Otto Tief

Otto Tief (around 1930)

Otto depth (born August 2, ^jul. / 14. August  1889 ^greg. In Rapla , † 5. March 1976 in Ahja ) was an Estonian soldier in the Estonian War of Independence , and later a lawyer , and in 1944, acting prime minister for four days of the last legal Estonian government facing the second and permanent occupation of the country by the Soviet Union .

education

From 1910 to 1916 Otto Tief studied law in Saint Petersburg . During the Estonian War of Freedom, he was in command of the Kalevlaste Malev Battalion, which was formed in 1918 by members of the Kalev Sports Association. After the war he finished his studies in 1921 with a degree from the University of Tartu . He then worked as a lawyer at the Estonian Landbank ( Eesti Maapank ) and as a freelance lawyer. In 1926 he was elected to the third Riigikogu , was Minister of Social Affairs from 1926 to 1927 and Minister of Justice in 1928. In 1932 he was also elected to the fifth Riigikogu.

The government low

After the withdrawal of the troops of the German Reich , the incumbent President of Estonia, Jüri Uluots, appointed Otto Tief as Prime Minister on September 18, 1944, and charged him with forming a government. Tief declared the restoration of independence and tried in vain to organize a defense of Tallinn from the advancing Red Army .

• Otto Tief - Acting Prime Minister and Interior Minister
• Arnold Susi - Minister of Education
• Johannes Klesment (fled to Sweden , took office in exile on January 13, 1945) - Minister of Justice
• Kaarel Liidak († January 16, 1945) - Minister of Agriculture
• Hugo Pärtelpoeg († April 29, 1951) - Minister of Finance
• Voldemar Sumberg - Minister of Social Affairs
• Juhan Pikkov († September 3, 1947) - Minister of Communications
• August Rei (in Sweden, assumed office on December 31, 1944, held until January 9, 1945) - Foreign Minister
• Juhan Kaarlimäe - Minister
• Johannes Sikkar (in Sweden, from April 20, 1952) - Minister
• Artur Terras (in Sweden, from April 20, 1952) - Minister

On September 22, 1944, the Red Army took Tallinn and deposed the government.

consequences

Otto Tief was arrested by the Soviet authorities on October 10, 1944. In 1945 he was sentenced to 10 years in a labor camp. In 1956 he returned to Estonia, but was soon expelled from the Soviet Republic. He first lived in Ukraine , in 1965 he moved to Ainaži , a place on the Latvian side of the Estonian-Latvian border. After his death, he was not allowed to be buried in the Tallinn National Cemetery. After Estonia's independence was restored in 1991, however, he was reburied there in 1993.

Importance of Government Deep

Otto Tief was in power only for a few days, and all his actions in office were quickly reversed by the Red Army . Nonetheless, Tief has an important symbolic and legal meaning, as his proclamation of the Restoration of the Republic of Estonia and the flagging of Estonia on Tall Hermann in Tallinn shattered the credibility of the portrayal of the Soviet Union as having liberated Estonia in 1944.

Appreciation

In February 2007, the Estonian parliament decided to pay tribute to the Tief in Zukunft government on September 22 of each year, the so-called Day of Resistance . On September 22, 1944, the Red Army removed the Estonian tricolor , which was illegal for several decades later, from the administration buildings in Tallinn and hoisted the flag of the Soviet Union .

swell

• Otto Tief, "Mälestusi aastaist 1944–1954" - Akadeemia 1990, no. 2, lk. 231-250
• The Otto Tief government and the fall of Tallinn
• September 22, 1944: From one occupation to another (PDF file; 41 kB)
• Postimees , September 18, 2007: Ilves: Tiefi valitsus rikkus jutud Tallinna vabastamisest
• The Baltic Times , September 19, 2007: 'No difference' between Nazis and Soviets - Ilves

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Entry in the baptismal register of the parish Rappel (Estonian: Rapla kogudus)