Voldemar Puhk
Voldemar Puhk (born November 29, jul. / 11. December 1891 greg. In Viljandi , † 3. May 1937 in Tallinn ) was an Estonian businessman and diplomat.
Early years
Voldemar Puhk was born as the son of the successful grain trader, merchant and mill owner Jaak-Johannes Puhk († 1917), who founded a match factory in Viljandi in 1889 .
From 1903 to 1911 Voldemar Puhk attended the renowned Alexander Gymnasium in Riga . He then studied law at the University of Petersburg from 1911 to 1917 . In 1922 he passed his law exam at the University of Tartu .
politic and economy
From 1913, Voldemar Puhk, together with his father and brothers, owned the department store Jaak Puhk ja Pojad ("Jaak Puhk and Sons") founded by his father , a large mill and, from 1924, the former metal factory Ilmarine . This made him one of the richest entrepreneurs in Estonia.
In addition, Puhk was also politically active from 1918. In the upheaval years of 1918/19 he was responsible for food supply issues in the Estonian government. The Puhk family were among the financiers of the Provisional Government of Estonia .
With Estonian independence, he entered the consular service of his country. From 1919 to 1921 Puhk was Consul General of the Republic of Estonia in Berlin . In the Berlin zoo, he used his private fortune to buy the building in which the Estonian embassy was active from May 1920 and which is now the Estonian embassy .
From 1924 Puhk worked mainly as managing director of the Ilmarine company . In addition, the Puhk company was one of the largest car dealers in Estonia in the 1930s. Since 1935 Voldemar Puhk was also Honorary Consul of Japan in Tallinn. Puhk fell ill with tuberculosis at an early age and often retired to Switzerland to relax . He died of heart failure in the Estonian capital in 1937.
The fate of his three brothers Joakim (1888–1942), Aleksander (1893–1941) and Evald (1897–1942) was spared him, who were expropriated with the Soviet occupation of Estonia and died in the Gulag . Only brother Eduard (1890–1943), who had moved to Finland on business and founded a mill in Helsinki in 1934 (now Helsingin Mylly Oy ), and sister Marie (1885–1952), who moved to Germany as a dentist, survived .
Voldemar Puhk is buried today in the forest cemetery ( metsakalmistu ) in Tallinn.
Web links
- Pekka Erelt: Viis venda, kelle taskus oli Eesti riigikassa ( Eesti Ekspress , May 26, 2005)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Eesti elulood. Tallinn: Eesti Entsüklopeediakirjastus 2000 (= Eesti entsüklopeedia 14) ISBN 9985-70-064-3 , p. 381
- ↑ http://www.ap3.ee/?PublicationId=31503ED6-39D4-4163-9D98-74AA1E3959CE&code=3799/uud_uudidx_379904
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Puhk, Voldemar |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Estonian businessman and diplomat |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 11, 1891 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Viljandi |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 3, 1937 |
| Place of death | Tallinn |