Arnold Veimer (20 June 1903 – 3 March 1977) was a Soviet Estonian politician and economist.

Biography

Veimer joined the

Communist Party of Estonia The Communist Party of Estonia ( et, Eestimaa Kommunistlik Partei, abbreviated EKP) was a subdivision of the Soviet communist party which in 1920-1940 operated illegally in Estonia and, after the 1940 occupation and annexation of Estonia by the ...

(EKP) in 1922, and was given a lifetime sentence of

forced labour Forced labour, or unfree labour, is any work relation, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will with the threat of destitution, detention, violence including death, or other forms of ex ...

in the

trial of the 149 ''Trial of the 149'' () is the name given to the legal proceedings against 149 Estonian Communist Party, communists in Estonia that lasted from 10 to 27 November 1924. Many defendants were accused of high treason. One of them – Jaan Tomp – was ...

in 1924. In May 1938, he was released in a general amnesty. After the

Soviet occupation of Estonia The Estonian SSR,, russian: Эстонская ССР officially the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic,, russian: Эстонская Советская Социалистическая Республика was an ethnically based adminis ...

in the summer of 1940, Veimer was elected a deputy to and chairman of the so-called

People's Parliament lt, Liaudies Seimas , native_name_lang = , transcription_name = , legislature = , coa_pic = , coa_res = , coa_alt = , coa_caption = , logo_pic = , logo_res = , logo_alt = , logo_caption = , house_type = , houses = , cham ...

in Estonia, which later became the

Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR The Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR ( Estonian: ''Eesti NSV Ülemnõukogu'') was the rubber stamp "legislative assembly" of the Estonian SSR – an administrative subunit of the Soviet Union in 1940–1991. After its first democratic election ...

. In 1941 Veimer was elected to the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Estonia, now renamed the Communist Party of Estonia (bolsheviks) (EK(b)P). The same year, he graduated from the department of economics at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; et, Tartu Ülikool; la, Universitas Tartuensis) is a university in the city of Tartu in Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is the only classical university in the country, and also its biggest ...

. In 1944–1951, Veimer was Chairman of the Council of Ministers (until 1946 Chairman of the Council of People's Commissars) of the Estonian SSR. After being removed from this position, he was appointed director of the Institute of Economics and Law of the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR. After the death of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...

, Veimer returned to political work: in 1957–1965 he was Chairman of the

Sovnarkhoz Sovnarkhoz (russian: совнархоз, совет народного хозяйства, ''sovet narodnogo khozyaystva'', "Council of National Economy"), usually translated as Regional Economic Soviet, was an organization of the Soviet Union to ma ...

(Council of National Economy) of the Estonian SSR, and in 1965–1968 he was Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Estonian SSR. He later served as President of the Academy of Sciences of the Estonian SSR in 1968–1973.

References