This article was originally published in the Laidoneri Muuseum aastaraamat in March 2003 and is re-published with permission from the Estonian Jewish Museum.
In the ranks of the Estonian army, representatives of many nations took part in the Estonian War of Independence, mostly as volunteers. It is well known that Baltic-German, Ingrian, Swedish, Finnish, and Danish voluntary units (regiments, battalions, and independent companies) participated in the War of Independence, but in the Estonian People's Army — as Estonian armed forces were called at that time — served also Russians, Latvians, Tatars, Poles, Jews, and combatants of other nationalities.
Although there were as many Jews as Danes or Swedes in the Estonian army, Estonian Jews were not interested in setting up an independent unit but rather served like Estonians in many units and all arms of service. Besides this, Latvian Jews also served in the Northern-Latvian Brigade and Russian Jews in the North-Western Army.
