​Both in rhetoric and in occasionally in deed, the Head of the Estonian Self-Government, Landesdirektor Hjalmar Mäe, tried to ease the harshness of the German occupation powers, at the same time expressing the view that Estonia was too weak for independent statehood. After the War, Mäe lived in Austria, where he advised the government on Eastern Europe. According to the Estonian Foundation for the Investigation of Crimes Against Humanity, Mäe shares responsibility for crimes committed by the Nazi regime in 1941-1944.