The war cemetery in the village of Toila, directly on the Gulf of Finland, is the burial place of the dead of the Second World War.
Cemetery description
The approximately four and a half hectare site comprises twelve blocks of graves planted with grass, with larger wooded areas between them. 32 groups of crosses made of natural stone mark the areas occupied. The central square is laid out in a circle with a diameter of ten meters and paved with natural stone. There is a six-meter-high metal cross with a memorial plaque. Ten steles immortalize the names of the more than 2,000 people buried in the cemetery in alphabetical order.
Resting places with benches have been set up at special locations. Wall slabs made of dolomite and natural stone posts set up every 15 meters surround the cemetery.
Occupancy
Independent since 1920, Estonia was occupied by the Soviet army in June 1940 and annexed by the Soviet Union in October of the same year. In July 1941, German troops conquered and occupied Estonia, who were in turn driven out by the Soviet army in the course of 1944. During the fighting in the east of the country, more than 15,000 German soldiers and members of other nationalities who fought on the German side lost their lives.
From February to September 1944, heavy fighting took place in the area between Narva and Vaivara. Many of the wounded succumbed to their injuries in the Toila military hospital. More than 2,000 German and Estonian dead, but also members of other nations, found their final resting place in the Toila cemetery, which the Wehrmacht had established in 1944.
After the war, Soviet border troops used parts of the cemetery as a training ground, but because it was so extensive, only a small number of the graves were damaged.
History
The war graves agreement concluded with Estonia on October 12, 1995 came into force on October 26, 1996 and forms the legal basis for the work of the War Graves Commission. The Volksbund Deutsche Kriegsgräberfürsorge e. V. (German War Graves Commission) began its initial registration and exploratory work in Toila in 1998. Participants in work camps organized by the Schleswig-Holstein regional association had already worked on the site beforehand. From 1999, soldiers from the German Armed Forces helped to restore the cemetery with annual work assignments. It was opened to the public on August 10, 2002. The state forestry administration looks after the war cemetery.
Special feature
Oru Park, on the north-western edge of which the Toila German war cemetery is located, is one of the largest landscaped parks in Estonia. The Estonian president had his summer residence there until 1944. To the north, the park is bordered by a cliff that slopes down to the Baltic Sea. From there, the view stretches far across the open sea.
