A Human of Estonian History

7/28/2019 A Human of Estonian History

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The 4th study meeting in France 7-11 May 2012

Comenius 2011-2013

Presented byEstonia 2012


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A human of

Estonian history.


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Lennart Meri


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Early life

Lennart Meri was born in Tallinn on 29

March 1929. He left Estonia with his family

at an early age and studied abroad, in ninedifferent schools and in four different

languages. In addition to his native

Estonian, Lennart Meri fluently spoke fiveother languages: Finnish, French, German,

English and Russian.


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His family was in Tallinn when Estonia

was occupied by the armed forces of

the Soviet Union in June 1940.

In 1941, the Meris familywas deported to Siberia. At the age of

twelve, he worked as a lumberman in

Siberia.


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The Meri family survived and

returned back to Estonia. In 1953

Lennart Meri graduated with greathonour from the Faculty of History

and Languages of Tartu University.

The politics of the Soviet Union didnot allow him to work as a historian,

so Meri found work as a dramatist in

the the oldest theatre of Estonia,

Vanemuine. Several of his films

were released to great critical

acclaim.


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Writer and filmmaker

In 1958 Lennart Meri wrote his first book

after a trip to the Tian Shan Mountains

in Central Asia and the old Islamic centres in

the Kara Kum Desert. The film The Winds of

the Milky Way was banned in the Soviet Union,

but won a silver medal at the New York Film

Festival. In Finnish schools, his films and textswere used as study materials.


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In 1986, Lennart Meri was awarded an

Honorary Doctorate from Helsinki University.

He became a member of the Estonian Writers'

Union in 1963. In the 1970s, he was elected an

Honorary Member of the Finnish Literary

Society.

Meri's travel book of1974 Virmaliste

Vraval , which means At the Gate of the

Northern Lights, won him huge success in theSoviet Union. It was translated into Finnish in

1977 in the Soviet Writers` Union.


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Meri's best known work is perhaps Hbevalge,

which is translated as Silver White, which waspublished in 1976. It reconstructs the history of

Estonia and the Baltic Sea region. In his other

works Meri combines documentary sources andscientific research with his imagination.

Meri founded the non- governmental Estonian

Institute in 1988 to promote cultural contacts with

the West and to send Estonian students to study

abroad.


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Political activityAfter more than twenty years of refusals, the

Soviet authorities permitted Lennart Meri to travel

beyond the Iron Curtain. In the late 1970s he went

to Finland. In 1990 Meri was appointed to the post

of Foreign Minister. As the Minister of ForeignAffairs, Lennart Meris created the Ministry of

Foreign Affairs.


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After a brief period as the Ambassador of

Estonia to Finland, on 6 October 1992, he became

the 2nd President of the Republic of Estonia.

Lennart Meri was sworn in as the President on 6

October 1992. On 20 September 1996, he was re-elected for a second and final term.


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In 1994, the Estonian

Newspaper Associationdeclared Meri the Year's

Press Enemy. Interestingly, in

1998, Meri was given thecomplementary award and

titled the Year's Press Friend.

In 1999, Meri was once againgiven the Year's Press Enemy

award.


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Thank you for

your attention.

A Human of Estonian History

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