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 The president of the Republic of Estonia ( et, Eesti Vabariigi President) is the head of state of the Republic of Estonia. The current president is Alar Karis, elected by Parliament on 31 August 2021, replacing Kersti Kaljulaid. Estonia is on ...

Lennart Meri Lennart Georg Meri (; 29 March 1929 – 14 March 2006) was an Estonian politician, writer, and film director. He served as the second president of Estonia from 1992 to 2001. Meri was among the leaders of the movement to restore Estonian indepen ...

in October 1998 to investigate

crimes against humanity Crimes against humanity are widespread or systemic acts committed by or on behalf of a ''de facto'' authority, usually a state, that grossly violate human rights. Unlike war crimes, crimes against humanity do not have to take place within the ...

committed in

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, an ...

or against its citizens during the Soviet and

German occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

, such as Soviet deportations from Estonia and

the Holocaust in Estonia The Holocaust in Estonia refers to the Nazi crimes during the 1941-1944 occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany. Prior to the war, there were approximately 4,300 Estonian Jews. During the 1940-1941 Soviet occupation of Estonia, about 10% of ...

. It held its first session in

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju '' ...

in January 1999. To promote independent inquiry and avoid

conflict of interest A conflict of interest (COI) is a situation in which a person or organization is involved in multiple interests, financial or otherwise, and serving one interest could involve working against another. Typically, this relates to situations i ...

, there were no Estonian citizens among its members. Finnish diplomat

Max Jakobson Max Jakobson (September 30, 1923 – March 9, 2013) was a Finnish diplomat and journalist of Finnish-Jewish descent. Jakobson was an instrumental figure in shaping Finland's policy of neutrality during the Cold War. Max Jakobson was born i ...

was appointed chairman of the commission. Research of the Commission has been relied on by the

European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECHR or ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights. The court hears applications alleging that ...

, for example in its decision to not grant

certiorari In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...

to review a complaint by August Kolk and Pyotr Kislyy, who had been convicted of

due to their roles in the Soviet deportations from Estonia.

Eesti Päevaleht ''Eesti Päevaleht'' ''("Estonia Daily")'' is a major daily Estonian newspaper, from the same publishers as the weekly ''Eesti Ekspress''. It has a daily circulation of around 36,000. History and profile ''Eesti Päevaleht'' was founded on 5 Jun ...

27 May 2008
Max Jakobsoni komisjon lõpetab uurimise
by Anneli Ammas The Commission fulfilled its purpose by 2007 and was succeeded by the

Estonian Institute of Historical Memory The Estonian Institute of Historical Memory (Estonian: ''Eesti Mälu Instituut'') is a non-governmental foundation that focuses on the investigation of war crimes and human rights violations committed by totalitarian regimes and research of tota ...

Members

, Chairman *

Uffe Ellemann-Jensen Uffe Ellemann-Jensen (, informal: ; 1 November 1941 – 18 June 2022) was a Danish politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Denmark in the Conservative-led Poul Schlüter Administration from 1982 to 1993. He was leader of the Da ...

, President of the European Liberal Party, former

Foreign Minister of Denmark The Minister for Foreign Affairs ( da, Udenrigsminister, fo, Uttanríkisráðharra, kl, Nunanut Allanut Ministeri) is the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark. The officeholder is in charge of Danish (Denmark proper,), " metropolit ...

* Paul A. Goble, Director of Communications of Public Relations of

Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) is a United States government funded organization that broadcasts and reports news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Caucasus, and the Middle East where it says tha ...

* Nicholas Lane, Chairman of the International Relations Commission of the

American Jewish Committee The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a Jewish advocacy group established on November 11, 1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and, according to ''The New York Times'', is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish o ...

Peter Reddaway Peter Reddaway (born September 18, 1939) is a British-American political scientist, a Russia expert, known primarily for his study of its human rights and dissident movement. Peter Reddaway graduated from Cambridge University and did graduate s ...

, Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at the

George Washington University , mottoeng = "God is Our Trust" , established = , type = Private federally chartered research university , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.8 billion (2022) , presi ...

Arseny Roginsky Arseny Borisovich Roginsky (russian: Арсе́ний Бори́сович Роги́нский; 30 March 1946 – 18 December 2017)Luxmoore, Matthew (23 December 2017).. ''The New York Times''. nytimes.com. Retrieved 25 December 2 ...

, Chairman of the Council of the Scientific and Educational Centre

Memorial A memorial is an object or place which serves as a focus for the memory or the commemoration of something, usually an influential, deceased person or a historical, tragic event. Popular forms of memorials include landmark objects or works of ...

of Moscow, Scientific Programme Manager *

Wolfgang von Stetten Wolfgang Freiherr von Stetten (born 22 January 1941 in Niederwartha) is a German lawyer and politician of the Christian Democratic Union of Germany (CDU). He served as Member of Parliament (the Bundestag) from 1990 to 2002. He represented the cons ...

, Professor at

Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages Member of the German Parliament (german: Mitglied des Deutschen Bundestages) is the official name given to a deputy in the German Bundestag. ''Member of Parliament'' refers to the elected members of the federal Bundestag Parliament at the Reichs ...

Notes

Sources

Official website
* Mälksoo, Lauri (2001)
Soviet Genocide? Communist Mass Deportations in the Baltic States and International Law
''

Leiden Journal of International Law Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeratio ...

'' 14, 757–787.

External links and further reading

Links to reports of the Commission in English, Estonian, and Russian
Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic Occupation of the Baltic states 1998 establishments in Estonia {{estonia-stub