Ain-Ervin Mere

Who was Ain-Ervin Mere?

Ain Mere was an Estonian military officer. During World War II, he was an Obersturmbannführer in the Waffen SS and also the head of the Sicherheitspolizei in Estonia following its creation in 1942.

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. He was known under code name "Müller". In July 1941 Mere deserted from the Red Army and returned to Estonia. He was a member of the Estonian Security Police, involved in the Holocaust.

On February 5, 1945 in Berlin, he founded the Eesti Vabadusliit 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 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.