The Forest Brothers Resistance was a guerrilla insurgency against Soviet occupation in the Baltic states, including Estonia, from 1944 to 1956. This movement emerged as a response to Soviet reoccupation of Estonia and the broader Baltic region at the end of World War II, after a brief period of Nazi German occupation.
Estonians, alongside Latvians and Lithuanians, took to the forests to evade Soviet conscription, forming partisan groups known as the Forest Brothers (in Estonian, Metsavennad). These partisans waged a guerrilla war against Soviet forces, aiming to resist Soviet rule and restore their independence, which had been lost in 1940 when the Soviet Union annexed the Baltic states under the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact. The Soviet political repression, mass deportations, and efforts to suppress national identity fueled this armed resistance.
In Estonia, approximately 10,000 men joined the Forest Brothers, particularly in regions like Võru County and Tartu, where they conducted attacks against Soviet authorities and collaborators. At its peak, the resistance controlled several rural areas, creating significant disruption to Soviet operations. However, by the early 1950s, the Soviet regime used extensive intelligence operations, including infiltrators, to dismantle the movement. Many partisans were killed or captured, and the resistance gradually diminished.
The Forest Brothers hoped that the Western powers would intervene on their behalf, but with the lack of direct Western support and the brutal suppression of uprisings like Hungary’s in 1956, armed resistance in the Baltics waned. Despite the eventual suppression of the Forest Brothers, their struggle became a symbol of resistance against Soviet occupation, and they are remembered as national heroes in post-Soviet Estonia.
This period is a key chapter in Estonia's 20th-century history, highlighting the intense struggle for independence against two occupying forces, first Nazi Germany and then the Soviet Union. The Forest Brothers' legacy remains an important part of Estonia's national identity and their fight contributed to the broader narrative of Estonia’s ultimate restoration of independence in 1991.