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Ain Ervin Mere

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Rank
  
SS-Obersturmbannfuhrer


Name
  
Ain-Ervin Mere

Ain-Ervin Mere AinErvin Mere Vikipeedia vaba entsklopeedia

Born
  
February 22, 1903Vandra, Governorate of Livonia, Russian Empire (
1903-02-22
)

Years of service
  
1918–1940 Estonian Army1941–1943 Estonian Omakaitse1943–1945 Waffen SS

Battles/wars
  
Estonian War of IndependenceWorld War II Eastern FrontBattle of Narva

Awards
  
Order of the Cross of the EagleIron Cross 2nd and 1st Class

Died
  
April 5, 1969, Leicester, United Kingdom

Battles and wars
  
Unit
  
Estonian Air Force, 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian)

Ain Mere (from birth to Estification Ervin Martson; February 22, 1903 – April 5, 1969) was an Estonian military officer. During World War II, he was an Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel) in the Waffen SS and also the head of the Sicherheitspolizei in Estonia (Security Police) following its creation in 1942.

Ain-Ervin Mere photosgenicomp13d52718f05344483ce25becd1j

He was born in Vändra and fought voluntarily in the Estonian War of Independence. In early 1919, Mere was wounded while serving on an armored train and was sent to the rear.

According to the KGB archives, he was drafted as an agent of NKVD in 1940–1941. Mere's reports on the resettlement of Baltic Germans and the exposure of underground Estonian organisations reached the desk of Lavrenti Beria. In recognition of his performance Mere was appointed the director of a special department of the Estonian Rifle Corps. He was known under code name "Müller". In July 1941 Mere surrendered himself to the German military. He was a member of the Estonian Security Police (Group B of the Sicherheitspolizei) under the Estonian Self-Administration and participated in the Holocaust.

On February 5, 1945, in Berlin, he founded the Eesti Vabadusliit (anti-communist group) together with SS-Obersturmbannführer Harald Riipalu.

In March 1961, the Soviet court accused during the Holocaust trials in Soviet Estonia the German Security Police in Estonia, headed by Mere (and later by Julius Ennok) to have been actively involved in the arrest and killing of Estonian Jews along with Ralf Gerrets and Jaan Viik. The police were also actively engaged in actions against Estonians deemed to be opponents of the Nazi Germany. Though living in Great Britain, he was sentenced to capital punishment. Great Britain did not extradite him, due to the lack of evidence and he died at the age of 66 in Leicester, England.

References

Ain-Ervin Mere Wikipedia


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