Oskar Kallas - photo by Karl Emil Stahlberg - Alb-38-95

Oskar Kallas (also Oskar Philipp Kallas; in Kirikuküla,

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 ...

– 26 January 1946 in

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

) 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 diplomat, linguist and folklorist.Toivo Miljan, ''Historical Dictionary of Estonia'', Scarecrow Press 2004 He was the husband of the

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

writer

Aino Kallas Aino Krohn Kallas (2 August 1878 – 9 November 1956) was a Finnish-Estonian author. Her novellas are considered to be prominent pieces of Finnish literature.Kaarma Kaarma (german: Karmel) is a village in Saaremaa Parish, Saare County, on the island of Saaremaa, Estonia. (retrieved 28 July 2021) The Estonian communist politician Viktor Kingissepp was born here in 1888. Before the administrative reform in 20 ...

on the island of

. He developed an interest in Estonian folklore and Finnic languages at an early age. Kallas assisted the folklorist

Jakob Hurt Jakob Hurt ( in Himmaste – in St Petersburg) was a notable Estonian folklorist, theologian, and linguist. With respect to the last, he is perhaps best known for his dissertation on "pure" -ne stem nouns ("Die estnischen Nomina auf -ne purum ...

in his epic collection of Estonian folk poetry. In 1889, he undertook his first trip to

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, which proved influential. Kallas studied classical philology 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 ...

between 1887 and 1892, then studied Finnish folklore and Finno-Ugric languages at the

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

from 1892 to 1893.

Estonian national awakening

Kallas was politically active as a student at the University of Tartu. Together with his friend

Jaan Tõnisson Jaan Tõnisson (; , – 1941?) was an Estonian statesman, serving as the Prime Minister of Estonia twice during 1919 to 1920, as State Elder (head of state and government) from 1927 to 1928 and in 1933, and as Foreign Minister of Estonia from ...

, who later became a politician and Estonian head of state, he was involved in the nationalist student association ''Eesti Üliõpilaste Selts''. He became an important figure in Estonian independence aspirations within Tsarist Russia. After graduation Oskar Kallas taught at various schools in

Narva Narva, russian: Нарва is a municipality and city in Estonia. It is located in Ida-Viru County, Ida-Viru county, at the Extreme points of Estonia, eastern extreme point of Estonia, on the west bank of the Narva (river), Narva river which ...

and

St. Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

. At that time, together with Jaan Tõnisson, Oskar Kallas founded the prestigious newspaper ''

Postimees ''Postimees'' () is an Estonian daily newspaper established on 5 June 1857, by Johann Voldemar Jannsen. In 1891, it became the first daily newspaper in Estonia. Its current editor-in-chief is Priit Hõbemägi. The paper has approximately 250 ...

'' which opposed the Russification in Estonia.

Personal life

While studying at the University of Helsinki, Kallas came in contact with the folklorist

Kaarle Krohn Kaarle Krohn (10 May 1863 – 19 July 1933) was a Finnish folklorist, professor and developer of the geographic-historic method of folklore research. He was born into the influential Krohn family of Helsinki. Krohn is best known outside of Finlan ...

, under whose guidance he wrote his doctoral thesis (which he defended in 1901). On 6 August 1900 he married Krohn's sister, the writer Aino Kallas, at the Helsinki Lutheran church. He was then appointed as a lecturer in comparative linguistics at the University of St. Petersburg from 1901 to 1903.

Career

In 1903 Kallas worked as a journalist at the newspaper Postimees, as well as a high school teacher in

Tartu Tartu is the second largest city in Estonia after the Northern European country's political and financial capital, Tallinn. Tartu has a population of 91,407 (as of 2021). It is southeast of Tallinn and 245 kilometres (152 miles) northeast of ...

. Kallas became the first principal of Estonia's first girls' school (today's Miina Härma Gymnasium), founded in Tartu in 1906. In 1909 Kallas was one of the founders of the

Estonian National Museum The Estonian National Museum ( et, Eesti Rahva Muuseum) founded 1909 in Tartu is a museum devoted to folklorist Jakob Hurt's heritage, to Estonian ethnography and folk art. The first items for the museum were originally collected in the latter ...

(Eesti Rahva Muuseum) in Tartu and was a volunteer department head for many years. Kallas is particularly known for his research on language and culture of the Estonian villages in the area of Ludza in

Latgale Latgale ( ltg, Latgola; ; ger, Lettgallen; be, Латгалія, Łathalija; pl, Łatgalia; la, Lettgallia), also known as Latgalia is one of the Historical Latvian Lands. It is the easternmost region and is north of the Daugava River. While m ...

Diplomacy

With the Estonian independence in 1918 Kallas joined the diplomatic service Estonia. He was the Estonian representative in Finland. From 1922 until his retirement in 1934 Kallas was the Estonian envoy in London.

Exile

Oskar Kallas and his family fled the

Soviet occupation During World War II, the Soviet Union occupied and annexed several countries effectively handed over by Nazi Germany in the secret Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact of 1939. These included the eastern regions of Poland (incorporated into two different ...

of Estonia to Sweden. He lived there in exile until his death. In February 1946, his body was buried in Helsinki.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kallas, Oskar 1868 births 1946 deaths People from Saaremaa Parish People from Kreis Ösel Estonian People's Party politicians Members of the Estonian Constituent Assembly Envoys of Estonia Linguists from Estonia Estonian folklorists University of Tartu alumni University of Helsinki alumni Estonian World War II refugees Estonian emigrants to Sweden