Johan Laidoner
Johan Laidoner (born February 12, 1884 in the municipality of Wieratz in the Livonia Governorate , Russian Empire ; † March 13, 1953 in the Vladimir prison near Kirov , Soviet Union ) was an Estonian military and politician. He played an important role in Estonian history as Commander in Chief during the 1918 War of Independence and as the leader of the 1934 coup .
Life
Early years
Johan Laidoner came from a simple background. He attended school in Viiratsi from 1892 to 1900. In 1901 he joined the Russian army as a volunteer . He was initially stationed in an infantry unit in Kaunas . From September 1902 to May 1905 he attended the Vilnius Military School , which he graduated as a second lieutenant . Then he made a career in the army of Tsarist Russia . From October 1909 to May 1912 he was employed at the General Staff Academy in Saint Petersburg .
Before the First World War he served in Yerevan ; during the war in various staffs in the Russian military, especially in Galicia , Belarus and the Caucasus .
Estonian Commander in Chief
On December 2, 1917, shortly after the October Revolution in Russia, he was appointed commander of the first Estonian division. He commanded the Estonian national associations until February 19, 1918, when he was dismissed by the Bolsheviks .
On February 24, 1918, the sovereign Republic of Estonia was proclaimed, which seceded from Soviet Russia . A day later, German troops occupied Estonia. Laidon was the military representative in Soviet Russia for the Provisional Government of Estonia (Eesti Ajutine Valitsus) working underground .
With the start of the Estonian War of Freedom in 1918, Laidoner returned to Estonia via Finland . On December 14, 1918 he was appointed Commander in Chief of the Estonian Operational Staff, nine days later as Commander in Chief of the Estonian National Armed Forces . In 1919 he founded the Estonian Military Academy.
With the peace treaty of Tartu on February 2, 1920 the war for Estonia ended victoriously. Estonia was able to assert itself as a state and gained recognition from both Soviet Russia and the Western powers. On March 26, 1920, Laidoner resigned as Commander-in-Chief of the armed forces at his own request. From 1921 to 1929 he was a member of the Estonian Parliament .
After the failed coup attempt by the communists in Estonia on December 1, 1924 , Laidoner was again appointed commander in chief of the Estonian armed forces. He cracked down on the putschists, some of whom were shot or sentenced to death . He held the office until 1925.
Politician
After that, Laidoner returned to Estonian and international politics. In 1925 he was chairman of a committee of the League of Nations , which was supposed to settle the border dispute between Turkey on the one hand, Iraq and Great Britain on the other. The city of Mosul with its oil reserves, for example, was awarded to Iraq by the Commission. In addition, he became President of the Estonian Olympic Committee and held other prestigious national and international positions. 1933 Laidoner became a member of the State Defense Council (Riigikaitsenõukogu) .
Coup
On March 12, 1934 Johan Laidoner undertook a bloodless coup in Estonia together with the then Estonian head of state Konstantin Päts . Päts and Laidoner wanted to curb the growing political influence of the right-wing extremist Estonian Union of Freedom Fighters , popularly known as Vapsid . Päts banned the parties and restricted political rights. His authoritarian regime relied on the military under the command of Laidoner, whom Pats appointed in March 1934 as commander in chief of the armed forces. In 1935, a new presidential constitution tailored entirely to Päts was passed. The right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press remained de facto abolished, but in 1938 Päts allowed halfway free elections again. On February 24, 1939, he appointed Laidoner general.
Deportation and death
On June 17, 1940, Soviet troops occupied Estonia in the course of World War II . Laidoner was formally deposed on June 22, 1940 as Commander-in-Chief of the Estonian Armed Forces. On July 19, 1940, he and his wife were arrested by the NKVD and deported via Moscow to Penza in the interior of Russia . In June 1941 both were arrested again and subsequently imprisoned in numerous prisons in Russia. From 1945 to 1952 Laidoner was a prisoner in the Ivanovo Detention Center . In 1953 he was transferred via Moscow to the Vladimir prison near Kirov , where he died in the same year.
Private
Johan Laidoner was married to the Polish Maria Skarbek-Kruszewska (1888–1978), whom he met in 1902 in Lithuania .
Appreciation
Johan Laidoner is seen by many Estonians today as a patriot, hero of the Estonian War of Independence (1918–1920), protector of Estonian democracy during the communist coup attempt in 1924 and one of the most charismatic Estonian personalities of the interwar period. From 1934 until the Soviet occupation in 1940, he used military force to secure the authoritarian regime under President Päts, which prevented a possible fascist seizure of power, but severely curtailed pluralistic democracy and individual freedoms.
In Viimsi there is now a museum dedicated to his life. In Viljandi an equestrian statue by Terje Ojaver reminds of him.
literature
- Karl Heinz Gräfe: From the thunder cross to the swastika. The Baltic States between dictatorship and occupation . Edition Organon, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-931034-11-5 , short biography p. 436
Web links
- Estonian War Museum - General Laidoner Museum
- Biography (Encyclopædia Britannica)
- CV (Estonian War Museum - General Laidoner Museum)
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Laidoner, Johan |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Estonian military and politician, member of the Riigikogu |
| DATE OF BIRTH | February 12, 1884 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Wieratz , Livonia , today Viljandi County , Estonia |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 13, 1953 |
| Place of death | Vladimir prison near Kirov , Soviet Union |