From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jüri Uluots (January 13, 1890 - January 9,
1945) was an Estonian prime minister,
journalist, and
prominent attorney.
Uluots was born in Lihula
in 1890 and studied law at St.
Petersburg University in 1910 - 1918. He subsequently taught Roman and Estonian law at
the University of Tartu until 1944.
Uluots was also an editor of the Kaja newspaper from 1919-1920, and
editor-in-chief of Postimees from 1937-38.
Uluots was elected to the Riigikogu, the Estonian parliament, for 1920
- 1926, and from 1929 through 1932. He was speaker of the Riigivolikogu (lower chamber) from
April 4, 1938 to October 14, 1939. Uluots then served as prime
minister from 1939 until June 1940 when Soviet
troops entered Estonia and installed a new Soviet puppet government led by Johannes Vares,
whereas Uluots' constitutional government went underground (and
later, in exile). The communist
puppet government was never recognized by the United States,
United Kingdom
and other western powers who considered it, and the August 1940
annexation of Estonia into USSR, illegal [1].
After the Estonian President Konstantin Päts was arrested by Soviet
occupation forces and deported to Russia in July 1940, Uluots became prime
minister in the duties of the president as dictated by the
Estonian constitution. When the Nazis invaded Soviet-occupied Estonia in
1941 the communist government was overthrown. In January 1944, the
front was pushed back by the Soviet Army almost all the way to the
former Estonian border. Narva
was evacuated. Jüri Uluots delivered a radio address that implored
all able-bodied men born from 1904 through 1923 to report for
military service (Before this, Uluots had opposed Estonian
mobilization.) The call drew support from all across the country:
38.000 draftees appeared at registration centers. [2] Several
thousand Estonians who had joined the Finnish army came back across
the Gulf of
Finland to join the newly formed Territorial Defense Force,
assigned to defend Estonia against the Soviet advance. It was hoped
that by engaging in such a war Estonia would be able to attract
Western support for the cause of Estonia's independence from the
USSR and thus ultimately succeed in achieving independence. [3] As the
Germans retreated in September, 1944, Uluots appointed a new
government, headed by Otto
Tief.
Tief's government left Tallinn prior to the Soviet
army's arrival and went into hiding. But most of the cabinet
members were later arrested and suffered various repressions by the
Soviet authorities, or were sent to labour camps in Siberia. The remainder of the
government fled to Stockholm, Sweden, where it operated in exile from
1944 to 1992 when Heinrich Mark, who was prime minister in
duties of the president, presented his credentials to incoming
president Lennart
Meri.
Uluots died shortly after arriving in Sweden in 1945.
Preceded by
none |
Speaker of the Riigivolikogu
1938 - 1939 |
Succeeded by
Otto Pukk |
References
- ^
European Parliament (January 13,
1983). "Resolution on the situation
in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania". Official Journal of the
European Communities C 42/78. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/80/Europarliament13011983.jpg.
"whereas the
Soviet annexias of the three Baltic States still has not been
formally recognized by most European States and the USA, Canada,
the United Kingdom, Australia and the Vatican still adhere to the
concept of the Baltic States".
- ^
Resistance! Occupied Europe and Its Defiance of Hitler (Paperback)
by Dave Lande on Page 200 ISBN 0760307458
- ^
The Baltic States: The National Self-Determination of Estonia,
Latvia and Lithuania Graham Smith p.91 ISBN 0312161921