Aadu Birk

Aadu Birk

Aadu Birk (also Ado Birk, Aado Birk , Russian Orthodox baptismal name Awdei or Awdi ) (* November 2, ^July / November 14,  1883 ^greg. In Tarvastu , Viljandi County , Estonia Governorate ; † February 2, 1942 in the Soswa prison camp , Sverdlovsk Oblast , Soviet Union ) was an Estonian politician. Birk was two-time foreign minister and briefly head of state and government of the Republic of Estonia in 1920 .

education

Aadu Birk's father was a tenant on a farm. The family belonged to the Orthodox parish of Suislepa in the rural community Tarvastu .

After completing the theological seminar in Riga , Aadu Birk studied at the Theological Academy in Saint Petersburg from 1905 to 1907 . He then studied law at the universities of Tartu (1907/08), Saint Petersburg (1908–1911) and Leipzig (1911). He established himself as a lawyer in the Estonian capital Tallinn .

Politician

In 1911/12 Aadu Birk became the head of the Tallinn Statistics Office. From 1912 to 1917 he was a lawyer in the office of the Tallinn Mayor Jaan Poska . In 1913, Birk was a member of Tallinn City Council. At the same time he was active in numerous clubs. From 1917 to 1924, Birk was chairman of the Tallinn Volunteer Fire Brigade.

Birk was one of the founders of the Estonian Rural People's Union ( Eesti Maarahva Liit ) and the Estonian Radical Democratic Party ( Eesti Radikaaldemokraatlik Erakond ). Both merged in 1918 with the conservative national liberal Estonian People's Party ( Eesti Rahvaerakond ).

In 1917, Birk became secretary of the provisional parliament of the Estonia Governorate ( Maanõukogu ) and was its chairman in 1918/19.

With the establishment of the Republic of Estonia , Aadu Birk was deputy chairman of the Constituent Assembly ( Asutav Kogu ) in 1919/20 . He belonged to the Estonian parliament ( Riigikogu ) in its first legislative period.

From November 1919 to July 1920, Birk was Foreign Minister in the cabinet of Prime Minister Jaan Tõnisson . In November 1920, Birk was head of the shortest Estonian government . She only stayed in office for three days. From July to October 1920, Birk was again Foreign Minister in the cabinet of State Elder Jaan Tõnisson.

"Birkiade"

From 1922 Aadu Birk was the Estonian envoy in Moscow . In 1926/1927 he was the originator of one of the greatest diplomatic scandals in Estonian history. It was popularly called "Birkiade" (Estonian Birgiaad ).

The Locarno Treaties in 1925 raised fears in Moscow of an anti-Soviet bloc to which Germany could also belong. As a result, Soviet foreign policy intensified its attempts to come to an understanding with Germany and France. At the same time, it increased the pressure on the Baltic states and Poland to sign guarantee treaties with the Soviet Union.

The Estonian Foreign Minister Ants Piip ( ETE ) strictly rejected a neutrality treaty with the Soviet Union. This would have made a political alliance cooperation between the Baltic states, Poland and possibly the Nordic states impossible. This is exactly what Piip was aiming for as a counterweight to the Soviet hegemony efforts in the region - as was military cooperation with Great Britain to protect the Estonian borders.

The envoy Birk in Moscow was more open to Russian aspirations. In June 1926, the Estonian government announced his recall. Birk refused to obey. Bypassing his foreign minister, he conducted foreign policy from his own hands. In July and August 1926 he wrote letters to the Soviet newspaper Izvestia , in which he accused the Estonian government of being too influenced by Piip, the Estonian General Staff and indirectly British interests in the Baltic region. With this, Birk had broken the bridges to Estonia.

The Soviet leadership made Birk believe that he would be sentenced to death on his return to Estonia. Birk initially wanted to flee to Finland , but was then kidnapped by the Soviet secret police GPU . The Soviet authorities offered Birk his release if he agreed to espionage for the Soviet Union and discredited the Estonian-British security relations in his memoirs. Birk refused. He was released in March 1927 and returned to Tallinn.

Birk was arrested in Estonia. He was charged with treason for the Soviet Union, but acquitted in November 1927. His defense attorney was the lawyer and social democratic politician August Rei . The Birkiade only came to light in the Estonian public through the public trial.

1930s

Disavowed in politics, Aadu Birk then worked as a businessman in Tallinn. 1939/40 he was ecumenical secretary of the Estonian Apostolic Orthodox Church ( Eesti Apostlik-Õigeusu Kirik ).

Arrest and death

Aadu Birk was arrested by the NKVD on June 14, 1941 after the Soviet occupation of Estonia and sentenced to death . He died before the execution of the Gulag bearings SewUralLag in the settlement of Sosva .

literature

• Heinrich Laretei: Saatuse mängukanniks: mällu jäänud märkmeid . Eesti Kirjanike Kooperatiiv, Lund 1970
• Tiiu Põld: Märgitud mees. NKVD kuritööd Eestis aastail 1940–1941 . Tänapäev, Tallinn 2000, ISBN 9985-9243-6-3
• Eesti elulood. Tallinn: Eesti entsüklopeediakirjastus 2000 (= Eesti Entsüklopeedia 14) ISBN 9985-70-064-3 , p. 36

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Entry in the baptismal register of the Protestant parish in Tarwast (Estonian: Tarvastu kogudus)