Friido Kirs (also Friidu Kirs; 13 February 1889 – 16 April 1948) was an

Estonia Estonia, formally the Republic of Estonia, is a country by the Baltic Sea in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, a ...

n schoolteacher and politician. He was a member of

I Riigikogu I Riigikogu was the first legislature of the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu). The legislature was elected after 1920 elections (held on 27–29 November 1920). It sat between 20 December 1920 and 30 May 1923, before the next round of elections w ...

, representing the

Estonian Labour Party The Estonian Labour Party ( et, Eesti Tööerakond, ETE) was a political party in Estonia. It was formed in 1919 by a merger of the Radical Socialist Party and the Social Travaillist Party, and ceased to exist in 1932, when it merged with other ce ...

. He was a member of the Riigikogu since 15 October 1921. He replaced Aleksander Kaar. On 2 November 1922, he resigned his position and he was replaced by Timotheus Grünthal. Friido Kirs was born in the village of in Pihtla on the island of

Saaremaa Saaremaa is the largest island in Estonia, measuring . The main island of Saare County, it is located in the Baltic Sea, south of Hiiumaa island and west of Muhu island, and belongs to the West Estonian Archipelago. The capital of the island i ...

into a family of farmers. After graduating from secondary school, he was employed as a sailor. From 1908 until 1910, he worked as a schoolteacher. In 1910, he was conscripted into the 87th Neschlot Infantry Regiment of the

Imperial Russian Army The Imperial Russian Army (russian: Ру́сская импера́торская а́рмия, tr. ) was the armed land force of the Russian Empire, active from around 1721 to the Russian Revolution of 1917. In the early 1850s, the Russian Ar ...

Novgorod Governorate Novgorod Governorate (Pre-reformed rus, Новгоро́дская губе́рнія, r=Novgorodskaya guberniya, p=ˈnofɡərətskəjə ɡʊˈbʲernʲɪjə, t=Government of Novgorod), was an administrative division (a '' guberniya'') of the Ru ...

. He served as a volunteer on Russian ships during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and became a

prisoner of war A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610. Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...

of the Germans. After his release, he returned to Saaremaa and was elected Mayor of

Pihtla Parish Pihtla Parish was a municipality in Saare County, Estonia. The municipality had a population of 1,400 (as of 1 January 2006) and covered an area of 228.11 km². During the administrative-territorial reform in 2017, all 12 municipalities on ...

in 1919 and later worked as a primary school teacher in Sandla and Ilpla, becoming the latter school's headmaster until 1927. In 1920, Kirs Became an alternate member of the 1st Riigikogu, representing the

. From 1928 until 1941, he was the headmaster of Rahuste Primary School, then taught for a year at Tõlluste Primary School as a head teacher. In 1942, he was appointed the acting head teacher of Ilpla Primary School and continued to work a small farmer. In 1919, he married Elisabeth Jalakas. The couple had three children. He died in 1948 in

Kuressaare Kuressaare () is a town on Saaremaa island in Estonia. It is the administrative centre of Saaremaa Parish and the capital of Saare County. Kuressaare is the westernmost town in Estonia. The recorded population on 1 January 2018 was 13,276. Th ...

, aged 59.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kirs, Friido 1889 births 1948 deaths Estonian schoolteachers Estonian Labour Party politicians Members of the Riigikogu, 1920–1923 Mayors of places in Estonia People from Saaremaa Parish