Karl Säre (July 2, 1903 – March 14, 1945) was a

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

and Estonian

communist Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...

politician. He was the first first secretary of the Central Committee of the

Estonian Communist Party 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 ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, he was arrested by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and taken to

Sachsenhausen concentration camp Sachsenhausen () or Sachsenhausen-Oranienburg was a German Nazi concentration camp in Oranienburg, Germany, used from 1936 until April 1945, shortly before the defeat of Nazi Germany in May later that year. It mainly held political prisoners ...

, where he died in 1945. The Soviet government avoided the mention of Säre's name in any public sources, as he was suspected of treason by disclosing to Nazi Germany information about the

Stalinist Stalinism is the means of governing and Marxist-Leninist policies implemented in the Soviet Union from 1927 to 1953 by Joseph Stalin. It included the creation of a one-party totalitarian police state, rapid industrialization, the theory o ...

officials and pro-Soviet agents who had remained in German-occupied Estonia during the war.Säre, Karl.
eestigiid.ee

Biography

Born in to the family of brewery worker, Säre joined the communist movement at a young age and became a member of the Union of Communist Youth of Estonia in 1917. In 1921 he left Estonia for

Soviet Russia The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

and began his studies at a

rabfak Rabfak (from russian: рабфак, a syllabic abbreviation of рабочий факультет, ''rabochiy fakultet'', "workers' faculty") was a type of educational institution in the Soviet UnionBerthold Unfried''"Ich bekenne": Katholische Beic ...

and later on the

Communist University of the National Minorities of the West The Communist University of the National Minorities of the West (KUNMZ - ''Kommunistichesky Universitet Natsionalnykh Menshinstv Zapada''; КУНМЗ - Коммунистический университет национальных меньшин ...

. Säre became a member of the

OGPU The Joint State Political Directorate (OGPU; russian: Объединённое государственное политическое управление) was the intelligence and state security service and secret police of the Soviet Union f ...

and later

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. ...

apparatus and was sent to work in the Soviet embassy in China. He was later sent to conduct underground activities in Estonia and participated in the restoration of the party. He became a member 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 ...

in 1927 and also became formally secretary of the then underground party's youth branch. He was sent back to Moscow and continued his studies at the

International Lenin School The International Lenin School (ILS) was an official training school operated in Moscow, Soviet Union, by the Communist International from May 1926 to 1938. It was resumed after the Second World War and run by the Communist Party of the Soviet Uni ...

and later on was sent to conduct illegal activities in countries like

Britain Britain most often refers to: * The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands * Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

and

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

as a

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

agent. In 1938, Säre returned to Estonia and remained there clandestinely. After the Soviet invasion and occupation of Estonia in June 1940, he was actively involved in the newly installed

puppet government. A few weeks after the annexation of Estonia into the USSR, Säre became member of the Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Estonia on 12 September 1940 and was elected its first secretary, thus formally becoming the leader of the Estonian branch of the

Communist Party of the USSR "Hymn of the Bolshevik Party" , headquarters = 4 Staraya Square, Moscow , general_secretary = Vladimir Lenin (first) Mikhail Gorbachev (last) , founded = , banned = , founder = Vladimir Lenin , newspaper ...

."Avastati Eesti kommunistide peamehe veretöö", Meie Maa, January 28, 1943, lk 1 Estonian communist leaders in Tallinn 24

In 1941, he became a candidate member of the

Central Committee of the All-Union Communist Party (b) The Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, – TsK KPSS was the executive leadership of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, acting between sessions of Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, Congres ...

and a deputy of the Supreme Soviet. After the German invasion, from, July to August 1941, he was Chairman of the Defense Committee of the Estonian SSR. He was lse underground to organize armed resistance to the Nazi occupiers. He was arrested by the German occupiers and after extensive investigation he gave the information of his fellow underground communist officials and resistance fighters.Eesti ajalugu elulugudes : 101 tähtsat eestlast / (Allan Liim, Ago Pajur, Sulev Vahtre... jt.); koostanud Sulev Vahtre. Tallinn : Olion, 1997 After the Soviet military intelligence network led by

