Kaarel Eenpalu

Kaarel eenpalu (until 22. February 1935 Karl Einbund ; born May 16, ^jul. / 28 May  1888 ^greg. In the yard Palu, Vesneri , Tartu county , † 27 or 28. January 1942 in the prison camp Vyatka, Kirov Oblast / Soviet Union ) was an Estonian lawyer, politician and head of state of the Republic of Estonia in 1932 .

education

After finishing school in the village school of Vesmeri and at the private Hugo-Treffner-Gymnasium in Tartu , Eenpalu studied law at the University of Tartu from 1909 to 1914 . He graduated from Moscow University as a candidate for law. Eenpalu was a member of the patriotically-minded Association of Student Estonians ( Eesti Üliõpilaste Selts ).

First World War

Eenpalu took part in the First World War from 1914 . In 1917 military training followed at the War Academy named after Paul I in Petrograd . Until 1918 Eenpalu was in command of a Russian artillery battalion, in which he witnessed the proclamation of Estonia's state independence in 1918. In 1918/19 Kaarel Eenpalu took part in the Estonian War of Independence against Soviet Russia .

Estonian Republic

Kaarel Eenpalu and Paul Löbe at Berlin Friedrichstrasse Train Station (May 1930)

Eenpalu was elected to the Constituent Assembly of Estonia in 1919 as a member of the People's Party ( Rahvaerakond ) and was a member of the Estonian Parliament ( Riigikogu ) until 1940 . 1919–1920 he was State Controller ( Riigikontrolör ), 1920–1926 Estonian Minister of the Interior and founder of the Estonian Police. From 1926 to 1934 he was President of Parliament (with interruptions). From July 19, 1932 to November 1, 1932, Kaarel Eenpalu was the head of state ( Riigivanem ) of Estonia. From 1934 to 1938 he was again Minister of the Interior and Deputy Prime Minister and Prime Minister in 1938/39. In addition, Eenpalu worked as editor or chief editor of the newspapers Postimees , Tallinna Teataja and Kaja and from 1923 to 1940 a member of the Estonian Olympic Committee.

After the de facto coup d'état of March 12, 1934 , Eenpalu belonged together with Konstantin Päts and Johan Laidoner to the leading, dictatorial ruling political circle in Estonia. He was instrumental in realizing the authoritarian domestic political course and the formulation of an emphatically nationalist understanding of the state.

deportation

After the occupation of Estonia by the Soviet Union , Eenpalu was arrested by the NKVD on July 27, 1940 and deported to the interior of the Soviet Union . He died in captivity in 1942. His remains are now buried in the cemetery of Äksi village in Tartumaa county .

family

Eenpalu was married to Linda-Maria Eenpalu (* 1890), who gave him the daughters Helmi-Aino (* 1917), Virve (* 1919), Tiiu-Hilja (* 1921) and Mai-Linda (* 1923). His wife and daughter Virve returned to Estonia in 1956 after 15 years of exile in Tomsk Oblast (Makarevka village). Tiiu-Hilja and Helmi-Aino managed to escape to Germany in 1944.

Publications by Kaarel Eenpalu (selection)

• Raamatukogud ja nende asutamine (1912)
• Rahvaraamatukogude sisemine korraldus (1914)
• Vaba iseseisev Eesti. I (1918)
• Õiguslik riik (1918)

literature

• Artur Taska: Kaarel Eenpalu . Self-published, Lund 1991.
• Tiiu Põld: Märgitud mees. NKVD kuritööd Eestis aastail 1940 - 1941 . Tänapäev, Tallinn 2003, ISBN 9985-9243-6-3 .
• Jaan Kross : Sobimatute seikade võlu. Mälestus või novell . In: Looming 2004, No. 1.
• Auli Käsik: Kaarel Eenpalu raamatukogunduslik tegevus . Tallinna Pedagoogikaülikool, Tallinn 1995.

Web links

• Biography of the Estonian Presidential Office
• CV , Histrodamus (Estonian)