by Sofi Oksanen
People’s Commissariat of Internal Affairs (in Russian, Narodnyy Komissariat Vnutrennikh Del, or NKVD)
Soviet commissariat that included the police, secret police, firefighters, border guards, archives, and other functions (1922–1923, 1934–1954). The Russian NKVD became the NKVD of the Soviet Union in 1934. The MVD (Ministry of the Interior) was founded as its successor organization in 1946. There were no people’s commissariats following the war—their functions were taken over by the ministries. The MVD continued the commissariat’s activities, although certain of its functions were given to the KGB when it was established in 1954.
Staffan Island
An island off the southern coast of Finland near Espoo where the Erna units of Estonian fighters received Finnish military training in 1941 for intelligence gathering and guerrilla warfare in Soviet-occupied Estonia.
GERMAN NATIONAL SOCIALIST OCCUPATION OF ESTONIA
(1941–1944)
Abwehr
Wehrmacht military intelligence and counterintelligence authority, 1921–1944.
Amtsgruppe D
The subunit of the SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt (SS Main Economic and Administrative Department) responsible for overseeing concentration camps.
Baltische Öl
Baltische Öl G.m.b.H (Gesellschaft mit beschränkter Haftung), a German petroleum company operating in Estonia.
Dorpat
The German name for Tartu, Estonia.
Feldgendarmerie
The Wehrmacht military police.
Gruppe B
A division of the Estonian department of the German security police. The security authority was divided into the German sector (Gruppe A) and the Estonian sector (Gruppe B). The Estonian political police were known as Abteilung B IV (Department B4).
Legionnaires / Estonian SS Legion
The Estonian SS Legion was part of the Waffen-SS from 1942 to 1943. The legion wasn’t given the strength that had been planned for and didn’t participate as a force in battle. In 1943 the legion was replaced by the Estnische SS-Freiwilligen Brigade, which conscripted Estonian men born between 1919 and 1924. Forced-labor conscripts were given a choice between labor and the brigade.
Omakaitse
An armed domestic security force made up of Estonians. The Omakaitse was first established in 1917 to protect public and private property during a time when society couldn’t offer security. The first Soviet occupation abolished the organization. On June 22, 1941, members of the Forest Brothers who had fled Soviet conscription refounded the organization and participated actively in the Summer War (July 22, 1941–October 21, 1941). Following the Germans’ victory parade, the Omakaitse’s weapons were confiscated and the organization was disbanded. Omakaitse was formed again in August of that same year, this time under the authority of the German occupation. In 1943 Omakaitse became compulsory service for men aged seventeen to forty-five, and in 1944 for men aged seventeen to sixty who were not subject to general conscription.
Organisation Todt
The Third Reich’s construction and engineering corps, composed of civilian and military labor. The Todts were responsible for large construction sites both in Germany and in occupied and conquered areas, and they used slave labor.
Ostland
The Reichskommissariat Ostland was the German occupation authority for the parts of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, and Northern Poland that fell outside of combat areas from 1941 to 1944.
Reich Security Forces
The Reichssicherheitshauptamt. The Third Reich’s main security agency from 1939 to 1945 under the authority of the SS. The Reichssicherheitshauptamt included the Gestapo (secret police), the Sicherheitsdienst (SS intelligence service), and the Kriminalpolizei (criminal police).
Reval
The German name for Tallinn, Estonia.
Sicherheitsdienst
German for Security Service. The SS’s intelligence service.
SS
Schutzstaffeln der NSDAP. The military arm of the National Socialist Party.
SS-Wirtschafts-Verwaltungshauptamt
The SS’s economic and governmental authority.
Todt
See Organisation Todt, on this page.
Waffen-SS
A wing of the SS military forces.
Wehrmacht
The German National Socialist Army (1935–1945).
A NOTE ABOUT THE AUTHOR
SOFI OKSANEN is a Finnish-Estonian novelist and playwright. Purge was her first novel to appear in English. She has received numerous prizes for her work, including the Swedish Academy Nordic Prize, the Prix Femina, the Budapest Grand Prize, the European Book Prize, and the Nordic Council Literature Prize. She lives in Helsinki.