Richard Sorge Richard Sorge (russian: Рихард Густавович Зорге, Rikhard Gustavovich Zorge; 4 October 1895 – 7 November 1944) was a German-Azerbaijani journalist and Soviet military intelligence officer who was active before and during Wo ...

was exposed and detained in Japan in 1942, German intelligence sent a special plane to Tallinn and took Säre from Tallinn's central prison to Berlin. From there he was sent to the

. Karl Säre was probably last seen in the public in Denmark in March 1943, where he had been accused of murdering fellow communist Paul Eltermann.Richard Sorge ja Eesti
, Virkko Lepassalu, Luup 1996 Further information of Säre is still a subject of investigation. According to the researchers of the Estonian Institute of Historical Memory he was sent to

Neuengamme concentration camp Neuengamme was a network of Nazi concentration camps in Northern Germany that consisted of the main camp, Neuengamme, and more than 85 satellite camps. Established in 1938 near the village of Neuengamme in the Bergedorf district of Hamburg, th ...

, where on 14 March 1945 he died as a result of heart failure.Argo Kuusik, Valdur Ohmann. "EKP Keskkomitee esimese sekretäri Karl Säre saatus selgunud". Tuna 3/ 2014

References

Bibliography

*Olaf Kuuli, Karl Säre ja 1940. aasta Eestis. Poliitika (1990) nr 3, lk. 51–64. *Voldemar Pinn. Kes oli Nikolai Karotamm? 1, Kultuuritragöödia jälgedes: kompartei kolmest esimesest sekretärist Karl Särest, Nikolai Karotammest, Johannes Käbinist, Haapsalu: V. Pinn, 1996. *Laar, Mart. Säre, Karl. Eesti ajalugu elulugudes. 101 tähtsat eestlast. / (Allan Liim, Ago Pajur, Sulev Vahtre... jt); koostanud Sulev Vahtre. Tallinn : Olion, 1997 *Mai Vöörman, Pool sajandit võõra nime all, Luup (1997) nr. 19 (50), September 15. *Külli Niidassoo, Valdur Ohmann. Eestimaa Kommunistlik Partei – 1930. aastad kuni juuli 1940: varjusurmast ajalooareenile. Tuna (2000) nr 3, lk 68–75. *Erik Nørgaard. Kongelundeni mõrv: dokumentatsioon, mis sisaldab seni salajas hoitud materjale Kongelundenis vastlapäeval 1936 aset leidnud poliitilise mõrva kohta ja lugu sellest, kuidas kommunistid 1940. aastal Eestis võimu haarasid, Tallinn: 2001, tõlkinud Arvo Alas. *Valdur Ohmann, EKP Keskkomitee I sekretäri Karl Säre arreteerimisest, reetlikkusest ja tema saatusest Tuna, (2001) nr 4, lk 38–47. *Helme, Rein. Karl Säre ja kambajõmmid mõrvatööl // Eesti Ekspress, January 30, 2002 *Olev Remsu, "Elitaarne mees Harry Männil", Tln, Tänapäev, 2011

External links

Сярэ Карл Янович (Karl Säre)
(''vene keeles'')
Eesti biograafiline andmebaas ISIK
*Valdur Ohmann
''Vendade Karl ja Artur Säre elukäigu salaniidistik.''
Tuna, (2003) nr 3, lk 64–77. {{DEFAULTSORT:Sare, Karl 1903 births 1945 deaths Politicians from Tartu People from the Governorate of Livonia Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union candidate members First convocation members of the Soviet of the Union Heads of the Communist Party of Estonia People who died in Neuengamme concentration camp 20th-century Estonian politicians Estonian communists Communist Party of Estonia politicians International Lenin School alumni