Today, the Estonian city of Mustla unveiled a memorial plaque to Alfons Reban, an officer who fought in the Wehrmacht and the SS on the side of Nazi Germany before joining the British intelligence service after World War II.
The plate, commissioned by the local veterans' association, shows Reban in an SS uniform with the Estonian coat of arms on the sleeve.
Born in 1908, Alfons Reban joined the guerrillas in 1941 that fought against the Soviet Union and then the German forces. For his actions, he became one of two foreigners who received the "Iron Cross" order from the Nazis, along with the Belgian Nazi Leon Degrel.
After the war, Reban worked for the British MI6 service, before settling in Germany where he died in 1976. His remains were transferred to the capital of Estonia, Tallinn, in 1999.
The Estonian government distanced itself from the actions of the Mustla veterans, with a government spokesman saying it was a "private initiative".
The topic of the presence of Estonians in pro-Nazi formations or German units is still a delicate one for the country. The monument dedicated to those who fought against the Soviet Union was unveiled in 2002, but in the following period it was moved twice.
The Jewish community in Estonia and the Russian minority consider these people war criminals.
When the monument to Reban was erected in 2004, the then president of the Jewish community Cilja Laud condemned the "shame" for Estonia.
Bonus video:
