Johannes Vares (pen name Barbarus or Vares-Barbarus – 29 November 1946) 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 and
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
poet, medical doctor, and politician.
Vares was born in a farmer family in the village of
Kiisa
Kiisa is a small town ( et, alevik) in Saku Parish, Harju County, Estonia. As of 2011 Census, the settlement had a population of 713.
It has a railway station on the Tallinn - Viljandi railway line operated by Elron (rail transit)
AS Eesti ...
, near
Viljandi
Viljandi (, german: Fellin, sv, Fellin) is a town and municipality in southern Estonia with a population of 17,407 in 2019. It is the capital of Viljandi County and is geographically located between two major Estonian cities, Pärnu and Tartu. ...
,
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 ...
. He received secondary education at
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 ...
Gymnasium, and in 1910–1914 studied medicine at the
University of Kyiv
Kyiv University or Shevchenko University or officially the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv ( uk, Київський національний університет імені Тараса Шевченка), colloquially known as KNU ...
.
Vares served as a military physician in
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 after that as a military physician for the
Estonian Army
The Estonian Land Forces ( et, Maavägi), unofficially referred to as the Estonian Army, is the name of the unified ground forces among the Estonian Defense Forces where it has an offensive military formation role. It is currently the largest ...
during the
Estonian War of Independence
The Estonian War of Independence ( et, Vabadussõda, literally "Freedom War"), also known as the Estonian Liberation War, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Bolshevik westw ...
(1918–1920). He was awarded the Estonian
Cross of Liberty for the participation.
In the 1920s, Vares started working as a medical doctor in Pärnu. He subsequently became a well-known poet as well as a radical socialist, using the pen name Johannes Barbarus.
When
Soviet
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...
troops
occupied
' (Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 October ...
Estonia in June 1940,
Andrei Zhdanov
Andrei Aleksandrovich Zhdanov ( rus, Андре́й Алекса́ндрович Жда́нов, p=ɐnˈdrej ɐlʲɪˈksandrəvʲɪtɕ ˈʐdanəf, links=yes; – 31 August 1948) was a Soviet politician and cultural ideologist. After World War ...
forced president
Konstantin Päts
Konstantin Päts (; – 18 January 1956) was an Estonian statesman and the country's president in 1938–1940. Päts was one of the most influential politicians of the independent democratic Republic of Estonia, and during the two decades prior ...
to appoint Vares as prime minister of a communist-dominated
puppet government
A puppet state, puppet régime, puppet government or dummy government, is a state that is ''de jure'' independent but ''de facto'' completely dependent upon an outside power and subject to its orders.Compare: Puppet states have nominal sover ...
. Päts resigned in July 1940, and Vares formally took over most presidential duties. The puppet government declared Estonia a "
Soviet Socialist Republic
The Republics of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics or the Union Republics ( rus, Сою́зные Респу́блики, r=Soyúznye Respúbliki) were national-based administrative units of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( ...
" (SSR), and Vares remained nominal head of state for a few weeks more as chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian SSR. He headed the delegation to Moscow on August 6 1940 that petitioned the
Stalinist government to incorporate Estonia into the Soviet Union — an act that has tainted him as a traitor to the majority of Estonian people. On 12 September 1940, Vares became member of the Central Committee of 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 ...
, soon after the party had been merged into the
All-Union Communist Party (bolsheviks) of the USSR.
Following the German invasion of Estonia in 1941, Vares fled to
Soviet Russia
The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...
, where he lived in exile from 1941 to 1944, until the Soviets reconquered Estonia.
On 20 April 1944, the Electoral Committee of the Republic of Estonia (the institution specified in the Constitution for electing the Acting President of the Republic) held a clandestine meeting in Tallinn. The participants included
Jüri Uluots
Jüri Uluots (13 January 1890 – 9 January 1945) was an Estonian prime minister, journalist, prominent attorney and distinguished Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Law at the University of Tartu.
Early life
Uluots was born in Kirbla Paris ...
, the last Prime Minister of Estonia before the Soviet occupation, the substitute for Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces
Johan Holberg
Johan Holberg (20 February 1893 – 8 April 1978, Chicago) 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 Finla ...
, the chairman of the Chamber of Deputies
Otto Pukk
Otto Pukk (29 November 1900 Loona, Saare County – 14 February 1951 Stockholm) was an Estonian politician and lawyer. He was a member of the Estonian National Assembly and III, V and VI Riigikogu
VI Riigikogu was the sixth legislature of Eston ...
, the second deputy vice-chairman of the National Council
Alfred Maurer, and State judge
Mihkel Klaassen
Mihkel Klaassen (24 February 1880 – 7 March 1952) was a justice of the Supreme Court of Estonia since 1924.
Klaassen was a member of the that decided the Soviet-era appointment of Johannes Vares as Prime Minister by Konstantin Päts had been ...
. The Committee declared Päts' appointment of Vares as Prime Minister had been illegal. Accordingly, it held that Uluots had assumed the President's duties from 21 June 1940 onwards.
Since the end of the Soviet Union, Estonia has maintained that all laws passed by the Vares government were void, since the upper house of Parliament had been dissolved soon after the Soviet occupation and was never reconvened. The 1938 constitution required that all laws pass both chambers before being promulgated. This included the electoral law under which the blatantly rigged
elections of 14–15 July 1940 were conducted. It was this election that produced the so-called "
People's Riigikogu" which declared Estonia a Soviet republic and "requested" to join the Soviet Union.
After returning to Estonia, Vares came under investigation by the Soviet
NKVD
The People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs (russian: Наро́дный комиссариа́т вну́тренних дел, Naródnyy komissariát vnútrennikh del, ), abbreviated NKVD ( ), was the interior ministry of the Soviet Union.
...
for his activities in the
Estonian War of Independence
The Estonian War of Independence ( et, Vabadussõda, literally "Freedom War"), also known as the Estonian Liberation War, was a defensive campaign of the Estonian Army and its allies, most notably the United Kingdom, against the Bolshevik westw ...
(1918–1920). He committed suicide in
presidential residence in
Kadriorg
Kadriorg (Estonian for ''" Catherine's Valley"'') is a subdistrict in the district of Kesklinn ("Midtown"), Tallinn, the capital of Estonia. It has a population of 4,561 (). The subdistrict name derives from the Catherinethal, a Baroque palace ...
, Tallinn, in November 1946.
See also
*
Johannes Vares' cabinet
Citations and references
Cited sources
*
External links
Johannes Vares at Estonian Writers' Online Dictionary
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vares, Johannes
1890 births
1946 suicides
People from Viljandi Parish
People from Kreis Fellin
Members of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Estonia
Heads of state of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic
Prime Ministers of Estonia
Members of the Supreme Soviet of the Estonian Soviet Socialist Republic, 1940–1947
First convocation members of the Soviet of the Union
Estonian male poets
20th-century Estonian poets
Estonian military doctors
Soviet military doctors
Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv alumni
Russian military personnel of World War I
Estonian military personnel of the Estonian War of Independence
Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 4th class
Recipients of the Order of Saint Stanislaus (Russian), 3rd class
Recipients of the Cross of Liberty (Estonia)
Recipients of the Order of Lenin
Suicides by firearm in Estonia
Estonian politicians who committed suicide
Soviet politicians who committed suicide
People from Pärnu