Harju County, is one of the fifteen counties of Estonia. It is situated in northern Estonia, on the southern coast of the Gulf of Finland, and borders Lääne-Viru County to the east, Järva County to the southeast, Rapla County to the south, and Lääne County to the southwest. The capital and largest city of Estonia, Tallinn, is situated in Harju County. Harju is the largest county in Estonia in terms of population, as almost half (45%) of Estonia's population lives in Harju County.
Aseri is a small borough in Viru-Nigula Parish, Lääne-Viru County, in northeastern Estonia. As of the 2011 census, the settlement's population was 1,439, of which the Estonians were 506 (35.2%).
Rae Parish is a rural municipality in northern Estonia. It is a part of Harju County. The municipality has a population of 23,145 and covers an area of 206.7 km². The population density is 111.974/km2 (290.01/sq mi).
Klooga concentration camp was a Nazi forced labor subcamp of the Vaivara concentration camp complex established in September 1943 in Harju County, during World War II, in German-occupied Estonia near the village of Klooga. The Vaivara camp complex was commanded by German officers Hans Aumeier, Otto Brennais and Franz von Bodmann and consisted of 20 field camps, some of which existed only for short periods.
Lihula is a town in Lääneranna Parish, Pärnu County, Estonia.
In the course of Operation Barbarossa, Nazi Germany invaded Estonia in July–December 1941, and occupied the country until 1944. Estonia had gained independence in 1918 from the then-warring German and Russian Empires. However, in the wake of the August 1939 Nazi-Soviet Pact, the Soviet Union had invaded and occupied Estonia in June 1940, and the country was formally annexed into the USSR in August 1940.
The history of the Jews during World War II is almost synonymous with the persecution and murder of Jews which was committed on an unprecedented scale in Europe and European North Africa. The massive scale of the Holocaust which happened during World War II greatly affected the Jewish people and world public opinion, which only understood the dimensions of the Final Solution after the war. The genocide, known as HaShoah in Hebrew, aimed at the elimination of the Jewish people on the European continent. It was a broadly organized operation led by Nazi Germany, in which approximately six million Jews were murdered methodically and with horrifying cruelty. Although the Holocaust was organized by the highest levels of the Nazi German government, the vast majority of Jews murdered were not German, but were instead residents of countries invaded by the Nazis after 1938. Of the approximately 6 million Jews murdered by the Nazis, approximately 160,000 to 180,000 were German Jews. During the Holocaust in occupied Poland, more than one million Jews were murdered in gas chambers of the Auschwitz concentration camp alone. The murder of the Jews of Europe affected Jewish communities in Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Channel Islands, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Libya, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, the Netherlands, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine.
The history of Jews in Estonia starts with reports of the presence of individual Jews in what is now Estonia from as early as the 14th century.
In World War II, many governments, organizations and individuals collaborated with the Axis powers, "out of conviction, desperation, or under coercion." Nationalists sometimes welcomed German or Italian troops they believed would liberate their countries from colonization. The Danish, Belgian and Vichy French governments attempted to appease and bargain with the invaders in hopes of mitigating harm to their citizens and economies.
Vaivara was the largest of the 22 concentration and labor camps established in occupied Estonia by the Nazi regime during World War II. Some 20,000 Jewish prisoners passed through its gates, mostly from the Vilna and Kovno Ghettos, but also from Latvia, Poland, Hungary and the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Vaivara was one of the last camps established. It existed from August 1943 to February 1944.
Monument of Lihula is the colloquial name of a monument commemorating the Estonians who fought for Estonia against the Soviet Union in World War II, located in a privately owned museum in Lagedi, Estonia. The monument has been controversial due to, in part, its dedication to those who served in the German Wehrmacht and particularly in the Waffen-SS.
A number of war crimes trials were held during the Soviet occupation of Estonia (1944–1991). The best-known trial was brought in 1961, by the Soviet authorities against local collaborators who had participated in the Holocaust during the German occupation (1941–1944). The accused were charged with murdering up to 5,000 German and Czechoslovakian Jews and Romani people near the Jägala concentration camp in 1942–1943. The public trial by the Supreme Court of the Estonian SSR was held in the auditorium of the Navy Officers Club in Tallinn and attended by a mass audience. All three defendants were convicted and sentenced to death, one in absentia. The two defendants present for the trial were executed shortly after. The third defendant, Ain-Ervin Mere, was not available for execution.
Raasiku is a borough in Raasiku Parish, Harju County, Estonia, with a population of 1,372 (2020). Although situated in a parish with the same name, Raasiku is not the official administrative centre of the municipality. The settlement started to grow in the 19th century around the railway station. The Raasiku manor was established on the grounds of the earlier Kaemla (Keamol) village and in the middle ages it belonged to Padise Abbey.
The Holocaust in Estonia refers to Nazi crimes during the occupation of Estonia by Nazi Germany.
Kalevi-Liiva are sand dunes in Jõelähtme Parish in Harju County, Estonia. The site is located near the Baltic coast, north of the Jägala village and the former Jägala concentration camp. It is best known as the execution site of at least 6,000 Jewish and Roma Holocaust victims.
36th Estonian Police Battalion was an Estonian rear-security unit during World War II that operated under command of the German SS.
Assaku is a small borough in Rae Parish, Harju County, northern Estonia. As of the 2011 census, the settlement's population was 460.
Jüri is a small borough in Harju County, northern Estonia. It is located 12 km (7.5 mi) southeast of the capital Tallinn, by the Tallinn–Tartu road (E263), directly after the intersection with Tallinn Ring Road. Jüri is the administrative centre of Rae Parish. Jüri has a population of 3,594 as of 1 June 2023. In 2011, Jüri was the center of population of Estonia.
Jägala concentration camp was a labour camp of the Estonian Security Police and SD during the German occupation of Estonia during World War II. The camp was established in August 1942 on a former artillery range of the Estonian Army near the village of Jägala, Estonia. It existed from August 1942 to August 1943. Aleksander Laak, an Estonian, was appointed by SS-Sturmbannführer Ain-Ervin Mere of Group B of the Estonian Security Police to command the camp with Ralf Gerrets as assistant.
Tallinna ringtee is a semi-orbital highway around the city of Tallinn, running from Väo to Keila. The road is part of the European route E265.
