According to the Saturday issue of Estonia's `Eesti Paevaleht` newspaper, the alderman of the Lihula district, Tiit Madisson, announced this at the latest meeting of the district's administrative board. The monument is to be inaugurated on August 20.
The newspaper assumes that it may be the same monument which had originally been set up in the town of Parnu in 2002 and then, following a subsequent international row, dismantled by the local authorities.
Speaking at the meeting of the district's administrative board, Tiit Madisson said that he would like to see a plaque with the following inscription on the monument: "To all Estonian soldiers who died in the WWII for their fatherland and a free Europe in 1940-1945". It was this text along with a bronze relief of a soldier clad in the SS uniform that caused removal of a monument set up in Parnu.
/The Waffen SS units were part of Germany's Wehrmacht only on operational terms. In fact, these units constituted the backbone of the ruling Nazi party's own military force. They were set up by Adolf Hitler's direct order as `Schutzstaffein Tiit Madisson refused to meet with journalists. Chairman of the Lihula district council, Jaak Kastepold said that the issue, despite the board's decision, remained open. He said that in principle the council supported the idea of perpetuating the memory of fallen solders but the image of a soldier in the SS uniform may cause additional problems.
