Alma Rosalie Ostra-Oinas (born Alma Ostra, also known as Alma Anvelt-Ostra; 4 or 16 September 1886 – 2 November 1960) was an Estonian journalist, writer and politician.

Early life and education

Born in the village of

Vastse-Kuuste Vastse-Kuuste is a small borough (') in Põlva Parish, Põlva County in southeastern 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 Finl ...

on 4 or 16 September 1886, Ostra completed her elementary education at Schwarz Elementary School between 1893 and 1898, after which she began studying at G. Faure's dairy. She then attended Pushkin Girls' Gymnasium at Tartu between 1901 and 1905 and became active in underground radical-national politics, joining the Russian Social Democratic Party in 1903, working on its inter-school organisation and attending speeches by Russian socialists."Ostra-Oinas, Alma"
, ''Eesti Biograafiline Leksikon'' (1926–29), p. 356.

Politics, family and later life

She was forced to leave school in 1905 over her involvement in radical politics and moved to Riga, where she was arrested by the Russia authorities for her involvement in an illegal printing press, and was eventually sent to

Siberia Siberia ( ; rus, Сибирь, r=Sibir', p=sʲɪˈbʲirʲ, a=Ru-Сибирь.ogg) is an extensive region, geographical region, constituting all of North Asia, from the Ural Mountains in the west to the Pacific Ocean in the east. It has been a ...

, escaping imprisonment in 1906 and attending the Russian Social Democractic Party Congress in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in 1907. In 1909, she married the communist

Jaan Anvelt Jaan Anvelt (also known by the pseudonyms Eessaare Aadu, Jaan Holm, Jaan Hulmu, Kaarel Maatamees, Onkel Kaak; in Russian or ; 18 April 1884 – 11 December 1937), was an Estonian Bolshevik revolutionary and writer. He served the Russian SFS ...

so she could assume a different legal name, and between 1910 and 1915 she studied mathematics and philosophy in the

Bestuzhev Courses The Bestuzhev Courses (russian: Бестужевские курсы) in Saint Petersburg were the largest and most prominent women's higher education institution in Imperial Russia. The institute opened its doors in 1878. It was named after Kons ...

at St Petersburg, also marrying the politician

Aleksander Oinas Aleksander Ferdinand Oinas (28 December 1887 – 3 March 1942) was an Estonian politician; he was a long-serving member of the Estonian Parliament (Riigikogu) and served three times as a government minister. was an Estonian politician; he was a l ...

in 1914."Alma Ostra-Oinas"
''

National Library of Estonia The National Library of Estonia ( et, Eesti Rahvusraamatukogu) is a national public institution in Estonia, which operates pursuant to the National Library of Estonia Act (). It was established as the parliamentary library () of Estonia on Decembe ...

''. Retrieved 25 February 2019. She then settled in the Estonian town of Võnnu where, between 1916 and 1917, she was a director of Severopomoštš , and in 1917 she moved was elected a member of the Council of Workers and Soldiers, also editing the newspaper ''Social Democrat'' (''Sotsiaaldemokraadi toimetus'') between 1917 and 1918. She was a city councillor for Tallinn and Tartu, being among the first women to be a city councillor in Estonia, and joined the

Estonian Provincial Assembly The Estonian Provincial Assembly ( et, Eestimaa Kubermangu Ajutine Maanõukogu, (Ajutine) Maanõukogu, Eesti Maanõukogu, (Eesti) Maapäev) was elected after the February Revolution in 1917 as the national diet of the Autonomous Governorate of ...

on 20 November 1918, replacing Jaan Treial; she was also a member of the

Asutav Kogu The Estonian Constituent Assembly ( et, Asutav Kogu) was elected on 5–7 April 1919, called by the Estonian Provisional Government during the Estonian War of Independence. Estonian Constituent Assembly elections Activity The 120 members of ...

(Constituent Assembly) between 1919 and 1920, and was elected to the first legislature of the

Riigikogu The Riigikogu (; from Estonian ''riigi-'', of the state, and ''kogu'', assembly) is the unicameral parliament of Estonia. In addition to approving legislation, the Parliament appoints high officials, including the Prime Minister and Chief Just ...

(Estonian parliament), in 1920, serving until the end of the session. In the second legislature, she replaced Mihkel Janson on 3 October 1925 and sat until the end of the session. She was elected to the third legislature when convened in 1926, but stepped down on 1 July in that year, and was replaced by Eduard Kink. Throughout, she sat as a member of the

Estonian Social Democratic Workers' Party The Estonian Social Democratic Workers' Party ( et, Eesti Sotsiaaldemokraatiline Tööliste Partei) was a political party in Estonia between 1917 and 1925. The leaders of the party, founded on platforms of patriotism, Estonian independence, an ...

(ESDTP). Her work in the Riigikogu included introducing a bill concerning family law, which was not passed but influenced subsequent legislation. Ostra-Oinas remained active as a journalist; she was editor of ''Ametiühisusline kuukiri'' (1923–27), and also returned to studies, initially in medicine but from 1921 to 1929 studied law at the University of Tartu. She also received the second class of the

Order of the Estonian Red Cross The Order of the Estonian Red Cross ( et, Eesti Punase Risti teenetemärk; french: Ordre de la Croix-Rouge Estonienne) was instituted in 1920 by the Estonian Red Cross Society. The Order of the Estonian Red Cross is bestowed in order to give rec ...

, in 1929. Ostra-Oinas's husband Aleksander was arrested by the

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 ...

authorities and sent to a prison camp in

, where he died in 1942. Ostra-Oinas herself was arrested during the

Second World War 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 opposi ...

, firstly by the occupying Germans and then in 1944 by the Soviets; she was sentenced to five years' imprisonment and deportation, and died in 1960 in

Inta Inta (russian: Инта́, kv, Инта) is a town in the Komi Republic, Russia. Population: History Inta was founded circa 1940 as a settlement to support a geological expedition to explore coal deposits and projecting of mines. The city's n ...

, in the Komi Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of the

USSR 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 nationa ...

.Toomla, p. 342. Aside from her contributions to Estonian politics, Ostra-Oinas is remembered as one of the first women politicians in Estonia, having been one of only a small number to serve in its first legislative chambers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ostra-Oinas, Alma 1886 births 1960 deaths People from Põlva Parish People from Kreis Dorpat Estonian Social Democratic Workers' Party politicians Estonian Socialist Workers' Party politicians Members of the Estonian Provincial Assembly Members of the Estonian Constituent Assembly Members of the Riigikogu, 1920–1923 Members of the Riigikogu, 1923–1926 Members of the Riigikogu, 1926–1929 Women members of the Riigikogu 20th-century Estonian women politicians Estonian prisoners and detainees