Defence League’s boys’ corps, the "Young Eagles" (Noored Kotkad).[3] Nugiseks attended another Estonian Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross holder, Alfons Rebane's reburial in Estonia in 1999 by the Estonian government. In October 2008, he was awarded with Medal of Gratitude by Estonian people (Medaille des Dankes des Estnischen Volkes), after collecting of 4229 signatures.
Bust
A bronze bust of anti-communist freedom fighter SS-Oberscharführer Harald Nugiseks was unveiled at the Laupa school in Estonia. The ceremony took place on the occasion of his 95th birthday on 22 October 2016. On 27 October 2016, the Russian Foreign Ministry called on several international organizations to condemn the inauguration of the bust.
Death
Harald Nugiseks died on 2 January 2014 (aged 92) in Parnu, Estonia. As a (retired) captain, Nugiseks was buried with military honours according to the military funeral protocol of the Estonian Defence Forces. Archbishop of the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church Einar Soone and Chief Chaplain Lt. Col. Taavi Laanepere led the Defence Forces funeral ceremony at the Tori church. "Nugiseks lived a long and valiant life, and in this sense he was also fortunate in that he saw a free Estonia and people again," said Brig. Gen. Meelis Kiili, the commander of the Defence League, at the service. "As commander of the Defence League, I confirm that we do our utmost so that we will never see a foreign occupation in Estonia again that would rob our people of their happiness, life and dreams," he said furthermore. The Guard Battalion's honorary company stood at attention in honour of the deceased, and Nugiseks received a gun salute in farewell. His remains were cremated and were interred in the wall of Tori Church.
Gallery
Awards and decorations (excerpt)
- Iron Cross (1939), 2nd and 1st Class
- 2nd Class on 27 February 1944
- Eastern Front Medal
- Infantry Assault Badge (Infanterie-Sturmabzeichen) in Silver
- Wound Badge (Verwundetenabzeichen 1939) in Black
- Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 9 April 1944 as SS-Unterscharführer und Zugführer in der 1. Kompanie/SS-Freiwilligen-Grenadier-Regiment 46 (estnisches Nr. 2)/20. Estnische SS-Freiwilligen-Division
- 25 post-war decorations
- In 2001, Nugiseks was also awarded the White Cross of the Estonian Defence League, Third Class as well as the Gold Cross of the Estonian Reserve Officers' Association. In 2008, the Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church awarded Nugiseks the Cross of Merit, and later that year he was likewise presented with the Estonian Medal of Gratitude.
