Artur Sirk

Artur Sirk (1933)

Artur Sirk speaks to the Estonian Union of Freedom Fighters in Pärnu

Artur Sirk (born September 25, 1900 in Lehtse near Tapa , Estonia , † August 2, 1937 in Echternach , Luxembourg ) was an Estonian politician and military.

Sirk came from the rural district of Järva . As a soldier he took part in the Estonian War of Independence . He remained a soldier until 1926 when he became a lawyer in Tallinn . In 1929 he founded an interest group for former soldiers, from which the Estonian Association of Freedom Fighters emerged . His speech at a meeting of this organization in 1932 paved the way for a transformation into a political party that sought a presidential system of government and thus an authoritarian state through a referendum . After successful local elections in 1933, the group was on the verge of taking power, but was banned by Konstantin Päts on March 12, 1934 by declaring a state of emergency . Sirk was arrested, but escaped from custody in November 1934 and escaped to Finland . After another attempted coup by his freedom fighter organization in Estonia in December 1935, he was able to escape to Sweden. After stays in England and the Netherlands, he settled in Luxembourg in 1937 . He was not allowed to return to Estonia because of two failed attempts at overthrowing his movement in 1934 and 1935.

Sirk died after falling from the window of a hotel in Echternach . Estonian historians, including Pusta and Tomingas, accused agents of Pat's government of defenestration , despite the fact that the local police in Luxembourg suspected a suicide. The historian Rein Marandi suspects that Sirk tried to escape through the window.

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1. ^ ^{A b} Philip Rees: Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890 . P. 361.
2. ↑ Kaarel Robert Pusta : Saadiku päevik . Volume 1. New York / Geislingen 1964.
3. ^ William Tomingas : Vaikiv ajastu Eestis . New York 1961.
4. ↑ Rein Marandi: Mustvalge lipu all. Center for Baltic Studies at the University of Stockholm 1,991th