Johan Kõpp (9 November 1874,

Holdre Holdre is a village in Tõrva Parish Tõrva Parish () is a rural municipality in Valga County. It includes the town of Tõrva. Settlements ;Town Tõrva ;Boroughs Helme, Hummuli ;Villages Aitsra, Ala, Alamõisa, Holdre, Jeti, Jõg ...

Kreis Fellin Viljandi County (; , ) was a historic county in the Governorate of Livonia, and in the Republic of Estonia dissolved during the administrative territorial reform of the Estonian SSR in 1949. It was situated in the northern part of the governora ...

– 21 October 1970,

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

) was an Estonian bishop and head of the

Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church The Estonian Evangelical Lutheran Church (EELC; Estonian: ''Eesti Evangeelne Luterlik Kirik'', abbreviated EELK) is a Lutheran church in Estonia. The EELC is member of the Lutheran World Federation and belongs to the Community of Protestant Ch ...

1939–1944.

Biography

Kõpp went to high school at the

Hugo Treffner Gymnasium Hugo Treffner Gymnasium (; abbreviated as HTG) is a secondary school in Tartu, Estonia with special emphasis on science education. Founded by Hugo Treffner, it was the only large secondary school in 19th-century Estonia with predominantly Estonia ...

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 97,759 (as of 2024). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of Riga, Latvia. Tartu lies on the Emajõgi river, which connects the ...

and then studied

theology Theology is the study of religious belief from a Religion, religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an Discipline (academia), academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itse ...

at the

University of Tartu The University of Tartu (UT; ; ) is a public research university located in the city of Tartu, Estonia. It is the national university of Estonia. It is also the largest and oldest university in the country.

. He graduated from university in 1906. After his studies he initially worked as a high school teacher in

Pärnu Pärnu () is the fourth-largest city in Estonia. Situated in southwest Estonia, Pärnu is located south of the Estonian capital, Tallinn, and west of Estonia's second-largest city, Tartu. The city sits off the coast of Pärnu Bay, an inlet of ...

but from 1909 to 1922 was

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

Laiuse Laiuse (, ) is a small borough (') in Estonia. It is located in Jõgeva County and is a part of Jõgeva Parish. As of the 2011 census, the settlement's population was 371. Laiuse Middle School is one of the oldest in Estonia, being establishe ...

. Already in 1916 he had however taken up a teaching position at the University of Tartu as one of the first ethnic Estonians to do so after the

Estonian Declaration of Independence The Estonian Declaration of Independence, formally titled the Manifesto to the Peoples of Estonia (), is the founding document which established the independent democratic Estonia, Republic of Estonia in 1918. Issued during a period of intense p ...

. From 1920 to 1927 he was deputy rector of the university, and from 1928 to 1937 rector. During the

interwar period In the history of the 20th century, the interwar period, also known as the interbellum (), lasted from 11 November 1918 to 1 September 1939 (20 years, 9 months, 21 days) – from the end of World War I (WWI) to the beginning of World War II ( ...

Kõpp was also leader of the Christian People's Party. Kõpp was instrumental in organising and setting up the

in 1917 and in 1939 he was elevated to the position of

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

and leader of the church. During the first Soviet occupation of Estonia in 1940 following the

Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact The Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, officially the Treaty of Non-Aggression between Germany and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and also known as the Hitler–Stalin Pact and the Nazi–Soviet Pact, was a non-aggression pact between Nazi Ge ...

, Kõpp stayed in Estonia. The situation for the church however became strenuous, as most

Baltic German Baltic Germans ( or , later ) are Germans, ethnic German inhabitants of the eastern shores of the Baltic Sea, in what today are Estonia and Latvia. Since Flight and expulsion of Germans (1944–1950), their resettlement in 1945 after the end ...

priests (who constituted one fifth of the priests in the country) were "repatriated" to

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German Reich, German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a Totalit ...

and as the church was harassed by Soviet authorities. Among other things, land owned by the church was confiscated and the printing of religious books banned. During the following

German occupation German-occupied Europe, or Nazi-occupied Europe, refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly militarily occupied and civil-occupied, including puppet states, by the (armed forces) and the government of Nazi Germany at ...

, things became somewhat easier for the church as most of the pre-war rights of the church were restored. However, the relationship with the German occupational authorities were also not without conflict; for example, the Germans confiscated and melted down

church bell A church bell is a bell in a church building designed to be heard outside the building. It can be a single bell, or part of a set of bells. Their main function is to call worshippers to the church for a service of worship, but are also rung o ...

s to use the materials in the

war effort War effort is a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and civilian—towards the support of a military force, particular during a state of war. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative si ...

. In 1944, when the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

re-occupied Estonia and drove out the Germans, Johan Kõpp fled to Sweden. Half of the active priests in Estonia at the time made the same decision to flee. Before leaving, Kõpp authorised to act as leader of the church in Estonia; however Eilart was soon arrested by the

NKVD The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (, ), abbreviated as NKVD (; ), was the interior ministry and secret police of the Soviet Union from 1934 to 1946. The agency was formed to succeed the Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU) se ...

and later had to go underground. Following this, Kõpp led the church from abroad. He managed to establish a network among exiled Estonian priests to uphold the organisation of the church and preserve its use of Estonian. Because of this, the church gained international acceptance as the representative of Estonian Lutherans and was among the founding members of the

Lutheran World Federation The Lutheran World Federation (LWF; ) is a global Communion (religion), communion of national and regional Lutheran denominations headquartered in the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The federation was founded in the Swedish city of L ...

Lund Lund (, ;"Lund"
(US) and ) is a city in the provinces of Sweden, province of Scania, southern Swed ...

in 1947. Under the leadership of Kõpp in exile, the church also established an institute for the education of new priests and a magazine, ''Estonian Church''. Kõpp retired in 1965 and died in Stockholm, the capital of Sweden. Kõpp was an honorary alumnus of the

Estonian Students' Society The Estonian Students' Society (; commonly used acronym: EÜS) is the largest and oldest all-male academical student society in Estonia, and is similar to the Baltic Germans, Baltic German student organizations known as German Student Corps, c ...

and published a book about the history of the Society in the years 1870–1905.Auvilistlased
eys.ee

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kopp, Johan 1874 births 1970 deaths Politicians from Tõrva Parish People from Kreis Fellin Estonian Lutheran bishops Christian People's Party (Estonia) politicians Members of the Estonian Constituent Assembly Members of the Riiginõukogu Hugo Treffner Gymnasium alumni University of Tartu alumni Rectors of the University of Tartu Estonian World War II refugees Estonian emigrants to Sweden