Nikolai Köstner

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Nikolai Köstner (born March 14 . Jul / 26. March  1889 greg. On the estate Tammistu , rural community Luunja , Governorate of Livonia ; † 17th February 1959 in Cairo , Egypt ) was an Estonian politician and economist .

Early years

Nikolai Köstner was born in what is now southern Estonia as the son of the coachman Jaak Köstner and his wife Ann Jermakoff. From 1896 to 1899 he attended the community school of Tammistu, 1900/1901 the teachers' college of Tartu and from 1901 to 1907 the Tartu secondary school. Then he went to Russia to study. Köstner graduated from the Moscow Trade Institute in 1915 with the degree of cand. Rer. oec. from.

politics

As early as 1905, Köstner was committed to left-wing ideas. During the Russian revolutionary year 1917 he went into active politics. Köstner was elected to the provisional state parliament of the Estonia Governorate in 1917 . In October / November 1917 the Social Democrat held the office of 2nd Deputy Chairman. In 1918 Köstner was deputy chairman of the Tallinn City Council .

After Estonia's independence was proclaimed on February 24, 1918, Köstner became Minister of Industry and Trade in the second and third provisional government of the Republic of Estonia under Prime Minister Konstantin Päts from November 1918 . Köstner belonged to the Estonian Social Democratic Labor Party ( Eesti Sotsiaaldemokraatlik Tööliste Party - ESDTP ).

At the election to the Constituent Assembly of the Republic of Estonia ( Asutav Kogu ), Köstner was elected to the constituent assembly. The Social Democrats made up the strongest group with 41 of the 120 MPs. From May to November 1919 Köstner was Minister for Trade, Industry and Transport in the coalition government of Prime Minister Otto Strandman .

From 1918 to 1920 Köstner was a member of the Estonian delegation at the Paris Peace Conference . In 1921/22 Köstner represented the Republic of Estonia in the USA in the rank of consul. In 1922, the US government recognized the Republic of Estonia de jure under international law.

Economist

From 1922 to 1927 Köstner worked as a consultant in the Estonian Ministry of Finance. At the same time he taught statistics and economic geography at the University of Tartu . In 1932 he was awarded the title of associate professor for applied political economy. From 1923 to 1926, Köstner was also editor of the business magazine Eesti Majandus . He also published his work under the names Homo oeconomicus and (Prof.) Simpleton .

In 1927, Köstner was one of the masterminds behind the currency reform in Estonia. From January 1, 1928, the Estonian kroon replaced the Estonian mark , which had been in effect until then . From 1928 to 1932 Köstner was the government representative at the Estonian Central Bank ( Eesti Pank ). During this time, the global economic crisis also hit Estonia hard.

Then he put his work in the service of the League of Nations . From 1932 to 1940 Köstner was Commissioner of the League of Nations at the Bulgarian Central Bank . From 1941 he worked in Egypt and advised the central bank there .

Nikolai Köstner died in Cairo in 1959. He is buried in the German cemetery there.

Private life

Grave site of Nikolai Köstner in the German cemetery in Cairo

Nikolai Köstner was married three times: from 1912 to 1921 with Lina Ibrus, from 1922 to 1932 with the Regensburg native Babette Anette Seidlitz (née Ehrhardt) and from 1932 with Fanny Moor. He had two sons.

literature

  • Eesti elulood. Tallinn: Eesti entsüklopeediakirjastus 2000 (= Eesti Entsüklopeedia 14) ISBN 9985-70-064-3 , p. 212
  • August Rei : "Nikolai Köstnerit mälestades." In: Teataja (Stockholm), February 28, 1959 (No. 9), p. 2

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Mihkel Aitsam: 1905. aasta revolutsioon ja selle ohvrid Eestis. Tartu 2011, p. 220
  2. ↑ grave no. 109; Dorpat is incorrectly given as the place of birth on the tombstone
personal data
SURNAME Kostner, Nikolai
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Estonian politician and economist
DATE OF BIRTH March 26, 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH Good Tammistu , rural community Luunja , Governorate of Livonia
DATE OF DEATH 17th February 1959
Place of death Cairo , Egypt