Pakosta proposes stripping some occupation-era buildings of heritage status

Justice and Digital Affairs Minister Liisa-Ly Pakosta has proposed amending Estonia’s Heritage Conservation Act so some buildings erected during the occupation would not receive state protection. The proposal would also allow owners to seek the removal of protection from existing buildings, ERR reported.

The proposed exception would apply to buildings and structures erected between June 16, 1940, and August 20, 1991, if they incite hatred or express support for an occupation regime, an act of aggression, genocide, a crime against humanity or a war crime.

Pakosta said a bill on removing occupation symbols and structures that incite hatred had stalled in the Riigikogu, Estonia’s parliament. The draft had seen no progress in the parliament’s Economic Affairs Committee since March 2025. She said she sent parliament a proposal in July to add the exception to the Heritage Conservation Act.

If the change is adopted, the minister responsible for the field could end a building’s protected status if it no longer meets the criteria for state protection, after seeking the opinion of the Heritage Conservation Council. Owners could then decide what to do with the building, including removing or covering occupation symbols.

The dispute over legislation governing the removal of occupation-symbol structures and so-called Soviet monuments has continued since 2022. Parliament passed an earlier bill in February 2023, but President Alar Karis refused to promulgate it, citing a lack of legal clarity. He said the definition of prohibited structures was too vague and could lead to the removal of structures that the law was not intended to target. The bill returned to parliament for reconsideration and later stalled in committee.