Otto August Strandman

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Otto August Strandman (born November 18 . Jul / the 30th November  1875 greg. In the village Vandu , then community Undla , county Viru , † 5. February 1941 in Kadrina ) was an Estonian politician and diplomat. He has been President of Parliament, Minister and two-time Prime Minister of the Republic of Estonia .

Life and politics

After graduation in Tallinn Strandman first worked at the Tallinn office of the Russian state bank before 1899-1901 at the University of Saint Petersburg and from 1901 to 1903 at the University of Tartu Law studied. From 1903 to 1905 he worked as a lawyer in Narva and Tallinn. In 1904/05, Strandman was a member of Tallinn City Council.

His participation in the Russian Revolution of 1905 forced him to seek refuge as a refugee in Switzerland , Finland and other European countries. After returning to Estonia, he worked again as a lawyer in Tallinn from 1909 to 1917. 1917/18 he was chairman of the provisional parliament of the Estonia Governorate ( Ajutine Maanõukogu ). In 1918 he was imprisoned by the imperial German occupation forces.

After Estonia's detachment from Russia and the proclamation of state independence, Strandman was briefly foreign minister in 1918/19, later Minister of Agriculture in the Provisional Government . From May 8 to November 18, 1919, Strandman was head of government and war minister of the newly established Estonian state in a coalition government.

After the murder of Jüri Vilms in April 1918, Strandman became the head of the Estonian Labor Party ( Eesti Tööerakond ) and later one of the most prominent Estonian politicians of the interwar period : he was a long-time member of parliament ( Riigikogu ), foreign minister, finance minister and court minister. From July 9, 1929 to February 12, 1931 he was in the cabinet of Strandman II , a coalition government , Estonian head of government. In addition, he completed a diplomatic career. In 1928 he was Estonia's representative to the League of Nations , from 1927 to 1929 Estonian envoy to Poland , Czechoslovakia and Romania and from 1933 to 1939 Estonian envoy to France , Belgium and the Holy See . In the years 1938/1939 he also served as ad hoc judge at the Permanent International Court of Justice in two cases . In 1939 he returned to Estonia and withdrew from public life because of his poor health. In June 1940 the Soviet Union occupied Estonia . The civilian population was terrorized and decimated by mass deportations; Strandman was initially not bothered. When he received a summons to the NKVD , he shot himself on February 5, 1941 in his home.

Otto Strandman was married to Lydia Hindrikson (1889–1934) since February 20, 1908; the two had three children.

Web links

See also

Individual evidence

  1. Entry in the baptismal register of the parish Sankt Katharinen (Estonian: Kadrina kogudus )