It so happened that at the time I was in charge of the Estonian Canadian Scout Group, which had about 600 members. One Saturday morning I received a telephone call. The caller told me that I was a Communist and that I spread Communist ideology in our Scout Group. He demanded my immediate resignation. A lady friend of mine who was active in the Estonian Canadian community, received a similar phone call. She was told that she is a Communist whore.
It soon emerged that Eerik Heine was behind this activity. He established an ultra right wing party, called the Nationalists, which started to publish a bulletin with the same name. Any attempts by Estonians to visit their family or friends in Estonia or bring Estonian cultural material to Canada generated the wrath of the Nationalist and red paint was flowing freely.
The Estonian Canadian Scout Group’s leaders met once a year for a day to review the activities of the past year and make plans for the coming year. It so happened that among our scout leaders were some who agreed with Eerik Heine and accused some of their fellow scout leaders of having unfit ideas. Substantial time had to be devoted to resolve the conflict, time robbed from positive work.
Similar events took place in my Fraternity, where animosities between members arose. These had to be resolved. It is quite certain that similar problems plagued most of the Estonian Canadian community.
Eerik Heine’s contribution is that he prepared an excellent blueprint for how to damage or demolish an ethnic community.
Eerik Heine took the CIA, America’s main weapon for fighting Communism and the Soviet Union During the Cold War, three times to court to salvage his good name. The question arises, where did Eerik Heine, who was earning about $15,000 a year in a carpentry shop, get about $100,000 a year for court costs. He did this three times. It is rather difficult to describe the foregoing as anti Communist activity.
In view of the above it is irrelevant whether Eerik Heine was a KGB agent. He certainly deserves a Soviet medal of some kind.
Tarvo Toomes, Toronto
