In 1858, Jewish soldiers, who were demobilized from the army of Czar Nicholas I, established the core of the Estonian Jewish community. Although Estonia was part of Russia until 1918, it was not included in the Pale of Settlement.

From the end of World War I until 1940, Estonia was an independent republic. Jewish autonomous institutions were established in 1926. Hebrew was the language of instruction in the Jewish schools, the University of Tartu had a chair for Hebrew language and literature, and three Jewish cooperative banks were established.

In Estonia, as in the other Baltic States, independence eventually stirred up nationalistic and anti-Semitic sentiments. A Fascist movement sprang up in Estonia during the 1930s and launched an anti-Semitic propaganda campaign.

In 1940, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed the country. The Soviets forced Jewish institutions to disband, and at least half of the Estonian Jews left the country. The Germans occupied Estonia in 1941.

The harsh measures the Germans imposed on the Estonian Jews were a brief prelude to "the final solution." By the end of 1941, German SS and police units, together with Estonian auxiliaries, had massacred the Jews of Estonia. In September 1944, the Soviets again annexed Estonia. Jews who had fled to the interior of the Soviet Union during the war returned, but virtually no Jews who had remained in Estonia during the German occupation survived.

The Estonian parliament declared the Soviet annexation invalid in 1990, and in 1991, Estonia proclaimed its independence from the USSR.

Since 1988, JDC has been working in Estonia to help the Jewish community build a strong communal life and care for its needy elderly.

2005