As a small state squeezed between powerful neighbours, Estonia never had much room for manoeuvre in international affairs. The country’s fate was sealed by the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact of August 1939, when Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union agreed on a mutual invasion of Poland and the carve-up of the rest of Eastern Europe.

Moscow forced Estonia to accept Soviet military bases on its territory in October 1939, going on to occupy the country outright in June 1940. Fraudulent elections produced a pro-Soviet parliament, which obediently declared Estonia’s entry into the Soviet Union. The Soviet authorities tried to break Estonian opposition by deporting as many as ten thousand citizens to Siberia in June 1941.

Turning his back on his Soviet ally, Hitler launched an attack on the USSR on June 22 1941. Any hopes that the Germans would bring freedom to Estonia were soon dashed, with the country being incorporated into the new protectorate of Ostland.

With the collapse of Nazi power and the threat of a Soviet return, many Estonians fled westwards to escape renewed Muscovite oppression